Injured pullet, comb
One of my Plymouth White Rock pullets had a bloody head and swollen comb this morning on her way out of the hen house. I caught her. Didn't want her being picked on and maybe killed by the other chickens. The comb appeared to be partially torn loose at the back. Blood had ran down her beak and the feathers at the back of the comb were standing up from all the blood under neath them. She had some splashed or streaked blood scattered thinly all over her body, wings and tail.
I cleaned her up the best I could and am keeping her in the front bath. She likes watching herself in the mirror. I hope she doesn't become vain.
I have a question. How could she receive such an injury?
I am not aware of anything she could have gotten her head caught in to have caused it. I am headed out to feed and will check the hen house carefully. I don't expect to find anything as every opening floor to roof large enough for a sparrow to squeeze though has been covered with 1/2 inch mesh, feed sacks or corrugated cardboard.
What is the chance a rooster would have grabbed her by the comb? Usually they get a mouth full of feathers as the pullet slips away.
What is your rooster to hen ratio? I am betting it was one of the roosters it happens occasionally I find a little brown sugar clots the blood up quick and makes it less noticeable to the other birds so as to prevent picking. But you cannot leave out the possibilty of it happening some other way. Birds just like humans can find themselves in some odd situations haha
Hey Mary, BCbirds is most likely correct.
Whenever I see that kind of damage on one of the girls, it's usually due to a bit of fierce attention. Mary, you have several cock birds, do you not? Perhaps there was a bit of a party going on that got out of hand? If this is the case, the behavior will continue. I would tell you to segregate here for a while, but I truth, I would most likely clean her up, dr her wounds a bit, and then chunk her back out with the rest....keeping a diligent eye on her in case she starts a downhill turn.
I use blue powder on cuts and such. It's got a clotting agent that stops blood flow. Used primarily on my horses, it works great on the birds also. You can get it at any feed store or Farm & Ranch.
The perp could be a rooster or hen, I had the same thing happen once and I only had hens. They don't call it the "pecking order" for nothing. It should heal up fine.
The swelling went down. The blood dried up and she was looking normal except for the scabs and dried blood. She took over the front bath and laid an egg in there this morning. She was hyper so I put her outside early. Tonight she was on the perch and doing a major preening job when I checked on them. She never settled down enough for me to see her head and comb. Another WR that had gotten a little bloody on her comb didn't show any signs of more pecking. I'll check again when I let them out in the morning. Morning when I let them out was when I observed her torn up. They are in close quarters for a while after daylight.
Yes, Angelia, I have to many roosters for the number of hens. Seven to 40..much to high. Three are scheduled to be butchered the next butchering. I would add them to the cockerel pen except when I did they were nearly killed by the 18 cockerels.
I will check on the blue powder at the feed store. Thank you all for your information and suggestions.
Angus, Please explain. What is it you are disagreeing with and what do you mean by "need for more genuine comments?" Sorry, but, I don't understand your comment.
Troll Alert this poster has only 2 posts. Probably nothing to say so made this lame commentOriginally Posted by Mary
Thank you GD. I wondered what such a weird comment meant. I do know people whose thoughts and speaking are that jumbled. Likewise they rarely are able to answer a question to clarify their comments.
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