Tom has left gashes in my hen...advice needed.

[DeannaOR]

I have a pair of Royal Palms, the tom has started mating the hen within the last couple weeks. I noticed her acting rather solitary yesterday which is not like her at all. Checked her out and found gashes (deep ones) under each wing. I am sure this happened when the male is mating her and holding on. I have separated her and cleaned/treated her wounds. My questions are...is this common? Is he being too rough? Should I be trimming his nails? Putting a turkey saddle on her? I've never seen a turkey saddle for sale or seen pictures of one being used, although I have used a couple for my chickens. Advice appreciated.

 

[Celie]

Trim his spurs and give her time to heal. Watch her for infection and use an antibiotic ointment on her wounds. I started a thread on how do I trim my turkey's spurs and got some very good advice. You might want to take a look? Also turkey's are not one size fits all, so I don;t advise anyone to buy these apron. If you can sew, then you could custom fit your turkey and use a heavy denim material, then I would say, "GO FOR IT" !

 

[DeannaOR]

Could you post a link to that thread?

 

[flocksalot]

I've had this happen with my BBWs. I just clean it up, trim any loose skin that will die, spray them with bluekote and then take an old tshirt of my sons and put it on her. I tie a knot on the back so it doesn't sag and trip her or collect poop. On some occasions I trim off the sleeves in order to get the wings through or to prevent chaffing.

On very rare occasions I've had to do a few stitches, but I find that if you can't keep it covered and moist it's best to let it heal naturally.

I hope she's doing better. As others stated the trimming will help. Good luck.

 

[Celie]

Could you post a link to that thread?

Here is the link:https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ails-so-they-do-not-injure-a-hen-while-mating

 

[DeannaOR]

Thanks for the link =)

She is healing very nicely..Vetericyn is amazing stuff! I am ordering her a saddle and will figure out how to trim his spurs. I know how to do nails...the spurs make me nervous.