Freeloading Chickens
In the Brooder
Hello all. I am fairly new to chicken raising and could really use some advice. The other night, Saturday, while I was getting my chickens ready to go in their coop for the night, one (or possibly two) of my hens viciously attacked another one of my hens. I have two chicken species, Rhode Island Reds and Americanas. One of the Americanas and the Red are two years old and have been together their whole lives; I also have two one-year-old Americanas. I think the one who attacked her is the two-year-old Americana, whom she's known forever, but one of the other Americanas could have been involved. Atty, the attacked hen, had previously been at the head of the pecking order.
I didn't fully see what happened but looked up to see at least one hen on top of her attacking her head, then she just took off running. Someone had pecked or clawed out all the feathers on her bare bloody head. I cleaned the wound with a damp paper towel and rubbed on Neosporin. We've been isolating her in her own pen, and the next day our neighbor sprayed some purple medicinal stuff on Atty's head.
It's been a few days now and Atty still seems to be in shock. She mostly lays on straw in the cat carrier or stands in a corner for hours, not moving. She's barely eating or drinking. I brought her out to the front yard this morning before I left for work so that she could free range without seeing the rest of the flock. She seemed content, but didn't move much, and didn't like when I put her back. Atty is very afraid of the other hens now, and keeps as far away as possible. We're afraid that she's not healing and wondering what we should do, besides from keeping her isolated with food and water available. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
I didn't fully see what happened but looked up to see at least one hen on top of her attacking her head, then she just took off running. Someone had pecked or clawed out all the feathers on her bare bloody head. I cleaned the wound with a damp paper towel and rubbed on Neosporin. We've been isolating her in her own pen, and the next day our neighbor sprayed some purple medicinal stuff on Atty's head.
It's been a few days now and Atty still seems to be in shock. She mostly lays on straw in the cat carrier or stands in a corner for hours, not moving. She's barely eating or drinking. I brought her out to the front yard this morning before I left for work so that she could free range without seeing the rest of the flock. She seemed content, but didn't move much, and didn't like when I put her back. Atty is very afraid of the other hens now, and keeps as far away as possible. We're afraid that she's not healing and wondering what we should do, besides from keeping her isolated with food and water available. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.