HEN RECOVERING FROM BUMBLEFOOT BEING BULLIED BY HER SISTERS AFTER SEPARATING AND REINTRODUCING. HELP PLEASE!

[henfriend1998]

my meek little Agnes (a seven month old silver laced wyandotte hen) has had a persistent case of bumblefoot and a limp for a while. she was separated (still in the coop, just in a hutch with straw and water, they could see her the entire time) to heal and rest. unfortunately, now that shes being reintroduced her four sisters’ are bullying her mercilessly. pecking her, chasing her, getting on top of her and yanking feathers out. she has a bloody spot on one of her waddles and a bald irritated spot (w/ a bit of broken skin) behind her comb. they don’t seem to be eating the feathers, so i doubt its nutrition related. big bully Frida (a buff brahma hen, also seven months old) was being the worst, following her around and really trying to tear her up and mounting her like shes a rooster! the rest are being pretty nasty too, but frida is being horrible so i put her in the hutch agnes was in, hoping it’ll bring her down on the pecking order like it did for her. i saw isolating the bully for a while can help. if i had to tell you which hen ran the coop it would DEFINITELY be Frida. shes been the meanie boss hen ever since they were in a brooder together. but now even Hattie (buff orpington, same age, used to be the meekest, most pitiful bird, at the very bottom of the pecking order) has been jumping at the chance to put poor Agnes in her place.



ive been medicating and wrapping her infected foot for a while now. the spot on the pad of her foot has healed up a lot, but recently i noticed a new little wounded spot between her toes and i’m afraid its my fault for wrapping the bandages too tight or not changing them often enough. i tried to have my partner help me change them every few days. i’m afraid the moisture underneath the bandage is making her skin softer and easier to injure, and im scared dirt and poop has been getting under the wrap. she has a limp that gets better and worse but it hasn’t gone away, and i cant tell how much of it is because of the bandages. she went to the vet a while back (LIKE A WHOLE MONTH AGO) and he removed the abscess and we’ve been treating it sense but we’ve already finished her oral antibiotics a weeks ago but im afraid it isnt healed and that taking off the bandages would cause it to get reinfected. and i’m scared to separate her to rest and heal again since they’ve been so brutal to her every time i’ve attempted to put her back with them. her egg production has also dropped off almost completely. the others havent been consistent either. i’m hoping its just the summer heat stressing them out. they only free range when we can watch them (because of hawks and dogs where we live) and they spend most their time in a ten foot by ten foot wire run so its well ventilated, and hopefully enough space. its been up in the triple digits here in texas and i just recently installed some mister cooling hoses in there to cool them off, and its working! it says it should bring the temperature down by twenty degrees. but the ground is damp again. and i know damp ground isn’t good for wounded feet. i figured thats how she got bumblefoot in the first place. scratching her foot pad as a result of a botched landing and then stepping in some nasty junk.



how do i heal this bumblefoot for good, and how do i know if this new spot is bumblefoot or just a raw spot with some muck in it? (on the new spot there was a dark scab thing i managed to get off, and i didn’t see any puss or abscess or anything underneath.) and how do i get them to stop beating her up so she can heal? i’ve had chickens since elementary school, so i figure i understand hen behavior, but this is BEYOND regular pecking order stuff. i’m afraid they see her limping and want her gone or dead because she’s weaker. i’m afraid they could cannibalize her. i don’t know what to do but i’m very very worried for my poor baby Agnes. please please let me know what i can do! i’ve been putting some iodine and blue hen healer ointment on the bloody, open pecked bits behind her comb and waddle, and also some chicken first aid spray that contains tea tree oil and vet rx on the feathers around the hurt spots, thinking the smell and taste would keep them from picking based on some stuff i read, but so far nothing has helped. please please please give my any advice you can, for the foot injury/infection and for the bullying and feather pulling. i’m going to post pictures of her foot and the pecked-at spots on her head tomorrow morning. thank you so so much. me and Agnes appreciate it! <3

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC!

I'm sorry you're having trouble.

Can you post some photos of your pullets, their housing, some of Agnes and her foot too?

What do you feed including treats?
How large is your coop?

Hopefully with a little more information and photos we can offer some suggestions.

 

[henfriend1998]

Welcome To BYC!

I'm sorry you're having trouble.

Can you post some photos of your pullets, their housing, some of Agnes and her foot too?

What do you feed including treats?
How large is your coop?

Hopefully with a little more information and photos we can offer some suggestions.

wow, gosh that was fast, thank you so much!! unfortunately the ladies are already up for tonight but i will be sure to take some pictures of Agnes, her foot, and her coop! as far as what she eats, she’s on layer feed and we refill the feeder every morning. it’s rarely empty. we give them scratching grains as a treat and to give them something to forage for. i give them fruit and veggie scraps (not much though, i’m usually too lazy to cook fresh food for myself). usually stuff like spring and spinach mix, watermelon, cucumber, some fresh corn a while back, maybe some dill from my garden, but this isn’t daily. recently they’ve been getting some dried crickets and the other day i gave them some diced up hard boiled eggs with sesame seeds on top. i have some oyster shells i try to offer them, but they dont take to it much, although Agnes ate a decent amount a couple days ago. she usually doesnt eat much at all. i feel like i used to give them more treats than i do now.
and for the coop/run, i’m pretty sure its 10 foot x 10 foot and almost 6 feet tall. its made of wire panels reinforced with chicken wire, with a tarp on the back and halfway around the sides for some shelter, and a roof that puts most of the coop in the shade during the heat of the day. theres at least four nesting boxes and five hens, but maybe the girls dont find them private enough. they almost always all lay in one box, like they cant use the others and just have to wait their turn. i sometimes see them hop in the nesting box with another hen and i have no idea why! the ground is dirt and straw. they have a board to roost on that they all fit on with plenty of room. theres one large waterer and one large feeder, and one small waterer and one small feeder up in the hutch towards the back of the coop, where i’ve been keeping the problem hen. she is completely visible to the rest of them, just a couple feet up. and behind some wire. they have a chair and a planter to hop up on too. i even put toys in there because i was afraid they might get bored. i feel horrible not letting them free-range. thats what my family did growing up, but there is no cover in my yard. no shrubs or trees, no places to hide from predators, dogs getting out of their owners’ yards, and a CRAZY hawk population. i live at a rental property and we’re moving to a house with a shady yard very soon, so they’ll be out most of the day then. i’m just such an anxious hen mommy. i’d let them out more if i didnt see so many predators in this area. i will be sure to take/post pictures of Agnes, her hurt foot and comb, and her coop. thank you so so so much!!! i’m so relieved to have someone helping me out. i know absolutely zero other chicken owners! and it seems like Agnes’s situation is pretty nuanced and particular. poor poor thing, she just cant catch a break. i feel absolutely horrible for her.

 

[Miss Bree]

I haven’t been a chicken owner long but if you can keep her inside the coop safe from the others that would probably help. Like a crate or cage. They can see her but not harm her. I’ve also taken the chickens that go after other chickens aggressively and put them in a separate house where they can see all the other chickens but not pick on the them. That works really well. Sounds like your hen needs to heal first. Try not to worry. One step at a time

 

[henfriend1998]

I haven’t been a chicken owner long but if you can keep her inside the coop safe from the others that would probably help. Like a crate or cage. They can see her but not harm her. I’ve also taken the chickens that go after other chickens aggressively and put them in a separate house where they can see all the other chickens but not pick on the them. That works really well. Sounds like your hen needs to heal first. Try not to worry. One step at a time

part of me is really afraid that the bullying is due to all the time she spent separate from them in the hutch in the coop. if all my girls keep being so cruel i guess she might have to go back into a separate little house so she can rest and heal. i’m just scared the other hens will tear her up all over again if i separate and reintroduce her a second time, but if the bald spot on her head gets bigger i dont have much of a choice. but i’m really glad putting the bully in time-out worked for you! i’m hoping it works for me and Agnes as well. how long was your mean chicken in bully jail? even though Frida is acting like a real nasty butthead i feel horrible locking her up. thank you so so much! i’m trying my hardest not to worry, but its my nature, especially when it comes to my hens.

 

[Miss Bree]

part of me is really afraid that the bullying is due to all the time she spent separate from them in the hutch in the coop. if all my girls keep being so cruel i guess she might have to go back into a separate little house so she can rest and heal. i’m just scared the other hens will tear her up all over again if i separate and reintroduce her a second time, but if the bald spot on her head gets bigger i dont have much of a choice. but i’m really glad putting the bully in time-out worked for you! i’m hoping it works for me and Agnes as well. how long was your mean chicken in bully jail? even though Frida is acting like a real nasty butthead i feel horrible locking her up. thank you so so much! i’m trying my hardest not to worry, but its my nature, especially when it comes to my hens.

I locked up my bully’s for a week. It might take a few times to do so but it’s helped the social dynamic in my flock completely. I’m a worrier too. I totally understand but there are things we must do to take care of our flock. Your bully’s will survive. I hope your hen heals and returns to the flock. I would keep a close eye when reintroducing them. I do it when I have to clean the coop and can spend most of the day out there.

 

[henfriend1998]

Welcome To BYC!

I'm sorry you're having trouble.

Can you post some photos of your pullets, their housing, some of Agnes and her foot too?

What do you feed including treats?
How large is your coop?

Hopefully with a little more information and photos we can offer some suggestions.

here are the pictures of Agnes, her coop, and the pecked spots on her head. i forgot to take pictures of her foot until i was halfway done wrapping it up, my bad! fortunately (after letting her have a soak in warm epsom salt water and cleaning her foot real good and doing a very close inspection of her foot pad and the spot between her toes) i realized what i thought was her old case of bumblefoot was only a superficial scab that fell right off. i think she might still be a little raw between two of her toes. no swelling or really any redness at all, i’m just worried her skin looks a little flaky and that the moisture inside the bandages might be causing some rawness (like having a cast on for a while), but i really dont know. does that sound possible? i think the longest we went in between changing it was four days (my entire house caught COVID-19, no joke, be safe!), but i try to change it every other day if my partner will help me. i’m just afraid i could be getting in the way of it healing, but it looks pretty healed already, but now the mister cooling fans have gotten the floor of the coop wet muddy, and i’d hate for it to get reinfected. i put some iodine and neosporin on her foot pad and between those toes and wrapped it in self-adhering tough wrap and cloth medical tape. it seemed like she had almost no limp, maybe no limp at all, when she had no bandages on her foot. as for the spots behind her comb and on her waddle, i cleaned them off and put some iodine on and then applied two coats of new-skin liquid bandage. i’m hoping that’ll keep them from further damaging those spots. shes almost all the pecks on the top of her head. she’s still getting pecked today. i saw something about putting vicks vapo-rub on her to keep them from pulling more feathers, but then i saw something online about the ingredient camphor being potentially deadly to chickens, so that was a hell no from me. i have a tractor supply co. in the area so that’s probably where i’ll go to get more medicine or supplies. please let me know what i can do for her! thank you so so much!!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It's not unusual for one to be pecked at occasionally. Looks like her wattle may have been pinched. The peck mark on the comb, I would keep watch on that, but it will probably dry up and heal o.k.

I would check her crop to make sure it's empty in the morning before she eats/drinks. Let her out with the others and see how it goes - one that has been penned for a while can be picked on for a few days. Chickens can be dramatic with their squawking, but I would hang out and observe - try to let them work it out.