Reassurance

[Wrigley62]

Good morning,

My Barred Rock, "Elvyra Gulch" has a deep gash on the back of her neck. I'm not for sure how she got it, I can only think that it was "Charlie", he can be very forceful when he is "after" one of the girls. Anyways, I put some Blue-Kote on the wound. I then removed her from the rest of the flock, with the exception of one of her buddies "Sadie". I placed both of the girls in the chicken tractor in the garage far away from the others. The tractor is an 8 foot long 3 foot x 3 foot x 3 foot triangle. I think that will be plenty of room for the two of them. It has water, food and a nexting box in the coverd end. I'm thinking I will keep them in there for two to three weeks, depending on how fast she heals up. We will let them out to free-range for a few hours each day. All the others will be confined to the garden, run and coop.

I just need to know if I've done the right thing and is there anything else I can/should do???

Thanks,

Wrigley

 

[Marigold]

Hi, Wrigley, is Blue-Kote a liquid spray or a powder? Either will be fine to ensure the wound is clean and if its a surface gash it should soon heal. if its a purple spray it should help to prevent Sadie from wanting to peck at it, but keep a close eye on this for a while until its closing over, as chickens forget friendship if they spot any blood to investigate!
You are right to keep Elvyra away from the others for a while, and to give her the compasny of Sadie if this is safe, but if you separate them completely for 2-3 weeks, the flock structure will have reorganised around their absence, and you will have to reintroduce them as if they were strangers. This can be done, but they will have to put up with some harassement and loss of previous 'seniority', in other words they will get some bullying and chasing at first. This might be avoided or lessened if you could confine them within sight and sound of the others, perhaps by dividing off an area with netting that they could communicate through (but make sure the netting was small enough so Elvyra can't poke her head through and get it pecked.) Or make a double layer about 1 ft apart maybe. They can sleep in the tractor at night, but if you can let them see the others when they are free ranging it might help their reintegration when Elvyra is better.

 

[Wrigley62]

Thanks Marigold, I'm in the process of trying to locate some fencing. For the last two weeks I've had them all in the gaden so they can tear it all up, I'm trying to give our yard a "break" from the girls. I will try to fence off a good sized protion for Elvyra and Sadie.

Thanks again,

Wrigley