advice needed quickly

[Anonymous]

i am new to chicken keeping and only had my chickens a week now.i have one white leghorn and one light sussex both about 12 weeks old.a couple of days ago i noticed that the leghorns had tail feathers missing on its tail and a patch of feathers missing under the neck.i think it has been pecked at by roosters.now my sussex has started pecking at these areas and drew blood,i now have two options ,i either take it back and get another sussex instead or i seperate them for a few weeks.the other thing is when i got them the person could only be 90% sure they were both hens.i dont know what would be the best thing to do and hope i can get some advice off of here.thanks

 

[Chuck]

If the blood is from the body it is serious and will probably get worse. If the blood is from a young feather it's not so bad yet but could lead to more serious trouble if they get a taste for the blood. I'd seperate them until you can get hold of some Net Tex anti feather pecking spray which you apply as a spray to where the feathers have been plucked from and from where it's bleeding. This needs to be applied every couple of days but I do find it works.

You could decide to ask for a replacement but what ever you decide, do it quickly.

 

[Anonymous]

you can buy a spray called purple spray which you can get in most feed stores and horsey places. if you spray the wound with it it will dye the skin purple and prevent pecking. i find it works great. maybe putting some photos of them up will help work out if they are both girls.

 

[Chuck]

Purple spray is not a deterrant to pecking, though it might help to heal any wounds.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for that,i bought the nettex anti pecking spray and moved them to a larger enclosure(10m2) and it seems to have done the trick for now,wound is healing and the bigger hen leaving her alone,