Damaged Hen

[Grashirl]

Hi all ,

More advice needed please.
Just came home from work and found one of the two hens I have remaining has been attacked.
I can only assume that the other hen is the culprit. She has an open wound on her back and is struggling to use her left leg. I have separated them and she is eating OK.
How should I tackle this, and what should I do overnight?

Grashirl.

 

[foxy]

Are you sure that is was another hen? The reason I ask is that it is odd that she has a problem with her leg, unless she was trying to get away.

Were they kept in a run or free-ranging?

Isolating her is a good idea, so she can rest in peace and quiet. Try germoline or sudacreme on the wound for now. See how she is in the morning, if no improvement then you might want to consider a trip to the vet.

Hope she feels better soon! 17

 

[Grashirl]

Hi Foxy
She is in a run, have had a look around and can't find any damage to the run's wire.
So have to assume it's the other hen, the damaged hen is definitely the subservient one.
She normally gives the other one a wide berth, and waits at meal times until the other one has finished.
Would she benefit with more hens? We started with six, but one by one they have perished. Through illness I will add. They came to us free with a very sketchy background, should have twigged!!

 

[Marigold]

I would get this one better first, before thinking of getting more, though it's good to have more than two if only to avoid the problem of keeping a single, lonely hen if one dies. Then get a pair rather than just one, as a single hen is always hard to integrate. It does revitalise your flock if you have a couple of young POLs coming on, to help out when the older birds are getting a bit past their best laying days.
How have you separated them? If you can fix a mesh barrier across the run so they can still see each other, it might be a little easier to reintegrate them when she's recovered. Don't put them back in together until the wound is completely healed. I hope she improves overnight, poor girl.

 

[Grashirl]

Have done exactly that and knocked up a new box for her. As an add on whilst I was doing that she was attacked again. So no doubt who the culprit is.