Cleopatra

Good Morning Chicken Scratch Blog Followers! I apologize it has been so long since my last post. A lot has happened with the girls lately so I have to get to sharing!
About a month ago one of our new hens was being picked on. This is normal when you add new hens to the flock because they have to reestablish the pecking order. Someone will always be the head hen and someone will be at the bottom, it is just how it works. As long as no one is bleeding and for the most part they are getting along then everything is going correctly. However, we had one of our girls that ended up getting pecked a bit too much.
 Cleo is our largest hen. Her growth rate is that of a meat bird, however, she is still an egg layer. Looking at her size you would think that she would be the "boss" of the group but she truly is a gentle giant. The crown still belongs to Betty and Luna, they keep our flock in line.
   At the top of Cleo's tail near her preening gland up towards the middle of her back her feathers had been plucked out. Which then caused her to have a bit of bleeding. It sounds scary but I can assure you she was fine and after we saw her wound she received the royal treatment!
    When you first experience a bird that is hurt it can be a bit overwhelming. Many of you know I have a incredibly soft spot for animals and sympathize with their pain as a lot of people I know do as well. You just have to remember that these things happen and do what you can to make them more comfortable and help the wound stay clean and heal.

Cleo and I hanging out for a few minutes.

  The first thing we did was give Cleo a bath. I wanted to make sure the wound was clean and the area around it was as well. You can do this in a wash sink or a shallow bucket. You fill the sink/bucket with warm water and gently set the bird in. They will fidget at first. Chickens remind me of cats and are not big fans of getting wet. Hold their wings down and lightly keep pressure on the hen and you will feel her relax in the warm water. Of all the chicken baths I have given I have not had a hen yet who did not enjoy the bath after they were warm. I run the water over the hens entire body except for their head. I only spot wash a hens head if necessary with a damp towel.  Then I use an animal friendly shampoo that is usually for sensitive skin so it is not so harsh on the hens. After washing the entire body I rinse the hen thoroughly and wrap her in a towel. We have a towel that is designated for Chickens now so I would keep that separate from your personal towels. I use a blow dryer to finish drying their feathers. Keep it on a low heat and put a good distance between the dryer and feathers so the bird does not get too hot. If you move in a circular motion it drys the feathers faster as it lifts them from the skin to get in between each layer. Once dry they can usually rejoin the flock. This time we do not do that with Cleo because we needed her to heal.
      For a few days I cleaned her wound with Peroxide and put some Neosporin on it to help prevent infection. I applied both parts of this process with a Q-tip.
   We kept her separated from the other birds until her wound scabbed over. She got her own food, bed and waterer. She loved it. We hung out! It was nice because she use to be a little hesitant when we would pick her up. Now, she runs right over to us when we walk in the run and typically follows me around! Such a sweetheart.

  Just to note, you want to keep the bird separated from the other hens until they are healed otherwise the wound will keep being re-opened. Her sisters cannot help but peck out of curiosity. You can keep them in a crate or if you have another coop area you can put the bird in there. We kept Cleo in a crate during this process. It was big enough for her to walk around and stand up so she was comfortable. We put her food and water in there with her along with a small branch that she could roost on at night to sleep.
  Currently she is back in the run and good as new. Her feathers are still missing, however, they will grow back once she goes through her first molt.