Pets chickens

[Papa Juggs]

Time to get a gun and go all redneck.

 

[Kram]

Well it's turned up this morning, unbelievable after yesterday's 42 degree heat with no water or food. Its head is missing all the feathers on the head and bloodied/scabbed up very badly everywhere including an eye, must have been hiding under the house. Should be alright I think, strange must have been chased by something and got stuck somewhere or probably attacked by some sort of bird, weird because it has heaps of places to take cover very quickly and I've never had that problem ever apart from crows or magpies grabbing young chicks.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Well it's turned up this morning, unbelievable after yesterday's 42 degree heat with no water or food. Its head is missing all the feathers on the head and bloodied/scabbed up very badly everywhere including an eye, must have been hiding under the house. Should be alright I think, strange must have been chased by something and got stuck somewhere or probably attacked by some sort of bird, weird because it has heaps of places to take cover very quickly and I've never had that problem ever apart from crows or magpies grabbing young chicks.

Oh the poor little thing!!
Bathe her sores with dilute Betadine if you have any. If there are flies around, get yourself a can of Cetrigen which is an antibacterial spray for stuff like that, plus it has insect repellent.

 

[Teriyakicat]

She is SO lucky to have survived, by the sounds of it.
Doesn't sound like a fox's behaviour, though, does it?

 

[Kram]

She is SO lucky to have survived, by the sounds of it.
Doesn't sound like a fox's behaviour, though, does it?

Yeah looks like it was more likely attacked by some sort of bird I reckon.. Although that's strange as well there is a lot of places to get cover in the yard and I didn't hear anything being at home. Never had anything like that before. Put it inside the bathroom for the day to recover out of the heat, will have to watch for flies it's sort of 'scalped', the face is scabbed completely over on one side looks like it probably lost an eye but otherwise physically seems pretty good.

Put some mesh over the top of the side gate anyway, would be hard for anything to get in that way now.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Yeah looks like it was more likely attacked by some sort of bird I reckon.. Although that's strange as well there is a lot of places to get cover in the yard and I didn't hear anything being at home. Never had anything like that before. Put it inside the bathroom for the day to recover out of the heat, will have to watch for flies it's sort of 'scalped', the face is scabbed completely over on one side looks like it probably lost an eye but otherwise physically seems pretty good.

Put some mesh over the top of the side gate anyway, would be hard for anything to get in that way now.

Good idea to have it inside where you can check on it regularly. I also have a smallish cage where I can separate sick birds from others. You might need to bathe the eye with warm saline water as well, to prevent infection. I did my rooster's eye twice daily, and it's great now. Eyedropper or syringe. Might cause a bit of pain to the chick but it'll prevent worse pain (or death) if it gets infected.

She's a tough little bugger by the sounds.
No cats around? Sounds like even something a cat might do to her and she's given it a run for its money.

 

[Papa Juggs]

Sounds like this is one knucklehead that is lucky to be alive but not out of the woods yet.

Hoping for a speedy recovery.

You might have to ramp up your already ramped up protection Kram81. It sucks but it's better than losing chickens all the time. I'd say it was whatever got your other birds a while back and it knows where to go when it's hungry.

 

[Kram]

Took it to the vets, its head is worse than I thought when they cleaned it up being exposed skull everywhere.. Surprisingly there is still some sort of an eye there though. She I think was sort of angling towards maybe looking at putting it down but then I said an she agreed that it does actually otherwise look pretty healthy and happy considering what it went through and she said she's seen birds come back surprisingly before.. so just got some antibiotics and we'll see what happens.

Usually only sick or injured birds get attacked like that but I think what must have happened is it's gone right up the back into the old now unused pen to get the wheat laying there as they usually do when I first let them out, and it's been attacked by a crow or something but it's got itself stuck in some netting in an opening corner preventing it escaping the attack. All I can think of and very unlucky for the poor thing.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Took it to the vets, its head is worse than I thought when they cleaned it up being exposed skull everywhere.. Surprisingly there is still some sort of an eye there though. She I think was sort of angling towards maybe looking at putting it down but then I said an she agreed that it does actually otherwise look pretty healthy and happy considering what it went through and she said she's seen birds come back surprisingly before.. so just got some antibiotics and we'll see what happens.

Usually only sick or injured birds get attacked like that but I think what must have happened is it's gone right up the back into the old now unused pen to get the wheat laying there as they usually do when I first let them out, and it's been attacked by a crow or something but it's got itself stuck in some netting in an opening corner preventing it escaping the attack. All I can think of and very unlucky for the poor thing.

That's a mix of good and bad news.
I think you'll have to name her after some famous warrior- hmmm ... maybe not Xena....

 

[Kram]

To poor little bugger's injuries are very horrific.. Decent patch of bare skull But I did find a case on the net similar that survived although taking a very long time to eventually heal (albeit minus the eye injury), and others that were worse but they died. Although they sounded actually sick generally ie not eating much and weak. The thing with this one that I think it might have a chance is that otherwise it seems quite fine, it's certainly eats and drinks quite well, it can fly and jump up and over into the bath where for some reason it likes to sleep.

One of the few good things we have here is the vet, very nice lady and reasonable, only charged us $35 to look at it and give us medicine.

How is your little white Pekin Teriyakicat, idea if roo or hen yet? My little one is quite funny, although it is a bit timid and not nearly as friendly compared to the other ones I had. No clue what it is yet.. Sussex chicks are ridiculously easy to tell, good idea after a couple of weeks and 100% certain by about a month.

 

[Teriyakicat]

To poor little bugger's injuries are very horrific.. Decent patch of bare skull But I did find a case on the net similar that survived although taking a very long time to eventually heal (albeit minus the eye injury), and others that were worse but they died. Although they sounded actually sick generally ie not eating much and weak. The thing with this one that I think it might have a chance is that otherwise it seems quite fine, it's certainly eats and drinks quite well, it can fly and jump up and over into the bath where for some reason it likes to sleep.

One of the few good things we have here is the vet, very nice lady and reasonable, only charged us $35 to look at it and give us medicine.

How is your little white Pekin Teriyakicat, idea if roo or hen yet? My little one is quite funny, although it is a bit timid and not nearly as friendly compared to the other ones I had. No clue what it is yet.. Sussex chicks are ridiculously easy to tell, good idea after a couple of weeks and 100% certain by about a month.

That's good news, Kram. If she's survived the first couple of days, then I'm pretty sure you'll have her for a while!
And great that the vet was cheap. The one I went to (avian vet) charged me 100$ to look at my young chicken. Luckily once he gave me antibiotics, I was able to just get them through my regular vet the next time the same thing happened. Both chickens died, unfortunately


My pekin is a hen- she's now about 3 years old. Very cute and fluffy


(that's Pekin (original name? ) with her 5 silkie chicks she hatched )

 

[Kram]

Oh sorry I got confused and thought it was hatched recently.

It was quite funny at the vets when there are people there with you know, normal pets like dogs and cats and this man then walks in with a small chicken in a cage..

 

[Teriyakicat]

Oh sorry I got confused and thought it was hatched recently.

It was quite funny at the vets when there are people there with you know, normal pets like dogs and cats and this man then walks in with a small chicken in a cage..

lol- I can imagine
My vet really only deals with cats and dogs but does a bit of work with rabbits, guinea pigs, etc. It's a shame but she just tells me that she knows no more than I do about chickens.

I used to look up the Backyard Chicken Forum, which is full of good advice from people who've been rearing chickens of all types, for years. Have you ever looked anything up there?

Oops- and the confusion was my fault. I posted a very old pic of my pekin at a young age for comparison with yours. That would've caused you to think she was new.
We aren't getting any new chicks. I have to get rid of the ones that I have. If you happen to know anyone SOR who wants roosters, let me know. My friend doesn't want any.

 

[Kram]

Well chook is still healthy in the body and eating well living in the bathroom, I'm just a bit nervous about its skull being exposed and whether skin tissue can eventually start to somehow regrow cover it again even if it takes a long time.

Seeing this gives us some hope though, it's fairly similar minus the serious eye injury to mine..

http://bonafidefarm.com/2012/08/20/cora-update/

 

[Teriyakicat]

Well chook is still healthy in the body and eating well living in the bathroom, I'm just a bit nervous about its skull being exposed and whether skin tissue can eventually start to somehow regrow cover it again even if it takes a long time.

Seeing this gives us some hope though, it's fairly similar minus the serious eye injury to mine..

http://bonafidefarm.com/2012/08/20/cora-update/

That's good news about your chicken, Kram. Sounds like it's going to be a long road back to full health. You won't want to put her back with the others too soon or they might peck her head but, on the other hand, you don't want her to be a loner, either.
Wow!! That chick, Cora, was pretty damaged! My cousin's son brought his pig-hunting pup over one day and it totally scalped one of my silkie roosters. I made him chop its head off (the chicken, not the dog). I felt that the comb was so important due to its heat-regulating abilities, that the rooster would not survive without one.
What a shame I never gave it the chance

 

[Kram]

Any guesses as to whether this character is a rooster or not @teriakicat?

It's got tufts of orange through the black/grey here and there so I guess it's a cross between his black hen and a buff rooster.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Any guesses as to whether this character is a rooster or not @teriakicat?

It's got tufts of orange through the black/grey here and there so I guess it's a cross between his black hen and a buff rooster.

Nah- sorry Wish I could sex a chick but I can't.
I think there's a 'rough guess' method of counting rows of feathers along the wings but think that's done at a much earlier age and isn't fail-proof.
You'll just have to open up his/her back end and take a peek to see if it's got a little sticky-outie-thingy

 

[Kram]

Nah- sorry Wish I could sex a chick but I can't.

Depends on the breed I guess. The Sussex ones seem to be very easy, even really early on. Roosters have longer legs with a noticeably different 'gait' and a bare backside. Hens walk differently and have early tail feathering.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Depends on the breed I guess. The Sussex ones seem to be very easy, even really early on. Roosters have longer legs with a noticeably different 'gait' and a bare backside. Hens walk differently and have early tail feathering.

That's true. It's often easier, too, if you have a couple for comparison or if you've had the breed before and know what to look for. I've only had one Pekin.
And smaller breeds can be tricky early on.

 

[Kram]

That's good news about your chicken, Kram. Sounds like it's going to be a long road back to full health. You won't want to put her back with the others too soon or they might peck her head but, on the other hand, you don't want her to be a loner, either.
Wow!! That chick, Cora, was pretty damaged! My cousin's son brought his pig-hunting pup over one day and it totally scalped one of my silkie roosters. I made him chop its head off (the chicken, not the dog). I felt that the comb was so important due to its heat-regulating abilities, that the rooster would not survive without one.
What a shame I never gave it the chance

Should have lopped the mutt's head off as well

Mine is just as badly off as that Cora chicken plus with the eye injured, as I said earlier the real worry is that it can't regrow skin to cover and protect its bare bone and it has to get put down I tried to chuck her rooster pal in just for a bit to say hello the other day but it went to peck straight at its head unfortunately, not trying to hurt it or anything just being inquisitive as they are.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Should have lopped the mutt's head off as well

Mine is just as badly off as that Cora chicken plus with the eye injured, as I said earlier the real worry is that it can't regrow skin to cover and protect its bare bone and it has to get put down I tried to chuck her rooster pal in just for a bit to say hello the other day but it went to peck straight at its head unfortunately, not trying to hurt it or anything just being inquisitive as they are.

I wonder if you could attach a little bit of cloth to her head somehow, once she's healed fully?
I guess it's a matter of "wait and see". And letting time to do its work.
The dog was just a pup. My nephew admitted that he should've introduced her to the roosters when he arrived but just hadn't thought of it as he'd just popped in to drop something off and we'd got talking. She (the pup) was good with his own chooks- just hadn't seen my sort of chickens before, perhaps

 

[Kram]

The mother left its little ones today and started laying again, a fair bit earlier than they usually do. Still overall did a pretty good job looking after them though.

 

[Teriyakicat]

The mother left its little ones today and started laying again, a fair bit earlier than they usually do. Still overall did a pretty good job looking after them though.

She's a good girl!!

 

[Kram]

Teriyakicat Smokey the Pekin is different to the others I had, it's quite timid and the little bugger is pretty difficult to catch for a cuddle Looking on the net apparently you can tell what Pekins are pretty early with the comb, it has a relatively prominent one like a rooster but they usually are red early and its one is more light orange like a hen, so I don't know..

 

[Teriyakicat]

Teriyakicat Smokey the Pekin is different to the others I had, it's quite timid and the little bugger is pretty difficult to catch for a cuddle Looking on the net apparently you can tell what Pekins are pretty early with the comb, it has a relatively prominent one like a rooster but they usually are red early and its one is more light orange like a hen, so I don't know..

just enjoy it, whether it's male or female, Kram..

until it crows