Caring for Wounded Chickens

Hi all! I thought I would share some info on my own experiences with caring for wounded chickens. There are a couple of different things that can cause a chicken to become injured. My own experience is from dealing with pecked/picked birds and a chicken that was attacked by our puppy (read about it here).

Picked/Pecked Birds

You may or may not remember the free leghorn chicks we got around Easter time. We got them from TSC for free since they were wounded and bloody. Chickens have a tendency to pick and peck at one another, particularly when they are overcrowded or too hot. This can also occur when you are trying to integrate different flocks of chickens into one flock. And, sometimes some birds are just bullies. At any rate, there are some key steps to save these feathery victims.

1. The best and most impotant thing to do is to separate the wounded birds from the non-wounded ones. Once chickens see blood, they won't leave it alone.

2. If your birds are bloody and have open wounds, you can use an antiseptic like Blu-Kote to prevent infections. They might be stained for a while, but they won't be sick.

Attacked Birds
If you have chickens, sometime during your chicken keeping you are bound to experience an attack by dogs, foxes, coyotes, etc. If your bird is fortunate enough to survive there are a few things you can do to help them.

1. As before, separate them. I put my bird in a large dog crate inside the coop so she can be protected from picking and stomping, but she can still get to see everyone.

2. Use an antiseptic or antibiotic ointment for small or healing open wounds.

3. Bandage any larger wounds and try to apply a bit of pressure for a while to staunch blood flow.

4. Wrap or splint injured legs.

5. Be sure they are getting and consuming food and, more importantly, water.

6. Give them some TLC, be patient, give it time, and hope for the best!

Thanks for reading!

PS. You can learn more about this on my friend Mary's blog post How to care for an injured chicken.