Chicken First-Aid???

Every morning I wake up and take the dog out to potty. While she is on the lead I check on my chickens, gardens and greenhouse; and this morning was no different. Except that it was.

While feeding the chickens, I noticed I was missing 2 chickens. One of them was Kung Pao (pictured right), and she has been hiding in the coop every morning because Smokey (my rooster) has been picking on her. (She is his favorite right now) I was also missing one of my Leghorn hens.

I found my Leghorn (she doesn't have a name, we just refer to them all as Peeps), in the coop. She was huddled up in the corner hiding from everyone. As I got closer I noticed the top of her head was discolored and missing feathers. I immediately went over and scooped her up. After walking out of the coop I realized she had been pecked, and pretty badly. The entire top of her head was featherless, and parts of her comb were scabbed, along with her head. Thankfully she wasn't actively bleeding, but it still looked pretty bad. I put her into the old coop and run by herself to isolate her from the bullying and to make sure she is able to heal completely without any more trauma.

I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be doing first-aid on my chicken, but I guess it's no different than having any other animal or child, for that matter.

After getting her set up with food and water, I came in to do some research. What do you use for first-aid on a chicken? The answer to that is...the same thing you use on yourself. lol The only difference is you can't use a triple-antibiotic ointment with pain reliever. Apparently the pain reliever can be harmful to them. (Who knew??)

So, now for the first aid. First I wrapped her in a towel and sat her on my lap. Then covered her eyes with the corner of the towel, which she didn't like, to spray on the peroxide to make sure the wound was clean. Then applied some triple-antibiotic ointment with some Q-tips. She did lose a few more small pin feathers, they must have been already loose. Overall she is doing well, but I will have to continue to treat her and keep an eye on her as she heals.

And all of this before I had my coffee, brushed my teeth or even did my hair. Homesteading at it's finest. HAHAHAHA