A visitor at the door

So now we had four out of the five chickens we had originally started with. They appeared to be settling in to their new home. Each morning, they would come out of the coop and spend the day grazing and feeding in the yard. They would sun themselves near their favorite berry bushes and head back to their coop in the evening until the next day.

All was well, with the exception of the missing pullet. Where could it have gone? I found two spots in the fenced area where chickens could have easily escaped and repaired the holes to avoid another experience of chasing missing chickens. Our new additions were not especially tame, but were getting accustomed to our home and would now watch me as I would go about my chores in their house.  They eagerly awaited a refill to their food each day and to their water. I was finding that the food dishes were becoming empty before 24 hours passed. I guess I would have to upgrade to larger feeders. Their water appeared to last a couple of days.

We were making progress on the house, painting, scrubbing, gardening. Long days had gone by as we tried to get as many repairs done as possible before the moving truck brought all of our things from our prior home. The days were long but beneficial, as we were seeing our home materialize. Meanwhile, the chickens were settling and doing what chickens do.

But then, after three days had passed since the "escape", a knock came to the door. "Who could it be?" I thought, since we knew very few folks in our new home neighborhood. I answered the door, and found a neighbor I hadn't yet met and her daughter. The neighbor was holding one of my chickens.....the missing one! I couldn't believe it! She introduced herself and said she thought this (the chicken in her hands) might belong to me. Wow! I was floored. I thought for sure that chicken had been eaten by a coyote or some other demise. I never thought I would see it again. But there it was, with a huge bloody wound on the back of the head.

I thanked her as she handed me the bird. She said her daughter had found her and had put her in with their birds.  And, as I learned, she became "hen pecked" due to the other birds not knowing her. They were not welcoming and really would have preferred, I guess, that she was not there. My new neighbor had discovered that we had become new chicken keepers and brought her home.

"Now what?!" I thought, as I carried this bloodied and frightened bird into the house to show my husband and daughter. They did not want any part of this horrible looking creature, and I wasn't sure what to do about her wound. I knew I needed to do something....but what? This was not something I had read about when I was preparing for this new position as a chicken owner.

I put the bird with the others and immediately realized that she was being picked on in my small flock too. How could this be? She is one of their own and was only missing a few days! They all got along so peachy only a few days ago! I had to do some research and found the site http://www.backyardchickens.com/ where I was able to look up many of possible ailments folks have dealt with and advice about what worked.

Aha! I found out that this poor "hen pecked" chick was going to continue to be beat up on unless I did something to prevent it. I read about something called "Blu Kote" to apply to the wound, and I also read about "bag balm". The bag balm, it was said, tasted bad to the other chickens and would deter continued pecking.  That sounded good! Something had to be done and quick...I was afraid the others were going to be the end of this poor creature.

I bought some "bag balm" and trekked out to the coop to doctor my new charge. The coop, being fairly large, made it difficult to catch any of the birds. I had to block the door after the others got out and then go about trying to catch her. She frightened me a bit when she flapped her wings. But, I knew she was frightened and wouldn't hurt me. I caught her and liberally applied the bag balm to the back of her head. Poor baby! Her wound must have been one and a half inches wide and four inches long going down the back of her neck.

She didn't seem to mind the bag balm, yet was happy to get away from me after I doctored her. She went on her way to go outside. I waited and watched to see how the others would respond. The largest bird would peck at her when she came anywhere near the group.  Then two went after her. As they pecked at her, they got some of the bag balm on their beaks and didn't seem really happy with the result of the goop now on the end of their beak. I watched for awhile and thought I should wait to see what would happen. It was nightfall and the birds were getting ready for bed. Hopefully, all would be well and this bird would heal as good as new.