It was a bitterly cold Saturday afternoon. I’d gone out back to give our three hens a snack. I enjoy hand-feeding them pieces of lettuce through the wire netting that encloses their pen. Snowy, Nellie and Hope gathered near me and gobbled their treats.
Suddenly I noticed there was something red on the ground. It was a blustery day and I thought some berries from nearby bushes might have been swept into the pen. But that wasn’t it. Snowy was bleeding.
I’ve written about this white Plymouth Rock chicken before. She is accident-prone. Once, my husband Paul found her bleeding from her head. She had sliced her comb. We think that the noise from a nearby construction project alarmed her and she jumped, catching her comb on the wire netting. She recovered, but her comb still flops over.
She’s been egg bound a couple of times. This means she had an egg in production, but couldn’t lay it. This condition makes hens feel sick.
Her worst experience (so far) was a prolapsed oviduct. This condition occurs when internal tissue is ejected with an egg. An essential part of the egg production apparatus protrudes from the bird’s body. Yours truly had to push it back in. We were worried about her that time, but she pulled through.
So what was it this time? I went into the house to get Paul. We can’t walk into our coop and pen; they’re too small.So rounding up chickens can be a project. After several tries, I managed to grab Snowy.
We brought her to the garage. Paul held her while I examined her. She is good about being held and poked at. Snowy has had plenty of experience with this.
I was relieved to see that the bleeding had an obvious cause, and it wasn’t life-threatening. One nail had broken off, and the cut extended into her toe.
We knew what to do because of our experience with the torn comb. We applied cornstarch. I probably should have made it into a paste because dousing a chicken’s foot with cornstarch is a messy business. However, I did manage to stop the bleeding with dry cornstarch. I poured some into my hand and held it around the affected toe, over and over again. It took about 10 minutes in all.
Generally, when chickens are sick or injured, it’s better to separate them from the rest of the flock. Hens will peck at any blood they see. I had, in fact, seen Hope and Nellie pecking at the blood on the ground of the pen.
However, as I said, it was a frigid day. I couldn’t see putting her in the unheated garage by herself. Chickens keep each other warm as they huddle together on their roost. If we isolated her in the garage with a space heater, we would be risking a fire. I was hoping that the thick coating of corn starch would mask the smell of blood, or just deter the other chickens from pecking at her. Also, it would be harder for them to do any real damage on Snowy’s dinosaur-like toes. We did isolate her when she cut her comb, but the weather was warm that time, and the top of her head is a much more sensitive spot.
Finally, I felt that Snowy’s place as “head hen” would probably keep her safe. She is bossy and loud, and the other hens usually follow her lead.
Dealing with chicken health issues is a difficult business. We do know of a veterinarian in our area who treats chickens, but he’s semi-retired. Paul took Snowy to him when she had the prolapsed oviduct, but mostly we try to take care of our birds ourselves. There are a few tricks of the trade besides corn starch. We can use Vetericyn, a healing liquid that is safe for all animals. That’s what we used on Snowy’s comb once the bleeding was staunched.
We have two kitty litter pans we bought specifically to wash the chickens in. One is for soapy water (we use Dawn) and the other for clear water, for rinsing. Bathing hens in warm water helps free a stuck egg when they’re egg bound. Chickens also get dirty sometimes, and just need to be washed.
We sometimes use a second pen for recuperating chickens. This pen can also be used to give the hens a fresh space to graze, as it’s fairly light and movable.
A pair of canine nail clippers completes our first-aid kit. We don’t tell the hens that they were designed for dogs.
On the cold, cold day when Snowy injured her toe, we returned her to the coop and hoped for the best. The next day I saw that her toe was healing nicely. There was no additional bleeding, and no evidence that the other two hens had pecked at her.
We are now awaiting her next adventure.
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