Time on Her Own
A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
One of the Buff Orpington hens started losing feathers on her back thanks to an overzealous rooster. One morning I discovered her in a nest box with a gash on her back.
Having watched Rachel many times, I donned gloves and treated the hen with Blu-Kote – a germ-killing fungicidal wound dressing. True to its name, it is a dark blue liquid that stains whatever it touches, hence the gloves. I thought I was being smart. The hen, however, shook her head in disagreement and flung blue everywhere.
At least the wound was covered.
A few days later, she wandered into an empty run, and I closed the gate and got her food and water. The isolation did wonders for her and before long her feathers all grew back. She even started laying eggs again!
She got out of her pen and I figured she was ready to be with the others. However, a few days later I found her back in the nest box with missing feathers. I returned her to the isolation pen. She was not quite ready to join society.
As summer comes to an end and the start of school/work looms ever near, I can say I may have to agree with her. I’m not quite ready…