Snow White

A Tale of Resilience

Warning:  The pictures are graphic...

Chickens, I have learned, are incredibly resilient.  I grew up around domestic turkeys and was convinced that birds were the most stupid and fragile of the barnyard animals. Now I know better.

We started our hen house with six baby chicks three years ago. We lost one chick from pasty butt and is how we learned that that was even a thing. We replaced the chick with another who was played with too rough by our new puppy a few months later. For two years, we had a happy laying flock of 5. This spring, we decided to freshen the flock with new chicks. We are only allowed a small number of animals in our yard, so the new ones would replace the old ones they began laying.

We picked out four chicks, all a little different so we could tell them apart. The Girls named them after fairy tales, Ella, Snow, Raven, and Fey. They began in the house in a dog crate fitted with a heat lamp, then moved to the garage in a fenced area. Once they had feathers, it was time to be introduced to the big girls in the coop. Our coop has an area beneath that can be closed off, but is still viable through the fencing to the run and outside. It was in this space that the new chicks were living when the accident happened.

One April afternoon, while looking out the window, I noticed that the door leading to under the coop was open. I hurried outside, hoping that the young birds were ok. What I found made me cry. The hens were there, attacking one of the young chicks. Chickens eat meat and are attracted to blood. It appeared that there had been a fight, pecking order being established, and Snow had started to bleed. The other chickens all came and were pecking at the open wound on her head. She looked dazed, barely alive, could not hold her head up, and eyes not able to stay open. The entire back of her head was gone, and skull exposed. I grabbed the chicken and brought her to the house. I was sure she was going to die. I put her in a cat carrier with warm towels and turned on a heat lamp. Then I went to work researching what to do.

I read that I should clean the wound, and apply triple antibiotic ointment, then keep it covered. I carefully washed Snow's head with warm water and gauze. I attempted to apply the ointment to the dry wound, but it just slid off. I finally put the cream on the dressing and just stuck it to her head. It fell off after an hour, but it was better than nothing. Snow spend the first night in the house. The next day, I moved her to the garage along with the heat lamp and water laced with Sav-A-Chick Electrolyte powder. She was beginning to walk around some but still seemed stunned and not well. I looked again on the internet and learned about Vetericyn Plus wound spray. We had used Blu Kote when disbudding goats, but the spray is so big I worried about getting it in her eyes. The Vet spray was perfect.  We abandoned the gauze and began to spray the wound three times a day.  She began to improve.

Within a few days, she was acting normal. She began to eat and drink as usual and even began to make noise. A week and a half later, she was ready to brave the outside again. Because her wound was still open, I could not put her with the other chickens. I set up a fence in the back of the run, and that is where she spent the days. At night I would bring her into the garage with the heat lamp.  By the time May rolled around, she was healed. The wound was scarred over, and some feathers were growing along the edges.  She moved back into the coop without any problems.

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Today she is perfectly healthy and accepted, part of the flock. The wound scars remain; feathers don't grow there, so my son calls her baldy.

I am amazed at the strength and resilience I saw in this small bird. Life often feels overwhelming, like there is no use trying. But, if a chicken can find the will and strength do go on under impossible circumstances, so can I.