RIR are notorious for being something of a bully, especially in groups. When you put them together again, I'd do the 'Meet & Greet' thing (see the link to my chicken info site, below for how-to's) and act as 'mama' to defend the bantam. Also, make sure that any bullied birds have a couple of places to hide--a couple of bushes work well. Just so they can get away from each other and out of sight. Your bantam is no doubt distressed--she's going to be sore at first and unhappy. Keep her warm and quiet, and offer her some extra protein in the form of live mealworms or crickets, or scrambled eggs or cooked ground beef to help her heal and grow new feathers. Clean her wounds if needed and apply a bit of Neosporin to them (just a thin layer so she doesn't preen it all off) and watch the wounds to be sure they don't infect. Unflavored Pedialyte (get it at the grocery store in the baby aisle) for her to drink instead of water for the next day or so will help boost her electrolytes--a good thing for sick/injured/stressed birds. Keep her company and talk to her in a soothing manner. The fact that she was pecked this hard was not a 'pecking order' thing--it was bullying, possible from stress and boredom/overcrowding. How big is your coop/run? Do they get access to fresh greens and allowed to free range? If not, consider tossing them interesting, time-consuming things to eat--heads of cabbage, raw corn on the cob--anything that diverts pecking from their flockmates and keeps them occupied. More info on my chicken site, here: http://jackshenhouse.com/ Enjoy your chickens! Velvet ~:>

1. "This annoying insect likes French cheese," said Tom briefly. 2. "Would you like to buy some cod?" asked Tom selfishly. (Libby doesn't like this.) 3. "It's homemade soup," said Tom uncannily. (my favorite of the bunch) 4. "I'm just an ordinary soldier," Tom admitted privately. 5. "That is a sick bird," said Tom illegally. 6. "It's the quotient of two integers," said Tom rationally. (Remember your Algebra I? No?) How smart you all are! for Annette and Libby, and for BBH and Ana. Thanks for playing trivia with me, said Tom weakly. ThinMan

I was thinking it might be some sort of lice or mites, but don't know. So far there is no way I'll catch him but will see what the story is today. Guess I'll know if it's a parasite if other birds display the same symptoms but fortunately not so far. Gah, it's been a bad year for birds for me! I've seen stuff I've never seen in years of bird watching. Guess that makes me lucky that I've lasted this long trouble free.

I guess the story is not over...as I said, little TUTI left at 1:55pm. At about 4:10pm, I heard a rustle in the birdless box (I left the nest there for now). The HOWR FRANTICALLY started to de-construct the nest. Grabbing nest material--fur, straw, grass, leaves--out of the hole! It was in a frenzy!!! It would grab something and almost throw itself at the hole to get the material out! If it went to grab a chunk of fur too big to take out, it pulled and pulled at it till it broke it down to a size that would go out the hole. Fast and furious. I did catch this frenzy on tape so I'll be putting that online in the next few days. I closed off the box for today. I need some rest. I can't imagine how such a little bird can do what I saw it do: peck eggs and throw them out, peck chicks and throw them out, attack almost-fledged chicks, and de-construct a HUGE TUTI nest! Blessings, Linda...