Baby chick injury

[kaylaewoldt928]

Hi I have to baby Welsummer chicks, both hens supposedly. They were born on March 16th 2016. They never have had a problem with eachother but I woke up one morning to see that my baby Poppy had a huge bloody hole on the back of her head. I've been dabbing warm water and putting neosporin on it but she keeps scratching and it's making it worse. I want to cry everytime I see it. I figured her sister peaches was attacking her "pecking order" but I kept a close eye on them and she isn't attacking her at all? I even tried to separate them but she flew out of the new box and got right back into the brooder with her injured sister. I'm not sure what to do but I hate the sight of this. I feel so horrible. Will she die?

 

[kaylaewoldt928]

Somebody please help

 

[huntingirl]

No. She won't die if you treat it correctly. Not too long ago I read a featured BYC article that literally had the exact same issue. I'll send you the link. Gimme a few minutes to find it. It will tell you everything you need to know and you can PM the writer for extra help!

 

[cafarmgirl]

You will likely need to find a way to separate them until this heals up or the other one is likely to peck at it. Maybe just use a piece of wire to partition off part of the brooder for her so she can still be near the other one? I would wash the wound well with warm water, use a large syringe if needed, to help clear away any matted blood so you can also see it better to treat it. Plain Neosporin is fine. She should heal up pretty quickly. Not sure what to do about her scratching at it though, kind of in a hard spot to bandage on a bird this size but maybe someone else will have a good suggestion for that.

How big is the brooder you have them in? Normal pecking order scuffles don't generally result in blood shed. Wounds like this are more often from aggression or stress related pecking. Sometimes you just get a mean bird, other times if they are feeling crowded they will start pecking each other.

 

[huntingirl]

The woman that wrote the article put triple antibiotic ointment on it with a little gauze to discourage scratching. She put screen between her and the other chicks and now that sweet baby is fine!

 

[kaylaewoldt928]

The woman that wrote the article put triple antibiotic ointment on it with a little gauze to discourage scratching. She put screen between her and the other chicks and now that sweet baby is fine!

How should I keep the gauze in place? With the feathers around it?

 

[huntingirl]

Hmmmmm. You can wrap it under her chin. I'm sorry. I'm still tryin to find the article. I'm so sorry for my slowness.

 

[kaylaewoldt928]

Hmmmmm. You can wrap it under her chin. I'm sorry. I'm still tryin to find the article. I'm so sorry for my slowness.

It's totally okay I appreciate all the help I can get. She's my baby ;(

 

[kaylaewoldt928]

I wanted to update. I Just pulled her out to clean her off again, and used a syringe with warm water to clean better. I'm starting to feel like we should put her down because it looks so hurtful and horrible, and I have never thought this about one of my animals. I feel so bad like it's all my fault. Right as soo. As I clean clean her and put her back in brooder she just scratches with her feet again, in which I assume are dirty and making her wound worse. Should I put her down? I'm so at loss guys.

It's freakinng horrible.

 

[kaylaewoldt928]

She is loosing her hair lower on her neck too? Could this be a disease????