Hen scalped by turkeys. Help!

[Just_Clucky84]

I have an EE hen named Olive who was attacked by one of my turkeys last night. I brought her inside, stopped the bleeding and did my best to clean the wound. She has a hole in her neck and it seems like she's missing the skin over her scalp. I've put Neosporin on the wound to keep it from getting infected. We had a blizzard here in MA yesterday and I couldn't get to the store to get anything else.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. She takes water when I offer it to her but she has not eaten today. I really, really don't want to cull her. She is a pet.

 

[Wisher1000]

The hole in her neck is more worrisome than the scalping. I have had several that have recovered from having large patches of skin removed. You are doing everything right. Keep her in a crate or box in a warm area. Keep her bedding clean and tempt her to eat with cooked egg, canned tuna or cat food. Once she is eating, half the battle is won. Give her time and a peaceful place to recover and she should do the rest. They are very resilient.

 

[Sunset Ranch]

So sorry about your pet! Same thing happened to one of mine recently and I had her stitched up (It was much worse than your hens scalp loss). The vet gave me cephalexin to administer orally for 10 days, and she's fine now. If you can't get ahold of oral antibiotics, you could give your girl infant Poly Vi Sol without iron to keep her vitamin levels up.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Poor hen! I would recommend putting Hydrogen Peroxide on it as well as Blue-Kote (to seal the wound and heal it). Aloe vera or Vaseline might help too.

 

[bargain]

Wonderful suggestions already. Keep her in a warm and dry, cozy spot and try gently offering small amounts of food in your hand to her. Keep offering the water to her as hydration is really critical. If she is not comfortable eating straight from your hand, some are not, try putting the food in a dish so she can smell it up closer to her. When I had a turkey hurt once, I chopped up wild onions/garlic and it started eating just because of the smell. So if you have chives, or garlic or something you could chop up and put in the eggs, it might motivate her as well. She needs to rest and may very well be in a state of shock at the present. Praying she will be better soon. But keep offering that food and water. Take care and praying for you and your pet hen.

 

[Book Em Danno25]

Poor thing!! I think you have all the advice you need right here in the posts above.

 

[Just_Clucky84]

Thank you all so very, very much! I feel horrible for poor little Olive. I hate seeing her suffer. She's such a sweetie.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

You have good advice above. I'll add my $0.02.

Irrigate the wounds with a normal saline solution (you can buy OTC at a drugstore). Spray with Blue Kote. Then when that dries wear gloves and rub some triple antibiotic ointment into the wounds (also known as Neosporin, the kind with only bacitracin, neomycin and polymixin). Do this a few times a day (3ish) until the wounds start to clear up, then change to daily.

Keep the bird separate and feed high protein feed (scrambled eggs, 22% protein pellets or crumbles) plus black oil sunflower seeds to keep energy up.

The exact same thing happened to my dark cornish, Baldie... scalped by turkeys. She never did grow her feathers back on her head, hence the name. She's fine. Bad stuff happens.

 

[Just_Clucky84]

Hi everyone, I truly appreciate all the advice you shared with me. Unfortunately poor Olive passed away yesterday. I will never again keep turkeys and chickens together (even if they were raised together.) I know that they are animals, but I feel absolutely horrible. I had raised Olive from a baby and I watched her grow/develop for three years. She was my pet and I feel like I put her safety in jeopardy by keeping her with turkeys. I truly want to thank all of you for your concern and wonderful advice. My chickens are so important to me.Its wonderful to know that so many people care about their animals and their wellbeing. RIP Olive.

Abby

 

[TheNeonPanther]

I am very sorry about your loss and Let's hope things will get better. RIP olive.