Help with a roo missing part of his scalp - skull exposed

Date sort Score sort
ChickDancer

ChickDancer

Songster
5 Years
Mar 19, 2014
1,383
195
151
I don't want to post pics of the actual wound yet. It's gruesome. He's alive, but is missing about a 1-inch circular area of his scalp. His skull is actually exposed.

So far, I have taken a non-stick gauze pad and coated it with Vaseline. Then I applied it to his exposed skull, and used self-adhesive bandage wrap to secure it. I have forced some tetracycline water into his mouth so he has antibiotics in his system. I'll keep forcing more through out the day - about an eyedropper full at a time. I have a towel-lined laundry basket that he is sitting in. Occasionally he stands up, but the gauze is covering one eye, and he won't open the other one. I cleared the dried blood from both nostrils so he can breath through his nose, and his breathing is deep and even, like he's sleeping.

I'm happy with that.

My question is, HOW and whether or not the wound will heal. There is not enough skin to pull it together and sew it up - I already tried pulling the sides together using two people and two sets of tweezers. It just doesn't cover it.

Will his wound heal over the scalp? About how long will it take to cover a 1-inch area? I plan to change the dressing on the wound every day, and even had my sister buy a whole new jar of Vaseline just for that purpose. But I want to know how well his skin will grow back over the skull.

He's a phoenix rooster. He is large-fowl, but his head is small, so a 1-inch circular area is pretty significant.

And just FYI: The wound was caused by a fight with another rooster. But this guy is now inside with a chicken diaper on, and he'll be here until I can get him a pen of his own. Then I'll separate the girls between them.
 
By the way, here he is WITHOUT showing the wound. The liquid you see on his comb and face is mostly the vaseline. It's not actively bleeding there right now (but he did have wounds there from the fighting, which is why it's coated too).

 
It will heal, but it will take at least a month to do so. The edges of the wound will start to produce new skin cells, and as the cells proliferate they will spread across the skull to form a new layer of skin. It is a slow and time consuming process that is helped along by several things:

-high protein diet with lots of added vitamins and minerals
-keeping the wound bed clear of infection
-preventing any new damage from outside sources
-keeping the wound bed free of eschar and necrotic tissue that would hinder healing.

The antibiotic you are using is not the drug of choice for wound healing. The one you want to use is PenG injectible. You can find it at any feed store along with syringes.

I am not a huge fan of Vaseline. It will work in a pinch, but if you can gain access to some Silvadene cream (which is a much better product overall) I would recommend using that. It is pretty amazing stuff for large wounds.

Even without a pic I can tell you that a 1" wound is nothing. This will heal in no time. Keep it clear of infection, and he will be good to go.

Side note- I once had a bird that lost 64 square inches of skin. What a fiasco! She made it, though. It was a long, long, long time in healing, but she made it through. Never grew a single feather where she lost all that skin, so she looked pretty ridiculous, but she went on for another couple years despite that.
 
Oops- forgot to add a few things.

He needs to stay well-hydrated, so he either needs to be drinking or you need to be hydrating him via feeding tube or SQ hydration.

If you are going to treat with antibiotics then you also need to be treating him with a probiotic at the same time and for several weeks after the course. I hope he like yogurt and buttermilk. A few teaspoons a day should suffice.
 
CMV said:
It will heal, but it will take at least a month to do so. The edges of the wound will start to produce new skin cells, and as the cells proliferate they will spread across the skull to form a new layer of skin. It is a slow and time consuming process that is helped along by several things:

-high protein diet with lots of added vitamins and minerals
-keeping the wound bed clear of infection
-preventing any new damage from outside sources
-keeping the wound bed free of eschar and necrotic tissue that would hinder healing.

The antibiotic you are using is not the drug of choice for wound healing. The one you want to use is PenG injectible. You can find it at any feed store along with syringes.

I am not a huge fan of Vaseline. It will work in a pinch, but if you can gain access to some Silvadene cream (which is a much better product overall) I would recommend using that. It is pretty amazing stuff for large wounds.

Even without a pic I can tell you that a 1" wound is nothing. This will heal in no time. Keep it clear of infection, and he will be good to go.

Side note- I once had a bird that lost 64 square inches of skin. What a fiasco! She made it, though. It was a long, long, long time in healing, but she made it through. Never grew a single feather where she lost all that skin, so she looked pretty ridiculous, but she went on for another couple years despite that.
Click to expand...

1. High protein diet isn't a problem. I raise chicks year-round, so I've ALWAYS got 24% feed crumbles on hand.
2. Before dressing the wound, I poured iodine on it. I know it says for "minor" wounds, but I figured it was better than using water to "clean" the wound before dressing it.
3. Preventing further damage isn't a problem. I bought chicken diapers JUST for this purpose. He'll be inside until it heals. Completely.
4. What would you recommend to stop that? Picking his "scabs" every day? Part of the reason I put vaseline on, is so it wouldn't scab up and attach itself to the gauze. But to keep it from scabbing up at all, do I need to clean it with a hard toothbrush every day?
 
CMV said:
Oops- forgot to add a few things.

He needs to stay well-hydrated, so he either needs to be drinking or you need to be hydrating him via feeding tube or SQ hydration.

If you are going to treat with antibiotics then you also need to be treating him with a probiotic at the same time and for several weeks after the course. I hope he like yogurt and buttermilk. A few teaspoons a day should suffice.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention things too, lol!

I do have Penicillin-G on hand, and the needles and syringes. I just didn't give him any yet, because I was being very careful about handling him. I didn't want him to fight me, and cause more damage when I just had bandaged the wound.

But probiotics isn't a problem either. I actually make my own yogurt, so I can easily get him started on that. And I eat it unsweetened and unflavored, so he'll get the raw stuff too.

And water is the one thing I have been forcing on him. Food, not quite so much, but definitely water. Since he won't open his eyes, I'm putting it into his mouth for him, using an eyedropper. Hopefully when he opens his eyes more, he'll drink on his own. But he's right here in my bedroom so I'm sure I'll notice any changes. I don't go back to work until Saturday, so I've got him under a VERY watchful eye for at least the next 5+ days.
 
Last edited:
1. Perfect
2. Perfect
3. Perfect
4. You want it to form some scabs, just not rock hard ones that will prevent the area from healing. I would actually let him form scabs for 3 days and then on the 3rd day do a wet-to-dry dressing to pull the scab off. It will encourage new skin cells to form once the scab is pulled off. Once the scab is off, treat with the Silvadene (or vaseline/Bacitracin/plain Neosporin applied lightly) each day until your 3rd day rolls around again, and then do another wet-to-dry dressing for overnight, and in the morning pull it off. If you are not seeing some scab removal each time you pull the dressing off then do it twice in a 24 hour period. You want to pull some, if not most, of the scab off each time to encourage new skin to grow in from the edges. But, you do not want to be constantly pulling the scabs off with each dressing change because the risk of infection is too high. Scabs are nature's bandaids, but in the case where you want a wound to heal faster, you need to keep the wounds constantly healing by worrying them in a clean manner. The wet-to-dry dressing should do that.
 
OMG- you are so darned organized that I should be asking you for advice. It sounds like you have everything well in hand. He is going to be fine.
 
I usually give advice on here, actually. But this is the first time I have come across a wound I couldn't sew shut, that exposed major parts (like a skull).
 
You appear to have everything covered,just make sure that his skull is covered/kept moist,bone cannot be allowed to dry out. Once tissue has started to cover skull,bandaging can be removed if bird is in a clean environment.
 

Similar threads

D
Strange blistering on turkey neck/shoulder
2
Replies
13
Views
1K
CombNWattles
CombNWattles
Rocking W
How to keep chicken(s) from pecking leg wound
2
Replies
15
Views
1K
Rocking W
Rocking W
M
Rooster bleeding/broken blood feather?
Replies
6
Views
749
Livvydays
L
Jtaranc
    • Like
UPDATE on scalped BCM hen healing (graphic pics)
Replies
1
Views
484
Eggcessive
Eggcessive
D
    • Like
    • Love
need advice - neighborhood rooster found with head injury/exposed skull
2
Replies
11
Views
2K
Barnette
B

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom