6 week old chick nearly pecked to death this morning

[willtheycallmeblessed]

this is my first time posting. i'll save you all the details as to HOW the chick was allowed to mingle with our 12 older birds.

the top of its head and down the back of its neck about 2-3 inches is completely removed of feathers and skin. muscle is fully exposed. i'm too afraid to look at the extent of the wounds on its back, but it appears as if most of the skin is gone from most of its backside. when i found it, it was puffed up at the breast and laying on its belly with its eyes closed and head somewhat erect. i scooped it up and wrapped it in a warm blanket b/c it's legs were cold. i poured betadine all over its wounds, offered it some water which it drank, and put it on a nest of shredded newspaper inside a plastic box. i feel that i should cover its wounds but don't know how or with what. i've been offering it water every hour and it has been drinking each time. i am not able to take it to a vet. i have a feeling that i will be told by responders to take it to a vet. suffice it to say that i would like to be able to do so, but i cannot. i will very much appreciate your advice on home remedies re: wound care, pain management and hydration/nourishment.

thanks very much!

 

[fiberart57]

It sounds like you're doing the best you can, but the little one sounds like she's in pretty bad shape.

Continue with hydration and you could hard boil an egg and mash up the yolk and make a gruel out of it to give her for nutrition. Additionally you could make a gruel out of some chicken food; the important thing is to get her something that's soft and easier to digest. You might get some vitamins and mix it in her water. It's recommended to get Poly-vi-sol without iron from the baby department of the grocery store.

Keep her warm, in dim light and contained. You could put some ointment, Polysporin without any of the 'caines' in it, on the wounds.

Good luck, Mary

P.S. Welcome to BYC. I'm sorry you're having difficulties.

 

[teach1rusl]

Honestly, based on what you've described, I'd cull him/her.

I just think it would be in a lot of pain/discomfort. You don't need a vet to put the little bird down...

 

[Terri O]

Surprisingly they seem to rally from the worst injuries if you can keep them drinking and eating. Do as the first person said and if the little bird stops wanting to eat or drink then I would cull. But give him a chance for a few days...sometimes they surprise you! HTH--Terri O

 

[mkwags]

I would agree with giving it a chance before culling. I had a bantam hen that a dog damaged pretty bad. I thought for sure she would die. I recouped her in my garage in a large tote and she got back to normal again. I am shocked she lived! Keep water and food near, and she may do fine! Good luck!

 

[fiberart57]

For pain management you can crush an asprin and give her a small amount in applesauce, her egg yolk or some juice. You might do a search on how much to give her. This I don't know for sure.

Mary

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I had a similar thing happen last year. The little guy's head was pecked clean down to the skull bone. The area was about the size of a quarter. It looked really bad. I seperated him and moved him into the brooder pen inside. I washed his head with warm water and gooped on the neosporine really thick. Every day I would wash his head and goop on the neosporine. It looked really nasty for a while. One day the scab fell off and there was new skin growing. Long story short, his skin and muscle grew back and he was totally fine eventually. It took about a month or so, but he eventually moved back out to the coop and was fine.

To cull or not to cull is your choice. They are hardy little things, hardier than you would think. If you are attached to the baby, do your best to help her along. She might just surprise you.

 

[willtheycallmeblessed]

thanks so much for all the supportive advice. we're new at this business of birds and have lost several of them to predators and have experienced the wonders of birds' behaviors. normally this wouldn't rattle me so much, but we lovingly hatched this chick from an egg (in a cardboard box with a heat lamp - we took turns turning it several times per day). my four girls adore the little thing, and i'm quite fond of it too.

i've gotten it to eat a few bites of egg yolk, and the dear little thing is still drinking. it's even gotten up and walked around a bit. i smeared it all over with neosporin. however, it's started gently picking at itself. i'm worried about that and am not sure if i should use that blue kote stuff or pine tar, or just keep smearing it with neosporin. i'm not sure if it's actually picking itself to the flesh, or just picking at the neosporin.

i really hope the poor thing makes it but my heart breaks thinking about the torture it's endured. part of me wishes they'd just finished the job and killed the poor thing.

thanks for the encouragement. we're going to give it sometime to recover. i'm afraid we'll have to "cull" (new term for me) it if it starts pecking at itself. i don't know. do they make cones for chickens like they do for dogs???

 

[darkfur]

I keep quail and male quail are notorious for causing injuries like this. Anyway one weekend when the vets were shut I found a bird with most of the skin on the back of the head and neck torn away - still there but hanging off. It basically was skinned from the scalp down to the shoulders on the back of its neck but the skin was ok on its face and the front of the throat. In desperation I got out a strong sewing thread and a fine sharp needle, washed them in disinfectant and stitched away to pull the edges of the wounds together. I washed the wounds well with saline first and trimmed the feathers away from the edges of the wound. It was not a lot more difficult than sewing fabric, so if you can sew a button on or whatever you could do this. It worked perfectly, when it was all nearly healed and the scabs were coming off I pulled the thread out and once the feathers grew back it was invisible and I can't even remember which bird it was now. It didn't even get any infection or need antibiotics. So if you have the stomach for it and there is enough loose skin there it is something you could consider. If you want to do stitches there is sort of a window of opportunity, I recall my (human) doctor saying to me when I had a gash on my hand that you have to do it within I think it was 48 hours.

 

[willtheycallmeblessed]

thanks, darkfur, for that bit of advice. the poor thing doesn't have the skin anymore. i think the older birds ate it.

i'm not sure i could sew it up anyway. i'm in awe that you actually did that! wow! i might be able to put a bandaid or something on it, but stitches...that takes guts!! wtg!