Advice for treating severe head injury from pecking <pics>

[RedDogChick]

Thanks for all the advice I've gleaned so far from this community, now I have some specific questions. This is my first time raising chickens, and overnight/morning of Sep4-5, one of my youngest pullets was savagely attacked by 2 oldest layers. Injured bird (Copper) is isolated from 5 other pullets (I have rehomed the murderers), head injury has been cleaned and I've been checking and applying ointment to keep moist daily. Copper is eating, drinking and working in general. My question is how to treat her head injury going forward. As you will see by photos (taken on Sep 10, and after applying ointment), it appears as though she was 'scalped' and there is this roll of skin? It's very hard. Also, I know she has both eyes, and both pupils have reacted to light. But the left one has been closed for past 2 days. It was closed earlier, I applied ointment and it opened up, now it's closed again. I have not clipped any feathers and everything looks clean and healing. What do I do next? Should I try to bathe her? There is a lot of dried blood in the feathers that remain. Will she need a helmet? Any idea how long an injury like this might take to heal to allow re-introduction to the others? Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer. And I hope I did this right and you got the pictures.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Start off by gently doing warm compresses (with a wet washcloth) to soften up the crusty blood.

Try to clear the entire area as best you can, and remove any glued on/stuck on feathers. After she's cleaned up, you can use chlorhexidine, betadine, or vetericyn to clean the wound. Be very careful you don't get it in her eyes.

Apply Neosporin (no pain killer as it is toxic) and cover the entire wound. Do not let it dry out. Keep her inside and away from the other birds until it's completely healed. Hope this helps and she recovers soon!

Side note: Watch for neurological symptoms as well.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Make a Saline rinse (Boil 1 quart of water with 2 teaspoons of salt for 5-10 minutes, then let completely cool before use.) and poor it on the wound to clean it all. Apply Neosporin with pain reliver or Bag Balm to the wound. Keep her separated from her flock till she heals. She might not grow those feathers back depending on how bad she is.

 

[KCD]

We had a very similar injury caused by a cockerel that attacked a pullet. He actually killed another pullet at the same time.
I cleaned the wound and then applied a salve for about a week. She also had an odd “flap” of skin/feathers that kind of dangled a bit. I left that alone (per our neighbor who is a vet and also the one who gave me the salve) and it eventually fell off. The neighbor told me to keep the salve applied daily and watch for any signs of infection. We kept her separated from the flock for about 2 weeks (once it had a layer of skin that healed over). Before putting her back into the flock I applied Blu-Kote to prevent picking at the wound since it was still red.
She never re-grew feathers and had a permanent “scar”, but she was left alone by the rest of the flock. Because I had to keep her completely separated from the flock (no see or touch) I also had to re-integrate her back into the flock. So the whole process took about 3 weeks or so.

The one picture is what she looked like at day 2. The other was years later. You can see the red scarring.

I’m so sorry that this happened to your girl! I hope she heals quickly!

 

[RedDogChick]

Start off by gently doing warm compresses (with a wet washcloth) to soften up the crusty blood.

Try to clear the entire area as best you can, and remove any glued on/stuck on feathers. After she's cleaned up, you can use chlorhexidine, betadine, or vetericyn to clean the wound. Be very careful you don't get it in her eyes.

Apply Neosporin (no pain killer as it is toxic) and cover the entire wound. Do not let it dry out. Keep her inside and away from the other birds until it's completely healed. Hope this helps and she recovers soon!

Side note: Watch for neurological symptoms as well.

Thank you. I'll try the warm compresses for sure. The only odd, neurological possibly, behavior, is that she stands in the corner of her enclosed area A LOT. She wants to be with the others, so I have an enclosed area I let her in the yard for short, supervised times. They can't reach/touch each other, but can see each other. Thanks again.

 

[RedDogChick]

We had a very similar injury caused by a cockerel that attacked a pullet. He actually killed another pullet at the same time.
I cleaned the wound and then applied a salve for about a week. She also had an odd “flap” of skin/feathers that kind of dangled a bit. I left that alone (per our neighbor who is a vet and also the one who gave me the salve) and it eventually fell off. The neighbor told me to keep the salve applied daily and watch for any signs of infection. We kept her separated from the flock for about 2 weeks (once it had a layer of skin that healed over). Before putting her back into the flock I applied Blu-Kote to prevent picking at the wound since it was still red.
She never re-grew feathers and had a permanent “scar”, but she was left alone by the rest of the flock. Because I had to keep her completely separated from the flock (no see or touch) I also had to re-integrate her back into the flock. So the whole process took about 3 weeks or so.

The one picture is what she looked like at day 2. The other was years later. You can see the red scarring.

View attachment 2830512View attachment 2830513
I’m so sorry that this happened to your girl! I hope she heals quickly!

thank you! very helpful!

 

[RedDogChick]

Make a Saline rinse (Boil 1 quart of water with 2 teaspoons of salt for 5-10 minutes, then let completely cool before use.) and poor it on the wound to clean it all. Apply Neosporin with pain reliver or Bag Balm to the wound. Keep her separated from her flock till she heals. She might not grow those feathers back depending on how bad she is.

thank you. good idea. I may combine it with the compress suggestion.

 

[EEforMe]

The same thing happened to one my girls when I was little, I didn’t take care of her and all I can remember is applying neosporin and separating her from the others. We too rehomed the bullies. She healed but was always bald there (plus she became super friendly after the experience). I hope yours will fare just as well.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I would keep her indoors until it heals over to keep her safe from flies. You do not want her getting flystrike! Use Neosporin Original, WITHOUT pain reliever. Pay special attention to the margins of the wound to keep them moist. Also there is a Veterycin spray gel you can use on top of the Neosporin, it forms a gel that kind of seals it and helps keep it moist. We had a hen injured by a dog, she had a ghastly deep wound on her back that I feared would not heal, but it did. Protect her from flies. We put saline in a spray bottle, sprayed the wound daily, applied the Neosporin and Veterycin and in three weeks she was good as new. Good luck.