Advice on helping this chick or culling

[Pippin quail]

Hi there,
I have a 4ish week old chick who had its neck skin and feathers removed by it's adopted mother. First of all, why would a hen do that to her own chick? And second of all, is it fair to him to try and heal him up or should I cull him? He looks very obviously cockerel to me, which means his ultimate destination is the freezer anyway. Also he no longer has his flock since his mother disowned him... This happened yesterday. I did clean the wound and put polysporin and a liquid bandage on it and he's now in a dog kennel with a lot of broiler chicks for neighbors, but no flock mates in with him.
He seems ok other than the neck wound that I assume is painful. My 3 year old convinced me not to cull him yesterday, I just don't know what his future will be .. Future naked neck? What would you do in this situation??

 

[Aunt Angus]

Those are very superficial wounds. It will likely heal just fine. Clean it with hibiclens, saline, Vetericyn and slather it with antibiotic ointment. Keep it clean and moist. Should be 100% in no time.

Edited to add that its feathers will grow back.

And some hens just aren't mama material. Happens more often than you think.

 

[Pippin quail]

Those are very superficial wounds. It will likely heal just fine. Clean it with hibiclens, saline, Vetericyn and slather it with antibiotic ointment. Keep it clean and moist. Should be 100% in no time.

Edited to add that its feathers will grow back.

And some hens just aren't mama material. Happens more often than you think.

Thanks! I'll keep it clean and slathered with ointment. I don't know if you can tell, but the skin is fully removed on the back, not just the feathers...
And the weird thing is that she's been a great mama since she took in 6 chicks 3-4 weeks ago. Yesterday she was clucking for the other 5 to come have breakfast and I noticed one was missing. He was cowering at the back of their mini coop. When i tried to catch him she tried to peck him when he came close. And then when I eventually grabbed him, she tried to kill me. I'm keeping an eye on her with the other chicks, but so far seems normal. So no idea why she attacked that one!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Is the other chicks pullets? She might not want a cockerel chick. Is why shes attacking it

 

[Vickischics]

Just don't let the tissue dry out.
Keep it covered with the plain triple abx oint. Unless you don't want the chick, then do what you said. Me, I'd give healing a good effort like @Aunt Angus suggested. Chickens are very resilient.
Good luck. Make sure you keep the flys off off of it.

 

[Ms Clucky]

Hi there,
I have a 4ish week old chick who had its neck skin and feathers removed by it's adopted mother. First of all, why would a hen do that to her own chick? And second of all, is it fair to him to try and heal him up or should I cull him? He looks very obviously cockerel to me, which means his ultimate destination is the freezer anyway. Also he no longer has his flock since his mother disowned him... This happened yesterday. I did clean the wound and put polysporin and a liquid bandage on it and he's now in a dog kennel with a lot of broiler chicks for neighbors, but no flock mates in with him.
He seems ok other than the neck wound that I assume is painful. My 3 year old convinced me not to cull him yesterday, I just don't know what his future will be .. Future naked neck? What would you do in this situation??

He will be fine. Just keep him away from the other chickens so they don't make it worse. I use green goo. It is all natural. You can find it online. You can also use bag balm.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Thanks! I'll keep it clean and slathered with ointment. I don't know if you can tell, but the skin is fully removed on the back, not just the feathers...
And the weird thing is that she's been a great mama since she took in 6 chicks 3-4 weeks ago. Yesterday she was clucking for the other 5 to come have breakfast and I noticed one was missing. He was cowering at the back of their mini coop. When i tried to catch him she tried to peck him when he came close. And then when I eventually grabbed him, she tried to kill me. I'm keeping an eye on her with the other chicks, but so far seems normal. So no idea why she attacked that one!

It's really not a very bad wound, by chicken standards. I'm sure it looks horrendous. But I assure you, it's pretty minor, relatively speaking. Search BYC for raccoon, dog, hawk attack - but only if you're not squeamish - and you'll see what I mean.


He might have gotten a small injury somehow, and then mama saw blood and pecked it. Chickens go for blood.

 

[Pippin quail]

Is the other chicks pullets? She might not want a cockerel chick. Is why shes attacking it

They might be. The other chicks are definitely all smaller than him. I thought maybe she just wanted him out of the nest, but still doesn't make sense why she'd hurt him so bad.

 

[Pippin quail]

Just don't let the tissue dry out.
Keep it covered with the plain triple abx oint. Unless you don't want the chick, then do what you said. Me, I'd give healing a good effort like @Aunt Angus suggested. Chickens are very resilient.
Good luck. Make sure you keep the flys off off of it.

I don't really want him if he's a cockerel, I already have 10 I need to butcher this week or next. But my youngest daughter does! She named him "Peek-a-boo" and therefore he's her chick and she says I can't just kill him until he's old enough to eat. So that's that!

Here's why his name is Peek-a-boo. There he is popping his little head out from Inga's wing the morning after I gave her the chicks.

 

[Vickischics]

I had a polish pullet that was literally scalped. Head, ( crest flapped over) back, chest. When I found her in a pool of blood I gave her chest compressions and breaths. No joke! She remained in my Infirmary for 8 weeks.
She is now called the "Iron Maiden". She has some patches of baldness with scar tissue but is thriving well and doing Great! Layes every other day. The pictures would make you Sick! Here is a picture of her at 2 years old, grown and healed. She's the white crested black polish Hen.