Baby chick scratched face and looks like she may have cut herself

[Peachyfrog]

I have a batch of 1 week old chicks and one of them looks to have cut her face around her cheek about 1/4 inch long. I was just outside the room and heard her cheeping loudly (could hear it through the door closed) and went in to see what was going on. She was scratching at her face like she had gotten a piece of feed/dust in her eye and it seemed painful to her. When she stopped I saw her chick floof was separated and a thin pink line on her cheek like she had cut herself scratching. No blood (thankfully). She was periodically scratching a bit after the initial incident and it seems to be bothering her/uncomfortable to scratch. Should I just wash with soap and water and keep an eye on it or is there something else I should put on it? Any advice to keep her from scratching/making it worse? Is it safe to file/trim the very tip of her nails to keep her from making it worse when she does scratch?

Their bedding is a piece of fleece covered in paper towels and there's nothing else in the brooder I can see that she could have cut herself on, so my best guess is it was one of her nails while scratching. None of the other chicks seem to be scratching. Will try to get a picture of it, but her floof seems to have recovered it and she's small and squirmy.

 

[azygous]

One of the best all around first aid wound treatments is Vetericyn. It kills germs and promotes new tissue growth without staining or grease or stinging. It is sold at feed stores and online. It comes in a spray bottle, but I spray some in a saucer and use a Q-tip to clean and treat a tiny wound on a tiny chick.

If you don't have Vetericyn, you can use coconut oil or regular antibiotic ointment, but they will make the face fluff greasy. You may have another product on hand to treat wounds that isn't greasy. Use anything that will control bacteria.