Baby Golden Polish / wound on wing, bone exposed. Please help!

[Beejcat]

I have three Golden Polish chicks almost two months old. One of them got out of the coop and into the pen. Because we have 5 grown Rhode Island Reds as well, I've been keeping them separated until the chicks are older.

She got wedged under part of the coop and looks like something either pecked her (I hope not!) or she rubbed off her feathers trying to wedge herself under the wood as far as she could go. When I picked her up, she had blood on the top corner of her wing. I removed her completely from the coop/pen and set her up in a completely separate space with food/water. I cleaned the wound with peroxide (hope this didn't hurt her more). This all happened last night. I kept an eye on her throughout the night and checked her again this morning. She seems to be drinking water but not moving around much.

I am a new chicken owner and my partner (who has much more experience) is away. I want to do what I can to help her recover - can/will she recover? What should I be doing differently? Use ointment on her wound or not? I would appreciate any advice, help, guidance, etc.

Thanks very much!

 

[Southernbelle]

I am by no means an expert, but I will share what I did in a similar situation. I had recently introduced my 12wk Americana pullets to my flock of 4 adults and my RIR hen pecked one of the pullets on the back of the neck until it was showing bone. It was from the top of the head all down the neck, skin removed, bone showing, etc. I thought I had done everything right introducing them, but I felt just terrible that this happened!

I searched on here and I cleaned it with a sterile saline solution (boil 1 qt water, add 1/4 t salt) and kept it moist with Neosporin. I moved all my pullets out of that pen and I put the injured one in a dog crate by herself with food and water in sight of the rest of the pullets. The first day she just sat huddled up, not eating or drinking and I thought she was a goner for sure. She seemed a bit perkier the next day and she's doing great now. She's got a healthy scab over the raw areas and the skin is starting to close around the edges, her appetite is great, energy is great, so I think she'll make a full recovery!

I chose not to use antibiotics and/or pain relievers. In the beginning I thought it was hopeless, so didn't bother and when she began to do so well without them, I thought they weren't necessary. I was pleasantly surprised that such a minor intervention on my part had such happy results.

I hope your little girl gets better!

 

[Beejcat]

You have no idea what hope you've just given me. Thanks very much for your reply and sharing your story. I cannot believe how attached I am to these little creatures. I hope yours continues to recover as well!

 

[Southernbelle]

You did great to separate her, for some reason even gentle chickens will gang up on an injured flockmate, something about killing off the weakest member, etc.

I'd keep her isolation cage adjacent to her hatchmates so they remember who she is. If she's seperated for too long they may forget her when she's reintroduced to them and they may gang up on her. That's all you'd need, right?

I didn't know what to do either, so I had run a search for something like "open wound" and set it to seach the Emergencies/diseases/injuries and cures topic and some great threads popped up. Unfortunately this kind of thing happens all the time and I was amazed that most seemed to recover just fine!

Since my girl had such a huge piece of skin completely removed, I'm pretty sure she's going to have an ugly bald spot on the back of her neck, but that's okay with me! I'm just so glad she's recovering!

Welcome to BYC! We all get really attached to these little guys, you're going to fit in just great on here! Run a search for "house chickens" or "chicken clothes" if you want to see how attached some folks get!

 

[Beejcat]

Thank you again! I drove home at lunch to check on her and she seems to be doing much better. I really appreciate the support of this forum and look forward to participating.

Your family is beautiful - I can relate to one of your girls. I'm more of a city mouse than my sweetheart is. He has 5 RIR's and bought me "Exotic" chickens for my birthday, thinking I would warm up to the idea. I have 3 Golden Polish and 3 Aracuana's. Yes, they are very cute. However, he's away so of course this is when I have a chicken 911!!

look forward to seeing you in the forums. Thanks again for being so sweet, helpful and encouraging.