Can a chick recover from this? Skin missing on head (graphic pic)

[Tala]

I have an 8ish week old cockerel who apparently got beat up by one of the older chickens. They free range together and there has never been an incident before, because the younger chicks can get away from the big bullies....but apparently this little guy got stuck in the neighbors crappy fence and got his head pecked to death while he was stuck. This summer I guess I'm gonna have to run my own fence on the inside of theirs.

Anyway, it appears that he's missing the actua SKIN from the back of his head. There's nothing for me to try to "pull back together" coz it's just all gone. It's a little graphic looking, but even my wimpy-stomached DH didn't turn green, so here's a pic

His comb and legs were coolish when I found him this evening. I have been gone to work all day so no idea how long he was stuck. I brought him in and put him under a heat lamp, and he perked up a bit, so I gave him some water. He drank a few gulps pretty greedily, and then kinda just slumped off to sleep. He's weak I guess.
No serious damage that I can tell, just skin, but it's pretty bad!

He was destined for freezer camp later in the summer, so it's not just oh-so super-important that he live, but still. If he was nursed back to health he might become a pet. lol
Even DH is a softie for the little guy.

Do you think he can recover????
Or do I need to put my big girl panties on and do what's best?

 

[chickn]

i had that happen to a std cochin of mine, it was aweful, the vet tech cleaned it and cut off the dead skin and pulled what she could together, the bird made it fine, she did have a lump of scar tissue and no feathers grew there, but did fine.

oh and so i dont seem like a crazy, i work for the vet so the tech did this as a favor. lol dont think i would have paid for it.

 

[Tala]

Ok well I'm trying to avoid putting blue kote on him just yet, seeing as what I've got is 50% alcohol I'm sure it won't feel good.
So I was gonna use my Sulfudine 3-in-1 for dogs, but after I started applying I figured I"d better double-check and sure enough it has bendacain, so I wiped that back off. Didn't seem to hurt the little guy, he wasn't dead in 5 minutes like I've read people on here claim that the "cain" stuff will do.

So the only other non-alcoholic antiseptic medicines that I have on hand are iodine solution and campho phenique. I read that pepole use the campho on scaly leg mites so it must not hurt the birds.
I dabbed it on gently with a Q-tip and he hated it a lot more than the 3-in-1, but I got it on him. I'm afraid that infection might be more of a threat than the actual wound.
He is acting fairly normal, though short on energy. When he's up he's walking, moving, and talking normally. He is curling his head over to his wing to sleep, as usual. I put him in a dog crate with a brick to roost on, and he's perched on that. I have a red lamp on him.
He has drank some water, with encouragement and on his own, so that's good. I'm offering him his Flock Raiser crumbles and egg yolk.

The skin and feathers just past his eyeballs are sticking straight up, like horns. I think I might call him Hellboy after this

I also discovered that he has teeeeny little white mites on his head. I've always checked my birds around the vent, and never found any mites before.

What kind get on their heads??
As much as I hated to, I dusted his body with Sevin, but theres still bugs on his head coz I didn't dust his face.

 

[B. Kossum]

My mother had a similar incident with a young rooster of hers. I'd say the wound was as bad or worse than your bird's and he pulled through just fine, except for the attitude problem he developed. If the bleeding has stopped and the bird is acting ok (of course he'll be weak), he should continue to get better. Like you said, infection is the greatest risk. In my opinion, as long as the bugs aren't maggots I wouldn't worry about them until he got better (unless they began making him worse). Good luck!

 

[Tala]

He is very weak acting today. Has done nothing but sleep. I got him up and got him to drink some water though.
He's also now keeping one eye closed all the time - it doesn't appear injured or swolen, but maybe it just hurts to move it coz the area behind it is so torn up? Who knows.

Last night I was very hopeful for him, but he's acting weak today and I'm starting to have my doubts about his survival

 

[fancbrd4me02]

I have had that happen before. They can survive the injury, but it need to be kept clean and uninfected. just keep doing what you have been doing, and it may live. Good luck.

 

[Fairybee]

i have my fingers crossed for hellboy

 

[Tala]

Sunday is the only day that the feed store is closed. I know of a medicine they sell that I want to get for him(I can't remember the name), it helps skin grow back, but for now I can't get any.

So when I was at Petco getting a dog ball I got some SentryHC hot spot medicine to put on it - it's a blue gel for dogs and puppies. I got it because it specifically said non-stinging, it kills staph infections, also other bacteria, fungus and viruses. It has Benzalkonium Chloride in it, and no painkillers.

Probably keeping him hydrated and trying to keep out infection is the best I can do for him. Thanks for all the encouragement guys!!

 

[chickencoop31320]

It's not licensed for chickens, but I have had good luck with "Wound Kote".
It is deep purple, stains clothes and skin so be careful.
It comes in an aerosol can and cost about $10.
I had a friend with a chick that looked a lot like yours with the wounds,
he made it just fine... still has a scar though.

 

[Opa]

Any ant-biotic without pain killer will work. Just get the bird separated from others until its healed. I would give it several drops of straight Poultry Drench and then add some to its water.