Chick hatched early with a red patch on head

[katiebford]

Hello everyone! I just joined the group and need help. We allowed our hen to sit on four eggs and one hatched before 21 days. The poor baby is missing feathers on it’s head. The spot where the feathers should be is red and slightly raised. It’s left eye is also not opening well. I have been searching online and have come across exencephaly in chicks (exposed brain), but the pictures look slightly different then our chick. Could it just a milder case? Any ideas of what it could be? We have two little boys who are SO excited for their new chick I know they are going to be heartbroken if it can’t be saved. Thank you so much for the help.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

It looks like a hen scalped it.
I have had hens scalp, peck out chicks' eyes and eardrums, drag them around, slam them onto the ground.
It's too bad she only hatched this one chick.
If you want to save it, it will be a special needs chicken, if it does survive.
Put some Neosporin on the scalped part, you will probably need to raise it yourself if its mother was the only chicken that has access to the chick.