Chick split skin on head

[cthrash1]

One of my chicks had somehow wedged itself between the back wall and chicken fencing lining it in the leanto(still can't figure out how) and sliced open the skin on top of her head. No one luckily has taken advantage of her situation to pick at her so it is a clean slice of the skin and no meat damage. So far I have cleansed it, neosporined it, and pulled it back together the best I can with one hand with butterfly tapes, as no one else is home right now. But when my DD gets home was wondering if I can sew it together with a sterilized needle and regular thread or do I need surgical thread? Would a pharmacy have that stuff? Guess I could call and find out.

 

[houndit]

If you have the skin back to gether and she is acting normal I would not do any thing other than to continue to sanitize it. If she is acting bad than you might have to do somthing else. If she seems to be doing fine she probably will heal.

 

[cthrash1]

Can't keep the strips on to hold it together, she keeps getting them off.

 

[Southernbelle]

One of mine had a huge gaping hole on the back of her neck from the top of her head to her shoulders and I thought about sewing, but I ultimately decided against it b/c I was afraid of trapping bacteria inside. Amazingly, it healed perfectly with very minimal help from me. I isolated her, rinsed her with a saline solution and rubbed with neosporin. Since it was such a huge wound, it took about 6 weeks before it closed enough that I felt comfortable putting her back in with her flock mates.

Best of luck to you and your little one!

 

[cthrash1]

Okay, so I don't actually have to sew then? Does the skin grow together naturally or did you still have to tape it?

 

[Southernbelle]

It grew back naturally - I was amazed because it was a huge wound - the skin was completely gone, bone showing, very gory! I thought she was going to die and I was so upset!

She developed a huge, healthy scab over the wound and I just left it alone, not even neosporin, at that point. The scab got smaller and smaller until it was gone. The skin covered the exposed bones and she even grew most of her feathers back.

I chose not to give aspirin or antibiotics and she healed perfectly. The biggest part was isolation since (as you know) the others will savage her.

It sounds like you did everything right and just need to wait until she heals!