Chicken comb injury, should it be removed? Update...

[sydney13]

I have a buff orpington hen who has a very large comb so a few weeks ago she got some very minor frost bite. The problem, my goose, Delilah who lives with all the chickens has a thing for this particular comb. Whenever she sees this hen she will try to nimble at its comb, its definitely not an aggressive behavior, more out of affection. I have seen her do this before very gently but now with the snow they seem bored and its been happening a lot more. Once the hen got frost bite i think the comb was tender so the goose must of cut into the comb with her bill. The chicken has a large cut out of the comb, maybe an inch across the middle. Im not certain but I think its starting to turn paler (this happened yesterday) so I don't think that it will heal on its own. Im worried this if I keep the comb on, the goose will just keep nibbling it and it will also become frostbitten again. So because of that I plan to remove it with very sharp scissors. Ive been reading about dubbing and ive heard that you need to be careful not to hit the vein in the comb, but does anyone know where this vein is? I have some cauterizer ready, rubbing alcohol and a pair of very sharp fabric scissors. After I remove it should I put on neosporin? If anyone has any experience with dubbing, can you tell me how much will it bleed? Also is their any advise on the direction I should cut it off?

 

[Judy]

Please don't use alcohol. You can usually buy a bleed stop product at the feed store, or you can use a human styptic pencil, or simply flour or corn starch. If you're going to use the alcohol before the cut, let it dry completely before cutting. Neosporin is OK but probably not necessary. How about separating the goose?

 

[MareeZoCool]

I would not cut the comb off that hen. IWOULD separate her, for her safety, and clean that wound 2x's daily, then apply triple antibiotic ointment.CLEAN WITH WATER & peroxide ~mixed 50/50 Dry, apply antibiotic ointment.
Confine the goose, and give that sweet hen more freedom in your coop.

 

[sydney13]

Quote:
I was planning on using the rubbing alcohol to sterilize the scissors although I was also going to boil them first. Should I just forget the rubbing alcohol? Do you recommend I use hydrogen peroxide on the comb before I cut. Im glad you mentioned the styptic pencil because that is the exact thing that bought for her

Separating the goose is not an option. I know it sounds like the goose is dangerous toward the chickens but this isn't really all that true. She is really bonded with the chickens and the chickens follow her everywhere. The other week she attacked a hawk who went after one of her hens and ended up saving the hen. Their has been a couple times that she has chased off a stray dogs that are interested in the chickens. I don't know why but she seems to be so intent on removing this hens comb but if I don't do it im betting that she will do it herself

Space is not an option because their coop is very large and their is no over crowding (its only half filled to capacity). Also they have a very large run and free range for half the day.
Also I have noticed that the part of the comb above the slice has loosed the color but the bottom of the comb is red. How long do I need to wait till i can put her back in the flock (its bellow freezing at night).

 

[Miss Lydia]

Some of my hens went to work on one of my roos wattles awhile back to the point where they were pretty nasty and bloody, I brought him inside wash them real good with warm water then covered his face especially his eyes and sprayed bluekote on him, he healed up pretty fast and the girls left him alone, the red is what draws them but blue covers over the wound.

 

[sydney13]

I was planning on using blue kote before I introduce her back into the flock, but should I wait till it heals a bit or put it right on? I do understand that it may heal on its own with out removing it but I don't want this to happen again to her. Ever since they were babies the goose always would gently touch her comb. It was never hard and she would just walk away when they goose touched her comb so I was extremely surprised when I saw this happen. Because I can not separate them I want to prevent this by removing the comb. If all old english games and modern games are dubbed before show I figure that dubbing this one hen for her safety will not be the end of the world.

 

[Miss Lydia]

not as long as you do it right, I have a friend whos roos got frost bite and she dubbed him and he bled to death, now mind you she really didn't know what she was doing, thats why I said if you do it right..

 

[Terri O]

If it is frost bitten then it will fall off on it's own anyhow. I would take the other poster's advice and clean it up good and spray it down with blu-kote. The birds have a hard enough time out in the cold but to put heavy healing on top of it would be a bad thing I think. When my roos points froze on his comb he looked just like I had dubbed him the next spring. Terri O

 

[feather and mountain man]

I agree the hen is stressed enough, now is not the time to add the process of healing. I know you are against seperating but maybe just temperarily until the hen has time to heal. I personally would not risk the hen bleeding to death if you are not sure where the veins are. Sorry your hen is hurt. Good luck with her.

 

[sydney13]

Thanks for all the quick replies

I ended up removing the comb (well actually only half) and it went pretty well. I didn't need to cut to much off because there was all ready a large slice. She still has half of her comb (this part wasn't injured) but its enough to stop the goose from hurting her. I put her back in the flock the following day and the goose has not bothered her comb at all. The one thing that did not work so well was my styptic pencil, it didn't seem to stop any blood. I used flour instead which worked better and than later used hydrogen peroxide to clean it off.
She may not be very pretty, but at least she is safe from my goose now

By the way the black stuff on her comb in that picture is just blue kote