Chicken with a bleeding wound on conb

[kookieoboe56]

Hi All,

Although we have had the hens for slightly over a year (total newbies) we have not experienced all the joys of chicken ownership yet. Today I came home to find one of the Buff Orpintons bleeding rather profusely from her comb. They were all in the run. No other injuries. She seems to be okay, but I did isolate her to prevent her from possible further pecking. (no idea how this happened) How do I clean the wound and all the blood that is very near her eye? Should I re-introduce her tonight after cleaning her up? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Feather Fanatic 2000]

Throughout my past six years of chicken keeping, I've dealt with many wounds, from the minor peck that is barely bleeding, to when I accidentally introduced new Rhode Island Red pullets too quickly to the rest of the flock and almost the entire back of their necks had all the skin pecked off. (Learned my lesson from that one!) Combs tend to bear a lot of the brunt of minor injuries, and it doesn't help that they are filled with multitudes of capillaries very close to the surface. The easiest way to clean up a wound like that is usually with a warm, damp paper towel to soften the scab. If the cut is very minor, you can probably leave it alone, but you may want to put an antibiotic ointment on a deeper wound. DO NOT return her to the coop until the wound is healed and no longer crusted with blood! (This was one of my problems with the RIR) If chickens see blood, they will peck at, in best case scenario preventing it from healing, and in worst killing the bird. How deep/bad is the wound? A minor surface wound should be fine in a day or two, a deeper one may take a week. During this time, DO NOT ALLOW ANY OTHER CHICKENS NEAR THE INJURED HEN! I can not stress that enough. However, I don't want to worry you. As long as it doesn't get strangely infected, your bird should be perfectly fine with absolutely no ill effects in the future!

 

[kookieoboe56]

Thank you so much. It was hard to tell how deep the wound was, but it would not stop bleeding. We did isolate her right away. It is dark now and I thought I would go in a do a bit of cleaning her up. We will keep separate until she seems well healed. Thanks for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[Feather Fanatic 2000]

Glad to help! Hope your chicken heals up nicely!

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

You can try using corn starch or flour to stop bleeding. Styptic powder is of course an option but not generally handy when you need it. If the wound itself is scabbed and not bleeding I would leave it alone. Unless you think there is dirt in it. You can use blu kote to cover her wound as well. It tricks the chickens eyes so they don't see it as a wound to peck. If it's not bad I personally would leave her with the flock. Reintroduction from a few days away could just lead to more pecking.
Good Luck!