Chicken with large head wound after being attacked

[Kessel23]

White stuff looks like wood chips to me. I would get some tweezers and pull em off, then clean it off.

 

[Kessel23]

It is definitely more than a few hours old.

 

[Saaniya]

I had a young cockerel stick his head through the wire by my BBB turkeys and they skinned his head. When I cam into to coop I saw the turkeys pecking at him and he already looked dead. I saw him move though and rushed over, I pulled him out and this is what he looked like.

I put some neosporin on it and kept him separated, he was in shock for a while.

He slowly recovered though and this is his most recent picture:

There are lots of better ways to clean a cut and prevent infection, all I was able to do was put neosporin on it though, luckily it worked.

So blood
Is he's fine now ?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm not entirely sure when the attack happened. I just know that it was between noon when I last checked on them and 5pm today. The only thing I could find that might be of some use is Betadine Solution, and I've seperated the two chickens in cardboard boxes in my garage (the hottest place in the house at the moment). I'm trying to give the one with the head wound some water by dipping its beak into a cup since I don't have a syringe or something else to use, but it would only take a few sips. I'll try to add some pictures if I can. Thanks for all the help

Here's the head injury. How should I clean it? Wet paper towel, bath..? Sorry this is all very new and scary

If you have betadine, dilute it with some water and flush the wound. When you can, get some triple antibiotic ointment or Vetericyn and apply to the wound.

You are doing what you can for her. Keep trying carefully to drip water beside the beak to get her hydrated. Oddly enough, I have found that a sick chicken loves to drink from a chick waterer - I don't know if it triggers something in their brain to drink or what - you may want to try that if you have one of those.

She is probably in shock, so keep her warm and quiet. When you have time, post some updated photos. How do the eyes look?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your predator attack, and losing some of your flock. I agree with using betadine on the wounds, and then applying plain Triple Antibiotic/Neosporin Ointment. It looks like the scalp is visible in the photo. Later if you can post a picture of the face, it would be helpful. Vetericyn is good for daily cleaning if needed, then keep on with the antibiotic ointment. She could be in shock for a bit, and should could have internal injuries or a brain injury. Getting her to take fluids, and later some watery chick feed and a little cooked egg would be good. A half of a B complex tablet crushed onto some food every day would be good to use. Keep flies away from her wounds so that maggot ps do not become a problem.

 

[staceyj]

I’m hoping your chicken made it through the night.

Yes, a picture of it’s face would be very helpful.

Please update us when you have a chance. Hydration and getting your bird to eat is important this morning.

 

[luvsungs]

Sorry about your predator attack, and losing some of your flock. I agree with using betadine on the wounds, and then applying plain Triple Antibiotic/Neosporin Ointment. It looks like the scalp is visible in the photo. Later if you can post a picture of the face, it would be helpful. Vetericyn is good for daily cleaning if needed, then keep on with the antibiotic ointment. She could be in shock for a bit, and should could have internal injuries or a brain injury. Getting her to take fluids, and later some watery chick feed and a little cooked egg would be good. A half of a B complex tablet crushed onto some food every day would be good to use. Keep flies away from her wounds so that maggot ps do not become a problem.

Ive just tried to give her a bath to rinse off the injury, I'm not sure how else to get it clean without hurting her more or making it worse. On close inspection, there are a lot of very small white bugs(?) all around the wound.

 

[staceyj]

Oh my. Your problem just got more complicated.
They are fly eggs.
A flystrike. These are quickly growing into maggots. The good thing is that since your bird is inside you MIGHT only have to deal with one wave of them.

You need to get them off immediately. It’s imperative. Because they will eat the raw flesh.

Do you have any one that can help you?

Do you have a sink sprayer at you kitchen sink?

Do you have any peroxide at your house? Cotton balls?

I don’t usually recommend peroxide but it might help you kill the fly larvae.

 

[staceyj]

I think it would be more practical to just get a pair of scissors and snip away all these feathers. (Circled in yellow)

If there is a piece of hanging flesh under here you might want to remove that as well after cleaning with betadine. It will not reattach and is just maggot food at this point.

 

[staceyj]

Rinsing downward will just flush these live maggots to other parts of her body. If you have a helper , One person can hold her wrapped up in a towel sideways while the you try to rinse her head either under a faucet or kitchen sprayer if the spray isn’t too hard.

Maggots first eat dead and dying tissue. When the supply of that is gone they will burrow into the healthy flesh and can easily kill an animal.
What is very worrisome here is that this wound is of the head.
There are multiple orifices on a chicken’s face.
Maggot can enter the skull through the ears and eyes.

Please act fast while most of them are still superficial .