Emergency! How to treat comb injuries.

[Kaybeth]

When I went down to my chicken coop this morning, one of my roosters had an injury on his comb. It looked like the other chickens had been picking and picking at it. I took him inside to clean him up, but the wound will not stop bleeding, and I'm not sure how much blood a chicken can loose.

Any help on how to stop the bleeding would be appreciated!

 

[BantamLover21]

Try sprinkling/layering some flour, cornstarch, or styptic powder (often sold for use when trimming dog toe-nails) on the injury. In most cases, this will stop the bleeding. Or, take a paper towel and apply pressure to the wound for 5-10 minutes. Once the bleeding has stopped, put some antibiotic ointment (with no caine/cain ingredietns or painkillers, as those are harmful to chickens) on the wound(s). You could also spray the wound with a colored wound spray, like bluekote or redkote.

If there is a lot of dried blood, try to clean it away with some warm, soapy water. But wait a while after stopping the bleeding to do this, as you wouldn't want to restart the bleeding. Other than that, your rooster should be fine. Chickens get comb injuries all the time; as long as the injuries don't become infected, they heal extremely well in a short amount of time. Good luck with him!

 

[Kaybeth]

I did try some flour, but it was bleeding too much for it to stick. I think it has just about stopped now though! Thank you for the great advice.