Emergency... Scalped chick, skull completely exposed... :(

[phoenixbantam]

I have no idea what happened to my red golden pheasant chick, it was fine a few hours ago and now it is completely scalped and I don't know what happened...

all of the skin is missing from behind his eyes all the way down to the base of his neck almost between his wings... the back of his skull is completely exposed and bloody... there is also a large fluid bubble at the base of his neck under his skin between his wings... I can take a photo if it will help but its pretty graphic

the only thing i can think of is he might have got his head stuck in the hex wire and scalped himself trying to get free?

he is acting lucid and was walking around with the other chicks when i found him, behaving quite normally surprisingly... i have him inside under a heat lamp...

does he have any chance of surviving? will the skin grow back over his skull? should i keep the area moist or let it dry out? what should i disinfect the area with, if anything? i have no idea what to do

i would greatly appreciate any help...

 

[FrenchHen]

I had a hen with that problem several weeks back. I isolated her, put antibiotics in the water as a proactive thing to do, and kept her in the hospital crate until she healed up. She's fine now.

Hers wasn't as big of a wound as you're describing, but she's fine now.

She earned herself the name "Feisty."

 

[threehorses]

I'll post a post in case you want to try. I've patched up many birds who had a lot of skin missing, they grow a lot back. It's work though. But it can be done.

Mostly you clean it thoroughly the first time to kill germs and leave a little protective iodine (very dilute) in there. Then dress. Then keep flies off of it and keep monitoring it.

The problem with this bird will be that the airsacs are exposed (those bubbles). For that reason, culling should be weighed and measured just in case.

If you want to try, here's an article I wrote that might be of help. I wrote it so that I'd not forget stuff when I typed it over and over as poultry often get hurt. They're quite resilient though. Maybe just the cleaning/dressing/maintaining will work for you with this bird.


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WOUND CARE FOR POULTRY by Nathalie Ross

Here's my usual way of doing wounds. It's worked for some pretty extreme wounds, including one 2x1 wound that went all the way down to the silver covering of the spine of one bird.

First, gather materials:
VetWrap or similar self-adhesive wrap.
gauze wrapping type bandages or squares (depending on what you have to bandage)
non-stick pads (depending on what you have to wrap)
antibiotic ointment (neosporin, Swat for horses if you have flies around)
hydrogen peroxide (h202)
iodine
warm water
a needleless syringe - preferably a big one like 30 cc's
suture material if you need it (this ideally should be left to a vet)
a small pair of scissors like cuticle scissors are helpful
large scissors
(duct tape in some cases)
a good safe blood clotter. I prefer Clotisol as it's not poisonous and clots IMMEDIATELY even in high blood situations. You can even use it inside of beaks. It's water based, lasts ages for a small bottle. Seriously - ages. You can pretty much only get it online, but it's a must-have for a cabinet. Once you use it, you won't go back.
q-tips
papertowels
clean clothes that can be stained

DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO TREAT BY YOURSELF:
First, an important note. It would be ideal if, as poultry owners faced with an injured bird, that the bird be taken to a qualified veterinarian who can not only dress the wounds, access the damage, but also prescribe the correct antibiotics and follow up as necessary. This, first and foremost, is what I recommend for any wound situation that is more than minor. Please take that to heart.

If instead you decide to treat the wound yourself, here are some basic instructions on how to do so. Note that every wound, every case, is different. Use your common sense and imagination on determining when this protocol must be flexed to fit your situation.

PREPARATION:
First, examine the bird and find all wounds. Use your big and little scissors to trim feathers away from the area. Try to only take as many as could touch the wound, no more - they need feather protection and the feathers won't grow back til next moult. Also be careful, if wing feathers are near, not to cut the living flesh part inside feather quills.

If the wounds are under the wing, sometimes you can simply wrap the wing in a t-shirt to keep whatever touches the wing clean. Baby tshirts would be great for this. Neck part at the top of the wing, fitted with a little duct tape on the cloth (not tight please) and just tie the other end of the tshirt.

Make sure to look very carefully against the skin for puncture wounds. There might not be look, and puncture wounds are tricky and hard to find. Note the location and severity of all wounds.

Cleansing:
Take your syringe and fill with H202 (straight) or h202 slightly diluted with water. Use the syringe to vigously clean the wound area including in the wounds. If the wounds are puncture wounds, use diluted water/h202, not straight. You only use h202 the first time as it tends to burn tissues and keep them from healing if you continue. But it's great for bubbling out bits of dirt from inside the wound. Do this cleansing about three times per wound.

Follow up by rinsing out the h2o2 with a water/iodine mixture made to be just the color of slightly strong iced tea. You want it warm. Fill your same syringe that you used with the h2o2 and flush the wounds rather vigorously.

At this time, if there are any pieces of flesh that need to be removed, remove them. This is where I use a q-tip dipped in a bottle-cap full of clotisol (so you don't contaminate the original bottle).

Doing this on a table that's ok to stain is best. I've done this on my truck's tail gate as I can clean it afterwards. Place a lot of papertowels under the birds for these two cleansing phases to keep the drainoff from going everywhere.

Use another clean papertowel to dry the wound. You want to leave some iodine solution inside the wound - it doesn't have to be skin-dry. Just dry enough for some ointment to stick.

DRESSING:
Once the wound is well cleaned, then you'll want to dress it. I use Neosporin and q-tips most often for this job. If there are flies in the area at all, I will use Neosporin inside the wounds (ointment) and use Swat wound ointment for horses instead. (It has fly repellent that's safe for poultry in it.) I fill punctures with neosporin. If they're deep, I stick the top of the tube into the wound (and throw away the tube after I'm done with everything). Pack it. You usually want air in a wound, but puncture wounds can sometimes heal on top first and leave a pocket inside. The antibiotic ointment (not creme) is a little insurance against too much bacteria and thus abcesses.

If the wound is one that absolutely must be stitched, then pack it with the antibiotic ointment. If you're using a flyproof ointment, wipe the wound and then use the fly-proof on top. Otherwise just wipe slightly so there's a little antibiotic ointment on the important top part of the wound. You don't want to stray too far from just the wound, keep the bird dry.

On closing wounds with sutures. Puncture wounds shouldn't be sutured. Bad bacteria love a place where there's no oxygen. Suturing closes the wound and encourages festering within. As much air as you can get to a wound, the better, except that the interior of punctures should have some antibacterial action going on.

I've had some serious wounds in my flock before. The only time I've sutured was when a very large flap of skin was torn from the front of a neck (read as 3 inches by 10 inch flap). Another recent case involves a possible rather large hole in a crop which, should it leak food, should be sutured. Otherwise try to leave things open. Poultry can regrow an amazing amount of skin back if there's muscle underneath. New skin will granulate and grow in to fill in gaps that would surprise you.

On the areas that are just uncovered, I usually use antibiotic creme (versus ointment) because it's water based. Sometimes I'll just put a thin smear of antibiotic ointment, however, if that's what I have. Or fly-preventative ointment if there are flies in the area.

DRESSING WITH BANDAGES:
If at all possible, try not to cover with bandages. The average bandage keeps air out and moisture in and not in a good way. If you must bandage (a dirt floor area, extreme fly issues, etc) then try to keep the bandage to a minimum and very airy. That's why I'm not a big fan of nonstick bandages. They tend to trap moisture and cause a very warm airless area. But sometimes you have to use them. If so, cover the wound with the bandage. Wrap twice with very gauzey gauze wrap. Then put one layer only of VetWrap over. If you must secure (to keep the bandage from falling, for example) you can use very thin strips of duct tape like you would tape a birthday present. Using as little as possible, but a very strong tape like duct tape, helps let the air in.

Sometimes I've even used just one layer of a very clean paper towel rather than use a non-stick. Afterwards, if you have to remove it, you can soak with warm water and pick the bits out if it sticks. Gauze tends to embed in wound seepage.

Think out of the box when it comes to covering areas that are wounded. With my geese who had multiple puncture and surface wounds on their chest, and a high fly area, I used one white sheet that I formed into a sort of front-bib and tied behind their back. T-shirts are also awesome to cover a bird's body. Buy the appropriate size, slip the neck over their neck, their legs through the arm holes, cut two holes through which you slip their wings. Gather the bottom end (cut so that you don't cover their vent) at the top of their back and duct-tape the cloth to make it stay fitted. T-shirts are very airy, cheap, washable, and absorbent.

SUTURES:
If your bird requires stitches, suture material with thread attached can be found at many feedstores or purchased online ahead of time. The size you want is for dogs and cats. Sutures aren't stitched like a pillow case, but each stitch is its own knot. The semi-circular needles of suture needles are ideal for going into and out of the skin. Note: stitching is not easy - skin is tough, usually the needle is slippery, and it's rather tough to do. Overestimate the amount of suture material you need as you'll make knots and cut off the excess bit sticking up.

MAINTENANCE:
Many wounds, if properly cleaned and dressed and left airy, do not need much maintenance. Oddly, one of the best ways of telling whether or not a wound is doing well is by using your nose. Smell the wound at the time of cleaning. Wounds have a particular almost sweet but not cloyingly sweet smell. Remember the smell. Then smell the wound daily to see if you smell rot. If you do, there's not enough air to the wound and possible infection going on.

Wounds will seep a little - that's natural and the body's way of dealing with wounds. Usually the seepage will be mostly clear and smell of wound. However, if there's any opaqueness to it, or clotted texture, that's infection. Also there will be some natural inflammation as the body tries to bully off the bad bacteria and bring in healing materials to the wound. However excessive inflammation, discoloration (especially black or green), should be noted.

If a wound needs cleaning or examining, take off what bandages you can gently. If they stick to the seepage from the wound, use warm water to soak the bandage parts remaining away from the drainage.

Then examine the wound, determine what needs to be done, and redress from the iodine stage onward.

ANTIBIOTICS:
Many wounds do not require additional antibiotics other than topical (on the skin) antibiotic dressings. However in the case of animal bites that weren't caught immediately, cat bites, and wounds that have been sitting or are particularly deep, it may be a good idea to treat with antibiotics. If you make this decision, please be sure to get one that is appropriate for wounds. The packages at the feedstore are not.

Penicillin G Procaine (Aqueous Pen-G) is commonly found at many feedstores in their fridge section. It's awesome to keep in your own fridge for a rainy day. It's a very thick antibiotic and requires a thicker gauge needle. I would use no thinner than a 22 gauge, preferably something more thick at a length of .75 to 1 inch. At many feedstores, you can buy 3 cc syringes that are together already with needles. These are nice to have on hand as well as that 30 cc syringe that you'll use to flush wounds.

Instructions on how to give an injection are available separately as well as how to treat with antibiotics. If you do choose to use injectable antibiotics, be prepared to go the entire recommended course. Penicillin G Procaine is a concentrated penicillin (they're not all created equally) and only is required to be given every other day. Based on the type of antibiotic you expect to use, buy that many syringes plus two.

HEALING:
Birds in healing mode need help being stabilized, nourished, and hydrated. We all know how delicate birds can be, but it's surprising how resilient they can be at times. However, wounds will often depress a bird or cause them to go into shock. A stressed or shocked bird may not be able to digest foods they're commonly given. For that reason, I recommend only giving easily dissolved feeds when a bird is in the first stages of recovery. Think crumbles, pellets, etc. You don't want to make a drastic change in their diet ever, much less when they're already stressed. If a bird is reluctant to eat, try wetting the pellets/crumbles. You can also add a boiled egg yolk (one per six cups of food) mashed into the crumbles. I like to also give probiotics (yogurt, Fastrack, Probiocs, acidophilus, or whatever I have available) during this time to combat a secondary intestinal disorder from stress and change of way of eating. Yogurt is simple. You can mix 1 tablespoon per two cups of feed.

The added protein in an egg yolk helps the bird to heal. Adding a capsule of vitamin E to that mash (one per 2 cups of mash) also helps healing. If the birds are stressy, or not able to eat normally, I'll use a vitamin/electrolyte mix in their water for the first few days. I never ever use an oral antibiotic for wound treatment. Period.

CONCLUSION:
It's unfortunately common that poultry are victims of predation and wounds. They are delicate and, with their ultra-fast metabolisms, can die readily if they decide to. Remember that an injured bird can often have internal injuries we never see. If you lose them, just remember you tried your best. However you might be surprised, with proper wound-care, how many of these birds recover to absolutely normal lives. Just be patient as healing takes a while. Usually separate the birds, but if they can be near their peers they take heart from it and will do better.

Good luck with your flock, and I hope this information has been helpful.
Nathalie Ross
(Please do not reproduce without permission of the author. The author is not a veterinarian and does not intend to dispense information that at all should replace the advice of a qualified avian vet.)
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[CMV]

I had a hen that all the skin on her back removed during a hawk attack. It was a huge wound- 8 inches by 6 inches of skin GONE with the muscles all visible. It took months to get her healed up, but she did heal. She has never regrown her feathers and probably won't.
Good luck with your bird. It will take time, but that wound is not so bad.

 

[threehorses]

Yeah I had a hen who had a chunk of meat taken out of her back that was about 2 inches by 2 inches - all the way down to the silver covering of her spinal cord. (How that didn't get infected, I have no idea other than prayers and a lot of work!)

She actually had a fly get into the wound and of course you know what follows that. So recleaned, redebrided, retreated, and tried again.

She healed fine and laid an egg pretty darn shortly afterwards!

Another dog (fostered dog) attack, a hen, was missing almost all the skin on one side of her thigh/side. And some meat. She lived (and still is here - Easter aka Miracle Chicken). I found her "dead" on my driveway and when I went to dispose of her, she blinked. So I took her inside to give her a more merciful place to die after a drink of water. She was on a warm towel in a laundry basket in my bathroom, lights off. She was alive in the morning, and so I gave her water and food - she ate it. barely, but tried. She lived in my bathtub for a week or so until she was good enough to go outside.

And a goose attacked by a wild dog in the neighborhood who got in my gate (My whole place is 6' tall chainlink - so go figure). Ripped all the skin off of the front of his neck into a tongue minus about a four by four square at the bottom. Cleaned, packed, stitched, and now the only evidence is that his line at the back of his neck is crooked - like a woman with line-backed stockings who put them on crooked.

Hold onto hope as long as the bird does.

 

[phoenixbantam]

Thanks everyone for the information and hope. It is so scary seeing pretty much the entire back half of his skull exposed =/

I have him indoors away from flies and am going to do everything I can to help him heal. I worry that he must be in a lot of pain though... even though I had him from several days old and tried to handle him and handfeed him a lot he is still pretty shy being a pheasant, yet he let me pick him up and rinse his wounds without fighting today, I think he must be in a lot of pain or shock to let me pick him up and mess with him =/

I don't think I'll be using hex wire anymore, I've had nothing but problems with it. I'd rather pay more for the welded wire with the smaller holes and not have to deal with this again

 

[threehorses]

That really is pretty amazing for a pheasant, isn't it? I really get the sense that they know we're trying to help sometimes - and that they want us to. That makes it easier.

Please let us know how he's doing.

And yes - welded wire actually will be better against things like raccoons, too - an added benefit (though they can still rip it out of wood - so be sure and really secure it well).

I'm beginning to wonder about some things like hex wire (which we saw another possible injury from it lately), metal bird feeders, etc lately. I'm going to have to rethink some basic poultry metal appliances for safety before reusing next season!

 

[CMV]

Yeah, I saw the postings about what happened to the ducks' bills with the metal feeders, and I also reconsidered some of my purchases. I love this site for that reason. I would have never thought that one of those metal feeders could slice half a duck's beak off. It would have never occurred to me that could happen. I just got some new ducklings and goslings a month ago and that posting haunted me. No metal feeders for my babies.

 

[threehorses]

I know, right? Just this year I used a metal feeder of the same type for my turkey poults. It will be going in the trash now. Sad. The plastic ones seem to be fine, but our local feedstores only sell the metal. So back to the drawing board.

 

[FrenchHen]

I made plastic feeders using a bucket and a flower pot drip tray.

How's the bird today?