Emergency....wounded chick

[SarahF]

I have 5 two-week old Black Barred chicks and yesterday, one flew out of the cage (for the first time) and my in-law's pesky wiener dog bit her. There are two puncture wounds, one on either side, under her wings. They are not deep as I can see, just scratched the skin....there was a bit of blood specks on the floor.
I cleaned her up with a warm papertowel and applied a little bit of poly-sporon on each wound, as directed by my mother-in-law.. I put her back in with the others and watched for the rest of the evening. She has started to eat and drink again and seems to be doing ok, walking around and all.
Is there anything else I should be doing to help speed up her recovery? Should I apply poly-sporon again?
Thank you,
Sarah

 

[BeckyLa]

Welcome to BYC!!! Glad you're here!!

Sounds to me like you did all the right things. I'd just keep a close eye on her that the others don't start pecking her sores and that she doesn't get an infection. Also, if her sores get too dirty you'll want to clean them again and apply more ointment. I'm sure that with your care she will be fine. But you might want to lock the dog out of the room before working with the birds.

 

[SarahF]

Yes, I was just closing the door when it happened. Stupid dog isnt allowed in the house again. But thank you for your advice. I didnt know if i should wrap her up in some gauze..would that help from keeping the others pecking at her?

 

[BeckyLa]

Just keep an eye on her. You said the sores are under her wings, hopefully the wings will keep them out of sight of the other birds and pecking won't be a problem. The gauze will be uncomfortable for her and she may not leave it on anyway. Just watch to see what they do. If they begin pecking, then we'll address that problem. God willing we won't need to.

 

[chickbea]

You did everything right - nice job.
Don't use gauze - the loose nature of the weave means they might ingest the strings. It will also draw attention to her.

 

[2mnypets]

Great job of treating your baby Sarah! Welcome to BYC. The chick should be just fine. You'll be amazed at how resilant these lil guys and gals are.

Let us know how the progress goes.