Emergency!

[Kalimak]

2 day old chick attacked by hen (not his mom). Hurt his wing (which can heal, not a big deal), but she slit his throat, I can see inside of his neck, the inside is intact. The skin is slit and showing inside. Am I explaining this correctly? The chick is not eating on its own anymore after the attack. But drinking LOTS of water (which I have vitamins and electrolytes in). I fed the chick with a syringe just now. What else can I do? Does it need to be stitched? Would it heal? Please help I want to save it. Might have pictures later.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is vet care an option?

Photos of what you are describing may help.

Is just a layer of skin or can you see the trachea and esophagus?

How long ago was it attacked?

I would place the chick where it will stay warm, provide it with the water. Food is not that important at 2 days old, but it will probably need to eat a little in the next 24hrs. For food I would make it some wet soupy chick starter.

General care for wounds would be to clean it well - for a wound on the throat and not knowing how deep or what's exposed, personally I would swab it with Chlorhexidine for the initial cleaning. Then apply a little triple antibiotic ointment.

The chick may be in shock or it's throat is sore (could be damaged?) so may only be able to take in liquids for a few days.

 

[Kalimak]

Is vet care an option?

Photos of what you are describing may help.

Is just a layer of skin or can you see the trachea and esophagus?

How long ago was it attacked?

I would place the chick where it will stay warm, provide it with the water. Food is not that important at 2 days old, but it will probably need to eat a little in the next 24hrs. For food I would make it some wet soupy chick starter.

General care for wounds would be to clean it well - for a wound on the throat and not knowing how deep or what's exposed, personally I would swab it with Chlorhexidine for the initial cleaning. Then apply a little triple antibiotic ointment.

The chick may be in shock or it's throat is sore (could be damaged?) so may only be able to take in liquids for a few days.

vet isn’t an option. I sprayed with vetrycin is all i did to eat. You can see the esophagus but not directly. There’s flesh before it, but you can tell the shape..I’ll take pictures as soon as I could. The chick is under the mom.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Try to keep the wound moist and wrap the neck using a trimmed-to-size trauma pad and vet wrap. Moist wounds heal faster and are less itchy than dry ones. Use preferably silver sulfadiazine applied to the wound or a triple antibiotic ointment that does not contain pain reliever to help fight infection. Unfortunately wrapping the neck may mean removing the little chick from mama, but I would see if mama accepts it with the wrap. If the wound is as bad as it sounds in your description I think it needs wrapped. I’ll wait for pictures!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

vet isn’t an option. I sprayed with vetrycin is all i did to eat. You can see the esophagus but not directly. There’s flesh before it, but you can tell the shape..I’ll take pictures as soon as I could. The chick is under the mom.

It may be o.k. with Mom if she will allow you to check on the chick often. I would worry that she may start picking at the chick or the wound, so be aware of that. Depends on the wound and how large whether I would attempt to leave the chick with her or not.

Vetericyn is good to use for cleaning. I would apply triple antibiotic ointment to the wound.

 

[Kalimak]

Try to keep the wound moist and wrap the neck using a trimmed-to-size trauma pad and vet wrap. Moist wounds heal faster and are less itchy than dry ones. Use preferably silver sulfadiazine applied to the wound or a triple antibiotic ointment that does not contain pain reliever to help fight infection. Unfortunately wrapping the neck may mean removing the little chick from mama, but I would see if mama accepts it with the wrap. If the wound is as bad as it sounds in your description I think it needs wrapped. I’ll wait for pictures!

thanks a lot. I will take pictures in a few.

 

[Kalimak]

It may be o.k. with Mom if she will allow you to check on the chick often. I would worry that she may start picking at the chick or the wound, so be aware of that. Depends on the wound and how large whether I would attempt to leave the chick with her or not.

Vetericyn is good to use for cleaning. I would apply triple antibiotic ointment to the wound.

yes she does allow us to check on the chick and handle it. I’ll upload pictures in a few.

 

[Kalimak]

Front and side view

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I still think ideally that wound should be bandaged, but here are your possible scenarios: You can bandage the chick, put it back with mama and everything will be fine (best case). You can bandage chick, put it back with mom, and she will pick on the chick; then if she picks on chick, remove it from the flock or remove the bandage. The issue there is, it will not be accepted back into her clutch of chicks. Or, you can not do anything except for to clean and monitor the wound and leave it with mom.

As bad as it looks, that is just a skin tear. Provided no infection sets in and nothing happens to worsen it, the chick should heal fine.

 

[Kalimak]

I still think ideally that wound should be bandaged, but here are your possible scenarios: You can bandage the chick, put it back with mama and everything will be fine (best case). You can bandage chick, put it back with mom, and she will pick on the chick; then if she picks on chick, remove it from the flock or remove the bandage. The issue there is, it will not be accepted back into her clutch of chicks. Or, you can not do anything except for to clean and monitor the wound and leave it with mom.

As bad as it looks, that is just a skin tear. Provided no infection sets in and nothing happens to worsen it, the chick should heal fine.

Is neosporin ok? Neosporin, back with mom without bandage? Is this good? Or should I definitely bandage it and put with