Heavily injured chick

[Aimy]

Hello. So I have an emergency! I just discovered on earth my chicks injured on his chest. I can't make out the injury there's too much mud around, I've managed to clean it a bit but I noticed that every time he drank water it oozes out of his chest. There's no bleeding or blood. I've some betadine on it. He won't eat anything. I'm worried about what I could do for him. I could really use some first aid tips.

 

[Painted Calls]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @azygous

Sounds like the crop has been punctured. Can you post some photos of the injury?

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Any way you can post a photo of the wound after the chick has been cleaned up? How old is this chick? Can ou clean with warm water or Vetericyn spray before posting photos? How confident are you that this is water seeping from his chest? If I were you, because I'm a big softy, after cleaning the wound, I would apply a triple antibiotic ointment, place a trauma pad trimmed to size over the wound, and wrap the chick's chest with Vet Wrap tight enough that the bandaging doesn't slip. Change 1-2x a day cleaning with Vetericyn spray and applying ointment. If after 5-7 days there seems to be no improvement or the chick is failing to thrive, you may need to consider euthanizing the chick.

 

[azygous]

If you intend to treat this chick, you need to clean the chick up and inspect the wound for size and nature - whether it's a tear or a puncture. That will determine how you treat it.

A tear may need to be super glued closed. A puncture may heal on its own. It's crucial, as @humblehillsfarm has mentioned, to clean the wound, and keep it moist with an antibiotic ointment. Daily cleaning and treatment are necessary to avoid infection. If the chick is lethargic, infection may have already begun. An oral antibiotic might be necessary. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/

 

[Aimy]

Hello. Thank you all for your advise. Here is a few updates about him. Sorry I haven't been able to take pictures. He won't stand still very long. But I did manage to clean him up better today and I can see that he has a kind of a hole in his 'food bag'. While cleaning him up, all the food he had eaten was coming out of it. But there's no blood. His body functions are normal. His eating and drinking patterns are stable. He's active but not like the other chicks though. I've been cleaning him with warm water and then I put Betadine over it.
What I suspect happened is that he somehow managed to creep into the bigger hens coop and got attacked by one of them.

 

[Aimy]

Any way you can post a photo of the wound after the chick has been cleaned up? How old is this chick? Can ou clean with warm water or Vetericyn spray before posting photos? How confident are you that this is water seeping from his chest? If I were you, because I'm a big softy, after cleaning the wound, I would apply a triple antibiotic ointment, place a trauma pad trimmed to size over the wound, and wrap the chick's chest with Vet Wrap tight enough that the bandaging doesn't slip. Change 1-2x a day cleaning with Vetericyn spray and applying ointment. If after 5-7 days there seems to be no improvement or the chick is failing to thrive, you may need to consider euthanizing the chick.

Hey so he's about a little over a month. I can see the water just flowing out as he drinks it. Today when I was cleaning him up, there were pieces of food too that I cleaned up from that hole. There's no blood thankfully. I use betadine twice a day.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Hey so he's about a little over a month. I can see the water just flowing out as he drinks it. Today when I was cleaning him up, there were pieces of food too that I cleaned up from that hole. There's no blood thankfully. I use betadine twice a day.

Any way you can weigh him daily to make sure he's growing? I wish I knew if you should try to fix the hole or what the chances are of it healing on its own. If he's growing and the wound is looking better, I'd keep doing what you're doing. Does it seem to be healing? Poor little guy.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello. Thank you all for your advise. Here is a few updates about him. Sorry I haven't been able to take pictures. He won't stand still very long. But I did manage to clean him up better today and I can see that he has a kind of a hole in his 'food bag'. While cleaning him up, all the food he had eaten was coming out of it. But there's no blood. His body functions are normal. His eating and drinking patterns are stable. He's active but not like the other chicks though. I've been cleaning him with warm water and then I put Betadine over it.
What I suspect happened is that he somehow managed to creep into the bigger hens coop and got attacked by one of them.

Hey so he's about a little over a month. I can see the water just flowing out as he drinks it. Today when I was cleaning him up, there were pieces of food too that I cleaned up from that hole. There's no blood thankfully. I use betadine twice a day.

Can you please trim the feathers away from the "hole" in his crop and get some photos?

 

[Aimy]

Can you please trim the feathers away from the "hole" in his crop and get some photos?

These are the photos of his injured crop. The brown bit is where it's punctured. I don't see it hindering him one bit though. He seems to be eating normally and running about just fine. Does the crop heal on its own? Or would it need some stitches? I keep cleaning it and applying betadine but now he's taken to pecking at it. I'm a little worried about that.

 

[Aimy]

Any way you can weigh him daily to make sure he's growing? I wish I knew if you should try to fix the hole or what the chances are of it healing on its own. If he's growing and the wound is looking better, I'd keep doing what you're doing. Does it seem to be healing? Poor little guy.

He's a real miracle baby he is! I really want him to get through. He seems to be getting along just fine now. I'll keep an eye on his growth, that will certainly help to keep check on actual progress.