Help - Bloody Wound [Graphic Image Inside]

[V-NH]

Hello,

I just left my chicks alone for about 3 hours and when I went to see them again one had a large wound on its back around its tail. The other chickens all seemed to be taking turns pecking at the wound, so I quickly took the chicken out and put it in a cardboard box by itself, then took a picture and rushed to my computer to get some advice. Is it likely that this chick is going to recover from this wound? If not, what would you recommend doing? What could have possibly caused this?



Help!

 

[americana-lover]

Fist I would take the pine shavings out, they could get tuck in the wound. Put some newspapers down. Im glad you already isolated the chick. You should put some wound creme on it. Your chick was probably subjected to the other chickens pecking on her tail feathers, and it got too far. Chickens will peck at anything that glows/moves, so thats why when your saw when you walked in. Keep the chick isolated until a scab forms, or until you think it is healthy enough to return to your other chickens. Dont worry, your chicken will recover. : )

 

[V-NH]

I inspected it a little bit closer and it seems like they pulled out several tail feathers and pecked a hole in its back. A 1/3rd inch part of its left wing is also missing and a little bit bloody. Jeesh, it's almost like cannibalism.

 

[Haveandtohold]

Is the wound deep like a puncture wound or just a big general wound that isn't actually that deep? If you love her, get her to a vet. If you don't want to or can't go that route I say keep her separated and keep her as comfortable as possible and calm to prevent her from going into shock. Rinse out her wound with warm water and iodine or hydrogen peroxide. Do your best to stop the bleeding and use gauze to dress the wound, you just keep wrapping it between her wings and legs to secure it. Make sure she has food and water. Might want to switch the rest of the chicks' heat bulb to red to prevent the pecking.

 

[V-NH]

The heat bulb is red already.

It seems like it is mostly a surface wound, like all of the feathers were pulled out. I separated her from the rest of the chickens and put her in a box with food and water. I also put a wound cream on the injury.

Now i'm more concerned than before. I spent about 10 minutes watching their behavior and noticed that there are several chicks (5+) that are pecking all of the other chicks in the same area. This is the first time I have seen this behavior. Is my whole flock going to end up in this situation? I certainly don't have enough space for 17 different brooders.

 

[V-NH]

So, the wound has scabbed over most of the way and the chick is up and active again. So active, in fact, that it flew away from me and made it up the basement stairs to my kitchen before I could catch it. The wound itself is about the size of a dime. In addition to the visible wound in the image, two of its tail feathers were picked completely clean and about 1/3rd to 1/2 an inch of its wing was picked clean.

I tried to re-integrate it with the other chickens tonight and within 30 seconds, several of them immediately began pecking at the wound, its tail feathers, and its wounded wing. They aren't doing it to each other, but the moment this chick joins the flock several of them attack it. Is this normal chicken behavior or is something terribly wrong? Do I have any options, or am I going to have to raise this chicken on its own? Do you think there is a hope I'll ever be able to integrate it back into the rest of my flock?

When the other chickens attack it, this poor little chick doesn't make any noises or try to get away. It just acts like nothing is happening. Do you think something might be wrong with the chick?

 

[Haveandtohold]

I think you're lucky your chick is doing so well and it will absolutely need to remain separated until she heals. Chickens love the sight of gore! There are wound healing and anti-pick salves like Stockholm Tar that seal the wound and change the color so there isn't the blood red that chickens are attracte to. Maybe try tht after a couple days of letting her heal up?

 

[V-NH]

Update:

The chick fully recovered from the wound. I kept her separate from the others for 9 days. They all just went outside today to live in the coop. She seems to be outside of their social hierarchy now. She stays away from the other chicks as much as possible. She is also incredibly people-friendly. She flies up and grabs onto my belt or shirt whenever I go out into the coop. When my significant other is out there, this chick will sit on her the entire time then watch her leave until she is out of sight. I guess we super-socialized it due to all of the wound care.

 

[americana-lover]

SO glad to hear your chick has fully recovered!

 

[MountainMamaHST]

Awesome to hear that everything is okay with this chick! I just had severe injuries in my flock and have been cruising looking for ideas of what to do. This helps. Hope the pecking order gets solved without any more injuries!