HELP CALL 911!!!!!! ( Graphic picture)

[floridachickhatcher]

oh i know what your going through our chickens did that to a BR that wasnt even a year old and we put that blue/purple stuff on her head and separated her from the flock and it healed up and we put her back in and darn if the stupid chickens didnt peck her head out again the second time she fell ill and died sadly

 

[wolfpak]

I've had success with disinfecting wounds first, then sewing them up with plastic-type dental floss, using a sewing needle. I wrap the bird up in a towel and stitch it back together like sewing a seam up. Normally I put a stitch every 1/4 to 1/2 inch or so. Sounds brutal, but the birds really don't fuss much. Any kind of "caine" painkillers are toxic for birds, and they don't seem to have much for nerve endings in their skin, so its not as difficult or bad as it sounds.... then take the stitches out after a couple weeks.

 

[Kitt]

My roo had an injury like that. I cleaned and disinfected it, gave some antibiotic and kept up for a while. He is just fine with a little scar and a little bald spot. I didn't have anything to stitch with at the time.

 

[babylotzahenz]

I have two wheaten hens that happened to, they are now bald, but fine. Just keep it clean if possible.

 

[cocosandy]

Ive had things like that happen many times and I just use clear thin plastic thread and a needle and sew it up.
You have to flush it very well with saline or bactine...use alot of bactine because it also kills pain. sew it as best you can and cover it with some antibiotic cream and it should heal fine. just check for infection from time to time....Ive had great luck with that....
I would never leave something like that open.
Most chickens will lay calmly of you cover their face with a cloth. otherwise have someone else hold her. try to get as many stiches in as needed to hold it closed...clean it up well too...
should be fine.

 

[cyn050608]

Hi, Im sorry about your chicken

. But I wouldnt worry too much, I had that happen to a chick when it was about 2 weeks old. They other chicks scalped it pretty good. I would keep it seperated from all others, keep it clean, and I used a spray type antibiotic. Like bactine. My chick healed up nicely, took a long while though. I did try to reintergrate the chick back in with its own age group flock, but they went right back after it. So mine is still isolated. Best of luck.

 

[cyanne]

It is pretty amazing how much damage they can heal from and be good-as-new. The wound in your pic looks pretty gory but is not too bad. As long as she is kept away from the others she should heal just fine whether you stitch it or not. I have seen much worse injuries in the time I have kept chickens, since (unfortunately) everything in the world seems to love eating chicken. Had one with the skin cut almost all the way around her neck. Still don't know what did it, but it was a full-thickness cut almost all the way around so you could see all the veins, muscles, & tendons. Have also had a few over the years attacked by dogs or other predators and have seen them heal from back wounds where there was no skin on most of their back. My strategy on these is to bring them immediately into the house, coat the whole wound with antibiotic ointment (very important not to get the kind with pain relieve) and give them an injection of Tylan 50 (usually 1 cc per day for 5 or 6 days for a full-sized bird) to prevent systemic infection.

Not only do they almost always recover (I think I have lost 1 or 2 that were just too badly injured) but they even grow back their feathers afterwards.


Most important thing, though, is keeping them separate until fully healed because the others will peck them to death if they see blood and keeping the skin moist with ointment or aloe helps speed the healing along.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I had that happen (a bit worse actually because they got the back of her neck too) in a juvenile flock that was hatched and raised together. One of our roosters got overly aggressive with the girls and hurt four hens in a couple hours time: Scalped one, and plucked all the feathers off the back of three others. I pulled them out of the coop after putting the rooster in jail to protect everyone else, and placed them in my hospital pens. I carefully cleaned the wound, put some iodine on it, and then applied some antibiotic cream and fly strike cream to keep the flies off that area. I have a large vet box I've accumulated and do keep Blue Kote on hand ;it is good to distract them from feather plucking on their backs!
Anyway the poor bald-headed girl; I named her Yully after Yul Brynner. She currently IS starting to regrow her feathers and it has been about 3 weeks. I don't know if she'll ever regain all her feathers though. We are building a small coop by our horse paddock and are moving the odd-ball hens there soon.