HELP: Hen's face cut open, swollen - what do I do?

[@~rosecityfarmgirl~@]

Last night, we found one of our young Coturnix Quail hens with blood on the left side of her face. I brought her in and cleaned it with peroxide and put Polysporin on it, and kept her inside overnight. I cleaned it up again this morning, and she seemed ok, so I put her back out with the others (1 male, 2 other females in a huge enclosure)
Now, the side of her face is covered with more blood, and I think I can see the wound location: the edge of her ear. The skin is pulled back a tiny bit, and it bleeds. Her face is swollen, and her eye is swollen shut. I've got her drinking water laced with tetracycline, but I need to know:

What can I buy at the pharmacy to clean her wound? Can I use Dettol, iodine, or something else?

I plan to keep her indoors for the next week, but is there anything that I can do to help speed the healing, prevent further infection, and make her more comfortable?

Thank you so much! I'll post a picture when I can!

 

[Anianna]

Saline with a needleless syringe or an eyewash kit would be good for flushing the wound. Do not use the peroxide as that can also kill good stuff the chicken needs to get better. I don't know how Polysporin compares to Neosporin, but I would continue to treat with Neosporin or honey. The other chickens may make the injury worse, so keeping her inside is a good decision. You can cover the wound with gauze and gently wrap with vet wrap to keep it in place. The tetramycin should fight off any infection. See the first link in my signature for more on wound care.

 

[@~rosecityfarmgirl~@]

Thank you!

I washed out the wound with a weak saline solution (the wound continued to bleed, so I applied pressure with some tissue for a minute), and set her in the bath tub for the time being. She ate a bit, and drank, then fell asleep, puffed up, with her head under her wing.
Here's what the wound looks like (click for larger image)






My fiance is picking up neosporin and adhesive wrap for me. I hope I can get the swelling down!

 

[Anianna]

Poor little sweetie. Do you know how she got the wound?

If the bleeding has stopped, you can give her a bit of aspirin for the pain. There is dosing information at the Poultry Podiatry page about a third of the way down.

 

[@~rosecityfarmgirl~@]

I'm not sure what happened. I don't think that she got it from flying into the chickenwire, and it's a pretty big wound to have been caused by the male. I'll try to give her some aspirin tomorrow - right now, it's still bleeding a tiny bit, but coagulating on the side of her face. When I clean it, it bleeds a little bit more. I hope she's going to be ok

 

[Anianna]

If it continues to bleed, you can use a styptic powder to help it stop. You can purchase Kwik Stop at pet stores or use corn starch or flour. If it's not bleeding constantly and just starts back up when you mess with it, that's probably not necessary. I would only use a styptic powder if it just won't stop bleeding at all.

 

[@~rosecityfarmgirl~@]

Well, she healed up very quickly, and was getting anxious in the house, so I let her back out in the run (it's an old chicken run, 4ftx12ft, and 7ft high). My fiance spotted her in a corner hours later, the same side of her face gashed open badly, and fresh, coagulating blood in her ear and down her neck. The culprit was also covered in blood, with feathers in her beak.

I've cleaned out the wound with saline, applied neosporin and a gauze wrap, and she's resting. How can I keep her from trying to scratch the dressing off? Can I keep her in a totally dark room, to make her sleep (with food and water available, of course) until the wound closes up? I've already tried trimming her claws, but she still scratches. Thank goodness her eye was spared...

 

[TeamChaos]

I swear by a product called vetricyn- it's expensive but you can use it on so many species and it is so effective. It will help clean and seal the wound and it really speeds healing! There's no need for wrap because the spray coats the wound.