Help! Severe injury!

[waba8chicks]

This is my smallest Crested Cream Legbar. She is much smaller than the others, almost like a "runt". I have seen the legbar rooster pecking at her, he doesn't like her. I am not really sure what happened here, if it was him, or a predator, but she was in a secure run, and we found her with her entire head "scalped", and tail bleeding!! I don't know what to do, she is in the house tonight. Is there anything we can do for her?



This is what she looked like before the injury. Can she be helped, and if yes, will the feathers grow back? It really looks like skin and all is gone.

 

[Anne4596]

The most important thing is to separate her IMMEDIATELY and to bring her indoors. Next, you should probably clean her wound with a damp cloth, flush the wounds with a saline solution with a syringe, and perhaps put some an antiseptic on them to keep them from becoming infected. Infection is the enemy. I would highly recommend liquid poultry nutrition if she loses interest in food. Keep her warm, clean, well fed and hydrated, and if necessary, flush the wounds multiple times. If you do these things, she is likely to recover. You will have keep her separated for a while. Hope this helped. Good luck!

 

[waba8chicks]

Thank you. She is in the house confined so she can rest. We just found her so don't know if she will eat yet, will definitely get some liquid nutrition-I didn't think about that. Thanks again!

 

[Eggcessive]

She could be in shock, so let her rest in a quiet dim place. Then offer water with vitamins and electrolytes in themorning, such as SaveAChick, Rooster Booster Vitamins With Lactobacillus, or give her poultry Nutridrench 3 ml daily. Chopped egg or tuna and some probiotic plain yogurt may. This may have occured because she was small or did not respond to the rooster. If she has not suffered serious injuries or brain damage, she may make a good recovery. The skin will eventually close over these type wounds healing from the inside out barring any infection. Feathers will grow in in several weeks. Look for signs of infection, such as redness, swelling, bad odor, or drainage or pus. Vetericyn wound spray is cery food for wound care, as well as normal saline. Plain triple antibioti or neosporin are food to apply afetr cleaninf the wound.

 

[waba8chicks]

I wondered if her feathers will grow back. I hope so. If I can get her healed and healthy again, do you think she should be kept separate from the others? I don't know if she should EVER go back with the others.

 

[Anne4596]

I am unsure that she could go back with the others ever, it will depend on her recovery. Her feathers may or may not grow back. If her feathers do not grow back, she will not be able to return to the flock. If you are okay with having an inside chicken, she could become one if she does not make a full recovery. If she makes a full recovery, she becomes strong again, and she is fully healthy, she could possibly be allowed to rejoin the flock. I am happy to help, and please keep me posted.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I wondered if her feathers will grow back. I hope so. If I can get her healed and healthy again, do you think she should be kept separate from the others? I don't know if she should EVER go back with the others.

Her feathers will grow back and she will heal surprisingly quickly - they are amazingly resilient little animals. Keep her separate until the flesh has fully healed over as open flesh is an invitation to picking which can quickly become full-on cannibalism. Once she has recovered you can re-integrate her to the flock. During the last part of her recovery it can help to bring a buddy, a bird that is non-dominant in the flock, to be housed with her so they can bond and you will introduce both at the same time into the main flock. One reason reintroduction to the flock often goes badly is that you put a "strange" bird into the group and with just one bird being introduced there is only one target for the flock's aggression to the "interloper" -- by having more than one bird enter the flock at the same time (the picked bird and the buddy bird) you spread the attention. It can also be helpful to rearrange things in the coop/run at the time you introduce the birds so that things are different and that provides another distraction to the flock.

 

[waba8chicks]

Ok, I am updating Squirtle's condition. She stayed in the house getting treated for almost a week, the antibiotic ointment and saline rinses really helped, I guess. I haven't cleaned the wound as well as I had hoped, but it was just too painful for her. Mostly just rinsed and then put ointment on. Two nights ago we went and put her on the roost after everybody was already asleep, and she was fine. Today, however, I was outside with them, and another legbar hen "mounted" her like a rooster! As Squirtle got away, the hen ran over and started pecking her on the head! Hence another round of bleeding (on the back, still damp and swollen area). I brought her into the house, and treated the area. She even laid an egg! So she is feeling much better. She didn't, however, want to settle down to sleep. So I put her back out onto the roost with the others. Aside from bringing her inside in the day, and outside at night, what else can I do? I am going to clean up the old "quarantine/brooder" coop, but I really hate to keep her totally apart from the others. Has anybody ever heard of anything to cover a head injury with, so I can keep her with everybody else? I have read about how chickens will attack an injured area, I just hoped to let her heal AND keep her outside with the others.

 

[waba8chicks]

I just reviewed my original post and wanted to clarify the "before" pic. That is not her, it is a stock pic. That is just an example of what she is supposed to look like, I didn't have a close up pick showing her crest!

 

[Eggcessive]

Try spraying her wound with BluKote every 2-3 days until her feathers grow back in. I have had good luck with that in scalped chickens. Try her in a dog crate inside the coop or run for a couple of days. Then let her out in the yard on supervised visits. Soon, they should leave her alone.