Help with a scalped silkie!

[thndrdancr]

I am wondering anyone has encountered anything like this before. My poor you ld silkie pullet got scalped by a bully 4 days ago, pretty severely. She has not started Laying yet and she has 3 silkie buddies.

She is recovering from the scalping part and is no longer in shock, but absolutely will not eat. I found last night she has no vision whatsoever! I have been dropper feeding her but she is getting weak. Could this be from brain trauma? Will her vision come back.?
She can't see to eat and I finally put her back with her buddies thinking that might encourage her and make her feel better to hear pecking even but it is no go. (These are not the ones who scalped her, she was raised with her 3 sweet sisters.)

She just cannot see the food whatsoever and refuses to try.

 

[BoomChickaPop]

I am wondering anyone has encountered anything like this before. My poor you ld silkie pullet got scalped by a bully 4 days ago, pretty severely. She has not started Laying yet and she has 3 silkie buddies.

She is recovering from the scalping part and is no longer in shock, but absolutely will not eat. I found last night she has no vision whatsoever! I have been dropper feeding her but she is getting weak. Could this be from brain trauma? Will her vision come back.?
She can't see to eat and I finally put her back with her buddies thinking that might encourage her and make her feel better to hear pecking even but it is no go. (These are not the ones who scalped her, she was raised with her 3 sweet sisters.)

She just cannot see the food whatsoever and refuses to try.

That is odd
What exactly do you mean by scalped?
Her vision might come back but i really don't know.
Could you post a picture please.
What chicken scalped her?

 

[thndrdancr]

Apparently it is pretty common for them to get totally scalped by roosters or other bully birds, seen pics on here a lot. I didn't take a picture at its worst, but she was totally bald on top with all her head feathers gone, down to bone, and very bloody. She was in shock so she was brought in, kept warm, put antibiotic on wound. She came out of shock, was preening and wandering around the next eve but will not eat. When I tested her vision she did not respond at all to hand movement close to eyes. I had trimmed head feathers way down so she could see and not get them all bloody while recovering.
I know sometimes if it's bad enough they have swelling on the brain due to vaulted skull. Just wondered if that could cause temporary blindness because if I can't get her to eat, she is a goner. . She is such a lovely bird.

 

[BoomChickaPop]

Apparently it is pretty common for them to get totally scalped by roosters or other bully birds, seen pics on here a lot. I didn't take a picture at its worst, but she was totally bald on top with all her head feathers gone, down to bone, and very bloody. She was in shock so she was brought in, kept warm, put antibiotic on wound. She came out of shock, was preening and wandering around the next eve but will not eat. When I tested her vision she did not respond at all to hand movement close to eyes. I had trimmed head feathers way down so she could see and not get them all bloody while recovering.
I know sometimes if it's bad enough they have swelling on the brain due to vaulted skull. Just wondered if that could cause temporary blindness because if I can't get her to eat, she is a goner. . She is such a lovely bird.

She is a beautiful silkie
Have you tried dipping her beak in water to see if she will drink?
I wonder if she forgot how to eat like you will have force feed her
Is she pooping?
You must keep her hydrated
Also put some raw honey on her head. It will make her scab heal up and her head feathers grow back.
I had a hen with a small puffy head. One mean chicken bit her little puffy head almost completely off! Her puffy head was like a hat that could be lifted back and forth.
I immediately put raw honey and a bandaid on her head. Her head healed within 3 days. And she is still with us to this day

 

[appps]

They don't have much protection bone wise on the skull so it's possible they caused bruising to her brain during the attack. Hopefully as it heals it may start to recover some sight but good chance it's permanent damage.

At the pet shop we can buy something called poly aid plus. Not sure if it's available over there but imagine they would have something similar. Basically it's a powder that you mix to a slurry full of everything they need for birds that aren't eating. Mix it up quite thick then use a plastic syringe and open her beak and put some in her mouth, let her eat it, add some more etc. takes a while but will keep her going till she can hopefully recover enough to start eating.

I'd also look at adding foods with a strong smell to her mix to help her find it/want it. Add some warm water to her pellets so that it becomes soft (gets extra water in her too) then mix some canned fish in. The water releases more smell from the pellets and the canned tuna etc has a strong smell.

I've got one recovering from crop surgery at the moment and the final clincher that got her eating was actually putting her best friend in the cage with her. Suddenly she is eating when she does where before she ignored it.
Good luck!

 

[thndrdancr]

I have been force feeding her b vitamins plus Kaytee but it is so slow going. I have her in with her mates, and decided to add baby aspirin yesterday. That seemed to perk her up a lot. Bi feel so bad. My sister said if she had caught the culprit, they would have been dead even were it a peacock. Sometimes my young juvie peas are bullies as well.