Hen with badly bleeding head! Help! *UPDATED*

[jayde88]

Hello,

My six month old white polish hen's head is badly bleeding. I assume some roosters pecked out feathers from her head and it it starting bleeding and other chickens pecked it to make the wound significantly worse. Right now she's got no feathers in the center of her head, the other feathers are caked in blood and mud and her head is all raw and bleeding.

I currently have her seperated from the rest of the flock for the night. How can I help her?

UPDATE: Right now my main concern is that the wound on her head is pretty deep. If you look at her from the side, her head is not round, there's a big dip in the center...

I did what Dhunicorn suggested and sprayed the head with sterile saline, but when I tried to use cotton wads to remove the caked blood, even more feathers started falling out around the wound and it got even bigger and uggghh....

If I just keep her in a confined area and keep it cleaned is it going to heal alright, or do I need to do something extra?
I wish I would have noticed this earlier before it got this bad!

Thanks,
Jayde88

 

[dlhunicorn]

Birds can tolerate more bloodloss than mammals so the chances are small that she will be severly affected from blood loss (unfortunately your sad predicament of your polish being pecked on the head by another breed is quite common > you may need to keep your polish separated from the others)
For shock you can and should add electrolytes to the water for a few days > prepare some sterile saline and spray on the head and using cotton wads or such remove the blood before it gets all caked up.
Give the contents of a combo geltab (human) of vitaminE/selenium (make sure the amount of selenium per geltab does not exceed 50 micrograms > just use a pin to put hole in the tab and then squeeze out the contents and give in beak) > give once a day for three days.
Keep in a temp stable and warm environment until fully recovered.

 

[jayde88]

Quote:
Thanks so so much, Dhunicorn!! This really helps!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i had an EE pullet and WCB Polish cockerel once who were friends. Then the pullet became fascinated with her friend's top knot. She kept pulling his feathers out. i would see her sitting above him *yank* *yank* *yank* . Then he would make these little startled sounds and look around to see what was happening. i used a product called Blu-Kote on his head. It's supposed to taste bitter and prevent pecking. It didn't work as a pecking and feather-pulling deterrent, but does work well as a wound dressing. You can see the product here, but most feed stores carry it: http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/blue_kote_wound_dressing.html

i had to rehome the poor little guy for his own safety. You really shouldn't keep crested birds with regular chickens, the fascination is just too great. i do have a bantam polish now in with my silkies, but since everyone has crests, no one bothers with anyone else's head.

 

[jayde88]

Enchanted Sunrise Farms, thanks! I will look for that!

Right now my main concern is that the wound on her head is pretty deep. If you look at her from the side, her head is not round, there's a big dip in the center...

I did what Dhunicorn suggested and sprayed the head with sterile saline, but when I tried to use cotton wads to remove the caked blood, even more feathers started falling out around the wound and it got even bigger and uggghh....

If I just keep her ina confined area and keep it cleaned is it going to heal alright, or do I need to do something extra?
I wish I would have noticed this earlier before it got this bad!

 

[robin416]

Keep antibiotic ointment on it. A pic would be helpful because your description sounds odd. I'm wondering if there is blood up under her skin giving her the lopsided look.

I've had a scalped bird in the past, scalped to the point of seeing its skull. Its now over a year old and thinks I'm a God after the extremely long recovery period.

 

[dospuercos]

I would spray her head with 'Wound Kote". You can find it at your local feed store. It costs about $6 for a can. It is also an antiseptic. I have used it lots of times before when my chickens have pecked the others to the point of bleeding. It works great! I read somewhere that because it is a bright purple, the other chickens won't peck at it because for some reason they think it is rotten flesh. All I know is that it has worked evertime & kept the others from continuing to peck. Just be careful not to get any on your clothes. It stains really bad.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

It sounds like Wound Kote is similar, if not identical to Blu Kote. It does turn the area purple.

jayde88, can you post a picture? i would like to see what you are dealing with.

 

[jayde88]

Thanks everyone!

I have her inside at the moment, I don't want her outside with this weather and that wound. She seems to be healing up alright. It's not down to the skull, thank goodness, (or at least I don't think it is). I will try to remember to post a picture soon.
I will see if I can find some of the antiseptics.

Thanks again!

Jayde88