Hen with hole in her head and other "deskinned"

[Americanaluver]

Hello all,

Haven't been online in a couple months sorry about that.

Well, usually I am totally insane about these kinds of things and have little heart attacks, but, I feel pretty "chill" about this for some reason. haha. Anyways, before I start may I add I just got 4 New hens and these are 2 of the new. Today I was going to open the van door to let the chickens out when I felt a little peck on my leg, I look around and one of my hens apparently got left out all night! I picked her up and petted her to get her warm again, I moved my hand down from her head and felt a bump somewhere in the road. I look at her and I notice her eyes are wide and she looks like she just saw a ghost, her skin around her eyes was literally, no joke here, pulled back making her eyes giant, I put her down and she tried to run away but I grabbed her with my foot and sat down in the snow with her and looked at her head, she sure as heck got sumin' beat out of her. When I first saw all the blood and mangled feathers I got worried this just happened and maybe I was endangering myself by sitting in the woods alone with a chicken, I looked further up her head and was relieved but, also surprised to see, 1, the blood was dry, 2, she had a BIG chunk of meat sticking up, I thought, at the time, she had gotten attacked and it was simply puffing up because of infection or dirt in the animals claws/beak but, then I touched this One little tiny feather and noticed the ball of flesh moved up! She turned her head and pecked my hand and ran away, I went after her and I got her in a strong hold, I picked the flesh up again and looked inside only to see it LITERALLY I am totally serious right now, went INSIDE her head, INSIDE!

I could not see her brain, no, but, I could see her throat, I didn't want to hurt her so I let it down and rushed her inside, I tried to put gauze on her head for some reason even though I knew she'd just throw it off I had to give it a chance, I put her in a carrier big enough for her to move around nicely, and gave her water, witch she hasn't touched, but, I wouldn't either if I had a hole in my head. I put a blanket over her to try to calm her by making her sleep. I went outside and found No tracks it hasn't snowed in.. 2-3 days I believe in NH so there's no "fresh" snow to cover any tracks, I opened the door to let the others out and everyone was good and stuff, then, my two roosters started randomly fighting, I tore them apart but, then they started again and one of my ducks took care of it by biting there chests. I felt it good and went inside to do some work. I fell asleep(haha), and was awoken to a "screaming" of a chicken. I went outside quickly, knowing its feeding season for the wilds, I went to the coop/van and found my silky rooster had gotten the "crud" beat out of him by my other rooster! (same two fighting earlier) Yoda, the starter, loves Marshmellow, the victim, as far as I know so, this little attack has actually got me quiet puzzled. But, this isn't about these two fighting, after taking care of Yoda and Marshmellow, I went to the van to see if any other "chaos" had been breached, and two my, now, not so surprised eyes, it had been, my chicken Cream had gotten her Head mangled! On the top of her head it appears like she had gotten her skin pulled clean off! It was clear of feather stems, broken feathers, and it was in a almost perfect SQUARE!

I brought her in too and put her in a cage, she seems fine, to spite her gash.. I'm saying fine as in shes relaxing not fine as in shes gonna be fine. haha I posted this because, 1, I wanted to know if anyone else thinks this was a hawk, 2, I wanted to know if human disinfectant can be used on chickens and if not what do I use for these poor girls, 3, the hen with the hole, will she live? The hole isn't "open" to air, it has flesh over it, its... just yeah able to flap open.. The only disinfectant I have that I was wondering if I could use was Neosporin? http://songbea.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/neosporin_11341_6_big_.jpg This is the kind I have. Also, sorry if I am misspelling things, I just got over a cold passing around and I'm still a bit weak so, I'm kinda pressing letters I'm not suppose to. haha. OH, also, if it helps, my biggest rooster attacked the new girls a couple of times and I was wondering if maybe he was to rough and hurt them. He's none to attack, never could brake him, so, him attacking them is no "surprise" to me, or him causing this. He's a pretty big and strong boy, so, he's sure as heck capable of causing this.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

Can you post a picture?
I'm not really sure what it could be, but I thing my first suspect would be a rooster. Other than that, it could be a predator of some sort.

 

[sourland]

I don't understand why you would keep this rooster if he is "known to attack." As the days lengthen, hormones are going wild, and this behavior will only escalate. Get rid of this rooster before he kills some of your hens or the silky rooster.

 

[Americanaluver]

Quote:
Well, he is 4 years old this year and he is pretty calm, but, I just said that because he attacks anyone wearing boots and he did hit them on the head, but, I was just throwing ideas in there at the moment.

I just cleaned both the gashes and put disinfectant on them, the one with the peeled skin Actually got her scalp Pulled to the side!! I am totally grossed out right now, my husband put some things together and we came to notice it is literally Impossible for it to have of been a hawk because, 1, even though we're in the mountains, they stay away from our yard unless starved to death because of the dogs and cats, 2, whenever one of my RIRs even hears or see's a crow he goes insane and bawks and runs around the yard insanely telling us, 3, the chickens generally know when its a hawk and go under the coop. I have a feeling they'll live if no infections happen, but, I'm not to sure about the silkie roo that got attacked.. He has puss in one eye, his combs all bloody, bloody nose, etc. =[ He's a very, very, little guy to, so, we just have to wait and see. Me and my husband think Yoda might be going on an attacking rampage because all three of the main birds attacks have the same level of hurt. Yoda? Pfsh, he's a tiny guy, but, by the way he beat Marshmellow up, wow.. I myself am actually kind of scared of him now.. He was so nice before... I'm very confused.

EDIT: OH, yes, also I will infact get some picture. I'll take them in the morning, gotta do some things right now. : P

 

[Americanaluver]

Bump?

 

[chicknmania]

It doesnt sound good but I doubt a rooster would do that much damage. It does sound like a hawk, and they don't always see them, unfortunately.Hawks attack by landing on the bird and biting at the base of the neck or head, and lots of times they'll just rip the chickens head off, not to be gross, but that's what happens. If you have a feed store get them to sell you some Duramycin in powder form, it's just a couple of dollars, anc mix four teaspoons to a gallon of water for them to drink, if they are still eating and drinking. Penicillin would probably be better but Duramycin is ok for starters. Keep the injured ones separate from the others, and give them whatever you can get them to eat, they need to eat. You can use neosporin on the wounds, and wash with saline solution or warm water, keep the wounds clean. Silkies seem to not handle stress from illness or injury very well, but you can never tell, you might get lucky. But it is gonna take a while for them to heal.

 

[Americanaluver]

Quote:
Thank you. I put the two wounded hens outside a couple days ago and their wounds are healing surprisingly fast, its actually kinda weird. Haha, the male silkie is actually all better now and his eyes healed naturally and his face is all good, he seemed pretty calm when he couldn't see, actually. He didn't show any signs of stress, well, he did until I put his wife Gem in, then he started to not want out of the cage and just started to, chill, you could say. Thanks for the advice, I'll try it. Oh, yes, while I am here, one of the female hens head is flopping all around, were the hole was there is now a chunk of her head, sorry to be gross, flopping around, its like a little pony tail, hahaha, I was wondering how I could cut that off? I don't want her to look like she has two heads forever, haha. I was thinking a rubber band to cut the blood flow then just cut it off or just leave the rubber band on till it falls off.

 

[chicknmania]

Dont know hard to tell without seeing it.

 

[Americanaluver]

UPDATE

Well, I went inactive for a bit and in that time the hen with the flap had the flap naturally fall off which was good and the one de-skinned in the head is healing quiet well.

 

[Chickielady]

Gawd !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully all this painful drama will stop !
Have you decided what happened ????