HORRIFIC HEAD WOUNDS

[TheBirdLady2001]

Poor thing, wondering if little drops of water would help?

He swallowed a couple drops from a syringe

 

[micstrachan]

Yes, I think polysporin would work. There are mixed reviews on this, but many people claim we should use antibiotic appointment without pain killer. There’s a specific dosing of aspirin in water you can use for chickens for pain. They can be found on the forums. @Hen Pen Jem, can you help with that? I don’t know the details offhand.
You may end up needing to tube feed your little guy. I’m going to tag @casportpony who is the authority on that.

For now, I would keep him in a calm, quiet warm place for him to hopefully recover from the shock of the attack.

 

[TheBirdLady2001]

Yes, I think polysporin would work. There are mixed reviews on this, but many people claim we should use antibiotic appointment without pain killer. There’s a specific dosing of aspirin in water you can use for chickens for pain. They can be found on the forums. @Hen Pen Jem, can you help with that? I don’t know the details offhand.
You may end up needing to tube feed your little guy. I’m going to tag @casportpony who is the authority on that.

For now, I would keep him in a calm, quiet warm place for him to hopefully recover from the shock of the attack.

Thank you so much. I just have no clue what to do. Should I rinse his head with saline and put the ointment on him?? Or just leave him. Should I try to get him to drink water?

 

[micstrachan]

I would definitely rinse with saline and put Neosporin (polysporin) on it. If it just happened, I wouldn’t worry about him drinking water just yet. That will be important eventually, though. If he will take water and is it too traumatized, it wouldn’t hurt now, either.

 

[TheBirdLady2001]

I would definitely rinse with saline and put Neosporin (polysporin) on it. If it just happened, I wouldn’t worry about him drinking water just yet. That will be important eventually, though. If he will take water and is it too traumatized, it wouldn’t hurt now, either.

Okay. I will do that. Rinse with saline and polysporn. After that should I just leave him for the night? I’m worried. Is 11:30pm, and I have to get up and leave for work around 7:00am in the morning for an 8 hour shift. What should I do with him in the morning? Should I just put more polysporn, see if he will drink, then leave him?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Can he see? I had this happen to a quail before but he was blinded. He responded really well to a blended mixture of scrambled eggs, vitamins, and water fed through an eye dropper. He would even come running my direction when I called. His downfall was that he lost his eyes and couldn't find any food on his own. For the wound, I sprayed with blue kote after a thorough cleaning then kept moist with neosporin. Keep your chin up, I think he's got a chance!

ETA: if you have a heat lamp, you may want to give him the option to crawl under it, just in case. Shock does funny things to the body and he may need a little extra warmth.

 

[TheBirdLady2001]

Can he see? I had this happen to a quail before but he was blinded. He responded really well to a blended mixture of scrambled eggs, vitamins, and water fed through an eye dropper. He would even come running my direction when I called. His downfall was that he lost his eyes and couldn't find any food on his own. For the wound, I sprayed with blue kote after a thorough cleaning then kept moist with neosporin. Keep your chin up, I think he's got a chance!

I don’t think he can see. The skin around where his eyes used to be is peeled off his head, and his eyes are shut, and blocked by a big flap of skin. I’ve been talking to him, but all he does is sit with his beak resting on the ground and not moving.

 

[TheBirdLady2001]

Can he see? I had this happen to a quail before but he was blinded. He responded really well to a blended mixture of scrambled eggs, vitamins, and water fed through an eye dropper. He would even come running my direction when I called. His downfall was that he lost his eyes and couldn't find any food on his own. For the wound, I sprayed with blue kote after a thorough cleaning then kept moist with neosporin. Keep your chin up, I think he's got a chance!

ETA: if you have a heat lamp, you may want to give him the option to crawl under it, just in case. Shock does funny things to the body and he may need a little extra warmth.

And yes I have him under a heat lamp

 

[micstrachan]

I think what he needs now is calm and rest (after you flush and treat his wounds). If you create a mash of feed and water and dip his beak, will he take any? You may need to try to hand feed him like this eventually. Fluids will be more important than feed. If he is still not eating, even with help in a couple days, I would learn to tube feed. For now I would focus on cleaning his wounds, watching for infectioon, and letting him rest. Is he used to being handled a lot? If not, I would minimize the handling, as stress can be especially hard on a traumatized, injured or sick bird.

 

[TheBirdLady2001]

I think what he needs now is calm and rest (after you flush and treat his wounds). If you create a mash of feed and water and dip his beak, will he take any? You may need to try to hand feed him like this eventually. Fluids will be more important than feed. If he is still not eating, even with help in a couple days, I would learn to tube feed. For now I would focus on cleaning his wounds, watching for infectioon, and letting him rest. Is he used to being handled a lot? If not, I would minimize the handling, as stress can be especially hard on a traumatized, injured or sick bird.

No, he won’t take any food or open his mouth at all. He will only drink water if I squirt a little on his beak. And he is pretty used to being handled, but I’m trying not to keep handling him that much because me touching his wounds still is probably stressful.