I CAN SEE HER SKULL! pullet with head wound....

[TammyTX]

Quote:
That's a terrible looking wound and I'll be watching this thread to remember how to treat them in the future.

Welsummers...I just posted I haven't had good luck with mine. They seem to look for ways to kill themselves. BUT, you mentioned feathers between the toes? Mine too!! Just a very small tuff between the outside and middle toe.

 

[CA-Urban-Farmer]

I know this is an older thread, but I must say it helped me as a new chicken owner when one of my pullet girls got spooked and hopped on another one's head and making a nasty looking head gash very similar to the one pictured in this thread. Its been 6 days since and my poor girl is healing just fine, and is now much tamer with all the handling and indoor dog-crating she's endured.

I used Betadine and neosporin at first and then applied Blu-Kote - as the Blu-Kote is supposed to keep the others from picking at her scab once she's returned to the coop. For any other newbies out there - wear gloves when applying Blu-Kote - it will stain your hands for days.

I'd post a picture, but I guess I don't have permissions to do that yet.

Again, thanks for the thread - it kept me from panicking.

 

[Sandy M]

Was just reading this post. I know I'm late on a response so this is for future reference. I am a registered veterinary technician and with an open wound on a chicken it is best not to glue or suture is closed. Leave it open and treat with chlorhexidine solution. This is a broad spectrum disinfectant (that you can get from any vet) that is not irritating to the skin. You don't want to close the wound because this can cause an abscess, better to treat with topical solution and leave it open to drain. My chicken lost 4"x6" of skin on her hind end after an attack from a dog. I was tempted to suture it but it would have made the skin too tight. Instead I isolated the hen in a separate pin treated the wound with chlorhexidine spraying it on daily for 7 days. The wound eventually closed down and healed. I did put baytril (got from vet) antibiotic in her water for 7 days.

 

[Marrionna]

I just found my welsummer pullet with a crescent shaped gash on the back of her head that made a pocket the size of a quarter that is clear down to her skull. She's fine, she was quite content when I found her, eating and doing whatever it is chickens do...

I put blukote on her and cleaned it, and clipped the feathers away from it, and then put triple antibiotic ointment IN the pocket and then sealed the edge back down with superglue... She's in confinement with water and feed and some grapes to snack on cause theyre the chickens favorites.

Spose I should start her on some antibiotic? What kind should I use if I do? Just an amoxicillian or what?

Whats your thoughts?

Here's some before shots. Its perfectly fine looking now. It sealed up quite nice and clean.

I found one of my little hens this morning with a big head wound. It’s all down to her skull and it’s pretty big. Most of the skin is torn off from one of the roos. Any idea if she’ll make it? I don’t want her to be in pain if she isnt.

 

[SharW75]

Last year, one of our cochin bantam hens had a very simiar type of head wound. It was nearly the whole top of her head and it had been pecked down to the skull. I carefully washed it and put a little blue-kote on it, and she went merrily on her way. We separated her from the bully, and she's now my daughter's pet and has two babies of her own. She did end up with a pretty obvious scar, but we don't care.

Honestly, I was surprised at how totally unaffected she was by the whole ordeal. She never really acted like it ever bothered her. We were horrified, however, so maybe it just looked worse than it really was.