Injured and won't Open Her Eyes

[YoungKeeper]

An injured chick I have got attacked by something early in the morning, she roughly reaching the 3-4 month mark, and I'd thought it was a slice from getting her head stuck in the chicken wire and fighting when she got spooked, but after cleaning and cutting away the blood matted feathers I realized she has two clear puncture wounds from an animal that hadn't fully gotten into her cage to kill her, since no other chicks were killed or injured.

For the majority of the day she could open her left eye, the right one was swollen shut but I could gently open it and I'm not sure if she can still see out of it yet. She was receptive to any form of pain while I looked closer at the wound(if I tugged a feather to hard with the tweezers) and seemed to still be strong.

No doubt she's highly traumatized, but the largest, more dangerous wound went directly behind her skull. She was seriously lucky about it, but last night while trying to get her to drink some electrolyte water, I realized she won't open either eye now. She'll chirp a little and untuck her head from her sleeping position, but only if I handle her to check up on her. She only stands in place and I could only get her to drink a couple drops last night by hand. I haven't seen her eat or drink with my own eyes otherwise. I have her isolated from the rest of her siblings inside the house with food and water within sitting reach. No flies and fairly warm so she isn't fluffed up or cold.

No signs of infection right now, she's as healthy as she can be right now and still fighting for it. She's young, crazy lucky, and I don't want her to die if I can help it. I'm new to chicken raising, and I don't want to do something in trying to help her only to hurt her further or kill her in the process. Any advice would be amazing.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos?

 

[YoungKeeper]

Can you post some photos?

The tweezers are right beside the large and smaller puncture area respectively. The right eye(4th image) is the one she can't open unless I open it partially for her, but even that doesn't last long. The left(3rd image) is the one she kept open when we first brought her inside, but now that remains closed as well. She's a little puffed up right now because I had to remove her from her little box to get a clear picture.

And recently we've noticed that her head automatically starts turning to the left before she straightens it, and she always sleeps with her head tucked under the right wing, so I don't think it could just be habit.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Poor thing!

I would keep the wound moist with triple antibiotic ointment. You can put triple antibiotic ointment around (and in) the eye if needed. Or you can find Terramycin eye ointment at stores like TSC. Any pus or signs of discharge from the eyes?

Since she's suffered head and neck trauma, I would also give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. A little treat of scrambled egg is usually well received and the egg can help with the uptake of E. These vitamins are used to give supportive care to birds that suffer from neurological symptoms/trauma, so hopefully they will help her body repair itself.
Do what you can to encourage her to drink. Hydration is very important. The electrolytes are fine, but I would give her drops of plain water every once in a while too.
Wet feed is sometimes preferable over plain. You may have to play around with foods to see what interests her. Some refuse "normal" feed when injured but will readily eat things like a bit of cucumber, tomato, melon, etc. The goal is hydration, then getting a little something into her.

 

[YoungKeeper]

Poor thing!

I would keep the wound moist with triple antibiotic ointment. You can put triple antibiotic ointment around (and in) the eye if needed. Or you can find Terramycin eye ointment at stores like TSC. Any pus or signs of discharge from the eyes?

Since she's suffered head and neck trauma, I would also give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. A little treat of scrambled egg is usually well received and the egg can help with the uptake of E. These vitamins are used to give supportive care to birds that suffer from neurological symptoms/trauma, so hopefully they will help her body repair itself.
Do what you can to encourage her to drink. Hydration is very important. The electrolytes are fine, but I would give her drops of plain water every once in a while too.
Wet feed is sometimes preferable over plain. You may have to play around with foods to see what interests her. Some refuse "normal" feed when injured but will readily eat things like a bit of cucumber, tomato, melon, etc. The goal is hydration, then getting a little something into her.

Thank you! My sister has put herself in charge of her food and water, since she's up nearly every hour for some random reason. She gives her water through a syringe on the beak line to get her to drink. I'll tell her to give regular water now and again.

In the morning I'll try the eggs or cucumber since I think we have some. No signs of pus or discharge right now. When we first brought her inside I had to pull and cut the feathers clogging it so it had been reopened, and I put some ointment on it then so the scabs are now cleanly closed and untouched with no signs of pain or discomfort from her. She'll even let me touch it when I look at it during the day. She opened her left eye for the longest time today when I took her outside to sit in the chick coop with her siblings. Even tried to stand up a couple times. I'd done some research and someone said too much isolation wasn't good, and the duckling I nursed seemed to have done much better after a bath with her siblings.

About the 400IU, I don't know what that is, or the tablet B-Complex. My father never really cared for sick or injured animals since they usually died before he realized they were even hurt, or my brother didn't bother to care and tell him so they just died and would rot tossed is some corner. So I might not be able to get any of that, is there any kind of food she can eat that have something similar to help her?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can find Vitamin E and B-Complex at drugs stores or Wal-Mart. Sometimes I've found B-Complex at the Dollar Store as well.

If you aren't able to get the vitamins, then you can give egg, tuna, sunflower seed or a little beef to help with those vitamins. Not all at once of course Tuna and sunflower are a good source of E, beef is rich in B vitamins. Eggs - well...they are great for chick(en)s all the way round.

Do the best you can. If she's eating a nutritionally balanced chick feed that's very good!

 

[YoungKeeper]

You can find Vitamin E and B-Complex at drugs stores or Wal-Mart. Sometimes I've found B-Complex at the Dollar Store as well.

If you aren't able to get the vitamins, then you can give egg, tuna, sunflower seed or a little beef to help with those vitamins. Not all at once of course Tuna and sunflower are a good source of E, beef is rich in B vitamins. Eggs - well...they are great for chick(en)s all the way round.

Do the best you can. If she's eating a nutritionally balanced chick feed that's very good!

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Update: she didn't do well during the night. I think yesterday was her last hurrah. Tried feeding her egg this morning, no luck, she tried swallowing but she shook her head to toss it out. After a couple minutes clear liquids came up. I read that chickens can't vomit, and that it's no good thing if they start coughing things up. She hasn't pooped since finding her, and even rejected the egg. I can confirm now that she is blind in both eyes. They are a fogged grey but still black very thinly on the edges, which might explain why she's able to open them but refuses to. It makes no difference to her.

She'll drink a bit of water as long as it's outside where it's naturally warm, otherwise I have her nestled in a wool beanie that should keep her warm when inside. While sitting, she's constantly opening and closing her beak so I'm not sure if it's because she can't breath properly or because she has something in her throat. Her head just hangs or flops to the side, but when bothered by something near her face she'll shake it like a dog shaking a toy. Half limp but still moveable. It's very clear now she has nerve damage because of the location of the bite, and at this point she'll live but slowly die of starvation, suffocation, or even just body failure because she's so young and might not have the strength to rebound from the attack.

I'm sad to say that this might be a problem I can't fix, and I don't even know how to help her. It might be crueler to keep her alive rather then letting her go.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm very sorry that she's not doing well.

It may be time to let her go. Do you have someone that can help you put her out of her misery?

 

[YoungKeeper]

I'm very sorry that she's not doing well.

It may be time to let her go. Do you have someone that can help you put her out of her misery?

That was what I was thinking. After she was sure the rest of the chicks had been alive, that was when she kind of just gave up. She died today at 2pm outside with her eyes open one last time. She was blind already but still looked at me, it broke my heart even though I've only had her a couple months or less. I think she's happy though, it was a quick ending, her flock is alive and she died in the warmth rather than the unfamiliar world of the house.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That was what I was thinking. After she was sure the rest of the chicks had been alive, that was when she kind of just gave up. She died today at 2pm outside with her eyes open one last time. She was blind already but still looked at me, it broke my heart even though I've only had her a couple months or less. I think she's happy though, it was a quick ending, her flock is alive and she died in the warmth rather than the unfamiliar world of the house.

Sometimes injuries are just too great to survive.
You did what you could for her and she's no longer in pain.