Injured Baby Chick!

[JamminCats]

Hi all! I have a 2 week old ISA Brown who has some dried blood above her eye, it looks like the others were pecking at her. I don't see much of an open wound. I have separated her but do not have any saline or rubbing alcohol to cleanse it with. I read the area should be cleaned before applying triple antibiotic. Would water work?

 

[coach723]

Don't use rubbing alcohol to clean wounds, besides burning like crazy it will damage healthy cells and inhibit healing, I especially wouldn't use it near an eye. You can use plain water. It sounds like it's probably very small, so just applying the ointment may be enough. Put it on and let it sit, then when you go to reapply it may be softened enough to clean it off some. A q-tip might be your best way to apply it on a tiny chick.

 

[JamminCats]

So she still has quite a visible gash and I haven’t put her back with the others because of that. When it is time to reintroduce how should I do so? I don’t want her beat up again

 

[coach723]

Chicks will peck at anything, so I would try to clean as much of the dried blood or gunk off as best you can. A q-tip and warm water, then dry it. If the chick fuzz covers it well then it may not be a problem, you will need to watch. If it's possible to put a piece of screen or hardware cloth in your brooder as a divider, that might work, lessen the stress of being separated, and keep it safe from pecking til they can be together. You will need to make sure there is heat for both sides, and water and feed. When you put the chick back, just do some observing to make sure none of the others pays attention to the wound. Once it scabs over some, if it's still visible, that's when I'd try putting it back.

 

[JamminCats]

Chicks will peck at anything, so I would try to clean as much of the dried blood or gunk off as best you can. A q-tip and warm water, then dry it. If the chick fuzz covers it well then it may not be a problem, you will need to watch. If it's possible to put a piece of screen or hardware cloth in your brooder as a divider, that might work, lessen the stress of being separated, and keep it safe from pecking til they can be together. You will need to make sure there is heat for both sides, and water and feed. When you put the chick back, just do some observing to make sure none of the others pays attention to the wound. Once it scabs over some, if it's still visible, that's when I'd try putting it back.

It keeps opening up, not life threatening amount of blood loss but it’s still healing. Tried to dab the dry blood off and she was in pain to the touch so I stopped

 

[coach723]

Then just apply some ointment gently and leave it alone, it will scab up with time.

 

[JamminCats]

Then just apply some ointment gently and leave it alone, it will scab up with time.

I’ll keep doing that for now. Just super worried when I reintroduce; she’s extremely tiny compared to her siblings but healthy otherwise