Injured bird in ICU

[Tamraerhardt]

A few weeks ago, a cat or other animal decimated half of my layer flock. I managed to save one of the injured chickens but she ended up with a pretty nasty injury to the top of her head. She also had feathers missing from her neck and leg, these have grown back for the most part and im not concerned with these two places. My question is: will the feathers on her head ever grow back and when should I put her back outside with her remaining sisters? The pic I attached is when it first happened... she has blu kote covering the top of her head that's why it looks super bloody.

 

[azygous]

No, the feathers won't grow back. If there had been a loose skin flap still attached to the head wound, you could have laid it over the gaping wound as a skin graft. That would have enabled feathers to regrow on the head. If the wound was missing any skin flaps, then of course this wouldn't have been possible, but do file it away in case you ever have a similar wound in the future to treat.

The wound can continue to be treated with blu-kote and that will help protect it from the other chickens pecking it, but you also need to use an ointment on it to prevent the tissue from drying out or new tissue will be very slow in filling in the wound. Keeping it moist with an antibacterial ointment also reduces the chance of infection.