Injured/bleeding comb

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Bird details-
Silver Laced Wyandotte Henn
6 months old


Our chickens (6 - all hens) free range around the yard. This afternoon I was rounding them up to bring them back to the pen because we were going out for a while. The girls had to cross through some brush to get back to the pen. They have done this a hundred times. Once I got them back to the pen I noticed that one of our Silver Laced Wyandottes injured her comb. The very back portion of the comb looked like it had a pretty bad tear. It was bleeding pretty good and blood running into her eyes. She kept shaking her head to shake the blood off. I picked her up and dabbed some of the blood with a clean towel. It seemed like it was a fresh wound - blood hadn't started to dry. I am thinking that she got caught on something going through the brush.

Later the bleeding stopped but I am wondering if I should worry about infection. What would be the best way to clean the wound. Should I use an antiseptic or should I just leave her alone? She seems to be fine - eating well, active, running around.

Kevin

 

[GoldDogsMom]

if she is still actively bleeding you will need to separate her so the others don't pick at her Do you have any blue kote, it is a germicidal/fungicide...but be careful when you put it on her she will shake her head and it will go everywhere and is very hard to wash off

I had this happen to one of my hens and now I call her gimpy because she only has part of a comb!

btw, I only had to seperate her for a day, the blue cote will help stop the bleeding and "covers" the red blood which is what attracts the others...

I keep adding to this as I think of things...

If you don't have any blue cote (got mine at TSC) you can use cornstarch to stop the bleeding

 

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I have heard that the other chickens will go after the red blood but none of the others seem to be bothering her.

The injury has stopped bleeding. It has dried dark brown.

Thanks for the Blue Kote tip. I am fairly new to back yard chickens and I wasn't aware of products like Blue Kote.

Kevin

 

[GoldDogsMom]

Glad to hear she is doing better! The injured part of her comb will probably just dry up and fall off...that's what happened with mine.