Chickens are incredibly resilient and tend to make a full recovery with skin and muscle tissue wounds. First isolate the chicken so it is not in contact with the rest of the flock. If possible, fill the water dispenser with an
electrolyte mix (
DIY electrolyte solution) or
vitamin solution. Hydration is incredibly important!
It is imperative that the wound is kept moist. Moist wounds heal at a rate
three to five times faster than dry wounds. (Imagine trying to move a body part covered in a large, dry, crackly scab!) First rinse the wound with a
saline solution or preferably non-medicated wound cleaner like
Vetericyn. Next liberally apply an antibiotic ointment (without pain reliever which is toxic to chickens) or my personal favorite,
silver sulfadiazine.
If the location of the wound allows it, cut to size a
non stick trauma pad and gently wrap the wound, covered by the trauma pad, with
vetwrap.
It is not always possible to keep the wound covered, in which case keep the wound moist by regularly spraying Vetericyn and covering with ointment. Since the wound is at the top of the chick's head, this is likely not possible for you to do. If you are unable to bandage the would, keep it continuously covered with ointment to retain moisture.
If the chicken is trying to scratch at the wound, you can use vet wrap to form hobbles around feet to keep it from lifting its leg to scratch. Most chickens don’t scratch and exacerbate the wound, but some do!
Normally if the wound is kept clean, infections don’t occur, but if you start to notice a strong odor, redness, swelling, pus, and/or discharge, that means an infection has set in. You can order an antibiotic called
Baytril 2.5% (
Enrofloxacin) online without a prescription. It is
squirted into the chicken’s mouth directly. The recommended dosage is 10-15 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight. You can also use
Baytril 10% administered in the drinking water (3 milliliters per 8 ounces of water), but this is a less effective means of administration. If antibiotics are necessary, make sure you are providing
fermented feed or
probiotics in the water to ensure the chicken’s gut bacteria is not disrupted. A disruption in gut bacteria can cause diarrhea which is not conducive to effective healing. It isn’t a bad idea to provide fermented feed even to healthy chickens!
Since your chick is not eating, you can try something more appealing like wetting the chick feed or providing some scrambled egg, but again, don't overlook hydration!
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This was dressing changing time for a chick I had injured just like yours. I had to hobble her feet to protect her wounds.
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