Injured newborn chick! URGENT!! what to do??

[carolina chicky]

I have a chick was was born today. I came home from work and heard it chirping in the coop so I went out to check. This is what I found:

The other eye is injured as well but not nearly this bad. I managed to get it to drink some water but I have no clue what to do about this injury. This was the first of 5 eggs to hatch so now I am worried about the others.
Please help!!

 

[TriciaHowe]

Oh wow... that is a pretty extensive injury. Is the skin missing there? You can try some plain triple antibiotic and hope for the best but I am afraid I don't think the outcome is going to be good.
Please let us know how she is....

 

[DTRM30]

Was it in a coop with other chickens ? A hen that was hatching out ?
Looks like it was attacked by the older chickens. I didn't have an issue with mine, but I have read a lot of people on here who have had their hens attack, kill and even eat chicks. If you can, you may want to move momma and the rest of her clutch to a safe place out of the main coop - or block her off so the others can't get at her.

as for the injury - I would treat it like any injury I had - clean it well, and put some antibiotic on it - and lots of rest. But that could be tricky around it's eye ... hmmmmmm If it were me I'd use a cotton swab and clean it gently and use antibiotic sparingly. It may look worse than it really is - could be bloody from having feathers ripped out - but no major damage.

I sure hope it makes it ! Poor little thing

 

[carolina chicky]

Should I try to clean the injury with anything? I brought her inside and put her under a heat lamp and she seems to be moving around more and tweeting LOUD but I don't know what to do about cleaning this spot. I can now see the eye underneath there and she is opening it but thats all I can really tell.
Should I leave the other eggs under mom, I don't have an incubator but I am afraid to leave them.

 

[Wynette]

Are you sure she wasn't born this way? It seems there have been many chicks hatching with eye deformities, even to the point where they have been completely missing. I hope she makes it!

 

[carolina chicky]

She may have been born that way. I am not sure, I just found her when I got home from work. I can see her eye but the area around it looks awful. I have no clue how to go about treating it.

 

[Kedreeva]

Long shot but if you have a saline solution wash, that is probably best to clean the wound with since it is around the eye. Otherwise I agree with DTRM- antibiotic (WITHOUT pain killer) cream and rest. Make sure you get food and water in its belly as well.

To me, it does not look like a pecked wound. There is one hole (possibly the eye, hard to tell by the picture), but the chances of a peck wound flaying off that much skin without dents, breaks, or death seems slim to me. It would be helpful to have a picture of the other eye if it is injured, it may help determine whether the wound was inflicted or whether the chick was born with it.

 

[chickendude]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=366312
Check out this link from my post last week. I had a first time broody hen hatch 4 eggs and she killed 2 and injured 1. I saved the injured one and have them both in a brooder now. I found out it was the broody hen that was the killer. It looks like a hen did that to your chick. Good luck!

 

[Oven Ready]

From the photo it looks like a deformity rather than a trauma. Can you get a picture of the other eye, you say it is abnormal as well?

Has your hen hatched others before? Mostly they don't hurt their own chicks but a misplaced foot (the mothers) on a hatching egg can do a lot of damage.

 

[Bunnylady]

I've had this happen waaay too many times - my chickens are savages!! This is why I no longer allow my hens to hatch chicks in the area where the others free-range. I don't think there is much skin missing - the fluff gets slicked down with blood, and it often looks worse than it is. That one isn't too bad, really. I've seen some that were nearly scalped. With the kind of TLC outlined by the other posters, I think this chick has a good chance (though I'd be worried about the others too!)

I suppose you could watch the broody like a hawk, and try to get the chicks out from under her as quickly as they hatch. Do you perhaps have a way of closing off the area immediately around her nest, so no other chickens have access?