Injured pullet - next steps?

[Ajp23]

Morning! I have a pullet who somehow got wedged between the back of the coop and a fence board that popped off during yesterday’s wind storm. Long story short, between the time it must have happened early this morning and an hour ago when we found her, it seems the older birds must have gone after her.

She has a wound on her head and seems disoriented. I have separated her in a protected area in my yard with food and water. She ate and drank but is sleeping with her head turned back. What is the best thing to apply to a wound like this?

Additionally, I have a hen who is very aggressive - I suspect it may have been her that did this. I’ve read that you can put an aggressive hen in an isolated “time out” for several days and it can help reset her attitude. Any success with this out there?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Certified Chicken Lover]

Can you post pictures of your hen’s wound?

 

[Ajp23]

I’m sorry, I tried taking pictures but the area where she was pecked is within a very dark, black muff area. It’s not showing up on camera and she doesn’t want me to hold her it seems. I will try again this afternoon.

She is eating and drinking as of now so I’ll take that as a step in the right direction, hopefully.

 

[coach723]

When you said she was sleeping "with her head turned back", was she just tucking her head, or was it an abnormal position?
If she's doing better now, she may just have been in shock and has now recovered.
Let us know tomorrow how she's doing.

 

[Ajp23]

She was sleeping with her head tucked I guess but I’d never seen mine do that before. Although, I guess I don’t observe them sleeping that often since they’d be in their coop at night .

She seems better today! She’s able to get around fairly well in her secluded backyard area. I saw her kicking around in some leaves. Her eye, which was swollen shut yesterday, looks clear and operable. Her wound still looks gnarly but we’ve treated it since yesterday in hopes it will improve soon.

 

[Ajp23]

Adding: how long to keep her secluded from the flock? I’m guessing until the wound appears to be healing? She’ll be ok where we have her for a few night but we’ll be in the single digits by Sunday evening and I’d like to have a plan for her to stay warm.

 

[coach723]

Once it's scabbed over and not at risk of being pecked by others, it should be ok. Any red showing will draw pecking. Glad she's doing better, it probably was shock.

 

[Ajp23]

Well, my chicken is getting around very well, eating, drinking, exploring etc. However, I’m beginning to suspect she may have been blinded in the eye nearest the attack she seems to not see some things in her walking path and shakes her head a lot like she’s trying to clear vision.

I guess there is nothing to be done and as long as she can get around and seems happy, she’ll just be an extra special member of the group. Does anyone have any experience with something like this? Does this make her more susceptible to further attacks from the other hens?

 

[coach723]

Can you post some pictures of the eye, up close? Is there any swelling around the eye, any discharge? Does the eye look different? Was the area that was injured her ear? Pictures would be really helpful.

 

[Ajp23]

I’m sorry, we had terrible weather and she was very adverse to pictures. I’m happy to report she seems very well today! We cleaned the eye gently once again and it seems to be functioning. Thank you!