Injury - Chick missing half of skull Need advice

[DoodleRoo]

I hate that this has to be my first post here. I've been browsing here for some time and have found valuable advice on more than one occasion in these forums.

On to the topic, I was closing my coop tonight when I noticed something wrong with one of my Ameraucana chicks. At first I thought a hen had plucked out all the feathers from her skull cap but, it was so much worse, her entire top part of her skull was missing, revealing the soft tissue underneath!

This chick is kept in a side room inside the coop that is kept closed up (the chicks are hand raised and only about 7-8 weeks old) so I am at a loss as to how this injury occurred. Sometimes a grown hen or rooster will drop down into the chick's section from a rafter above, but I generally have to be the one to open the door and let them out and no adult chicken was trapped in there with them today. I also checked the coop for predators and haven't come up with any evidence of one yet, except for the injury of course.

I love my chickens and want to give this little one a chance. She is in my house now, in a large dog crate. She's bright-eyed, alert and doing her 'where am I and where is everyone else?' chirping. After I brought her in I noticed she quickly began eating from her dish too. As for medical care, I've cleaned the top of her head carefully (this part made me so nervous, because her brain might be partially exposed) and put a large amount of antibiotic ointment on it.

What I need to know is, what do you think could've caused this and, what else can I do to help her? We are not in a good financial situation at all atm so taking her to a vet is unfortunately not an option.

Thank you so much for any help and advice!

 

[Eggcessive]

Be very cautious when you are preparing to reintegrate her. I would start putting her back with the others in a small cage with food and water, so they can be together. Then, have some supervised visits with them (the ones of her age) for days. This may take some time because she is not part of their pecking order. I worry a little about her getting hurt again. Sometimes it is easier to put a friend in with her for awhile, then add the 2 to the flock. Anyway, I am glad that she has survived well and is healing. A single chick sometimes bonds very close to it's owner. Good luck.

 

[cacknballs]

you're welcome.

and don't feel weird about it... i have a white leghorn mix hen that my 7 year old named george washington...????

 

[cacknballs]

i find it hard to believe that the animal survived a head injury that was strong enough to remove the top of it's skull, unless maybe it was chewed off, but usually a chewer will go for eyes and soft tissue first.

i'm guessing you're just looking at a flesh wound resulting from being pecked, but focused pictures would help. hold the camera back a ways and use the zoom to get closer.

 

[cacknballs]

You're probably right. Her head is such a mess it was hard to discern how bad the injury was. Here are some more photos, still not perfect but I hope it helps in showing the damage. (She's currently alert and standing on her food tray. She didn't show any signs of being in pain except for when I put the medicine on earlier, which she did not like at all.)

hopefully she makes a full recovery and lives a long, productive life for you.

if she makes it i think you should name her bobby mcgee, in honor of this guy:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=robert+mcgee&t=ffsb&ia=web

 

[SIMZ]

That looks pretty nasty! I'm so sorry that happened to her. It's had to tell from the pictures (I have the same problem taking close-ups. lol), but I'm still guessing it's mostly a flesh wound. I seems like she'd be dead or showing some serious symptoms if her brain was exposed.

Again, if you're willing to, I'd give her a chance as long as she's acting very normal. Chickens can heal from some nasty wounds, but they also don't show suffering as quickly as we might expect, so keep that in mind. Hopefully, someone can offer you some specifics on wound care.

One of my chicks got into the turkey pen and was similarly pecked on the head - although the flap of skin was still there, so healing was much easier.

 

[DoodleRoo]

Update! Most the scalp on my chick has healed, there's only a very small area now that is missing skin. I've been washing the wound and disinfecting it twice daily, then adding a big gloop of triple antibiotic ointment all over her scalp.

The bonus to this episode, so far, is that she loves to roost on my shoulder while I stream netflix. She 'trills' happily (I guess you could call it a chicken purr) while I have her perched on me.

I'm hoping that she'll be well enough in about a week or so to rejoin her siblings.

 

[cacknballs]

that is great news! thanks for the update.

 

[Chickensfan]

that is great news! thanks for the update.

X2!

 

[SIMZ]

That is incredible! You did a great job nursing her through that. Good job!