mangled comb: remove or keep?

[miniwarrior]

Last night we had a break-in. Something got into our coop and killed two hens, and injured two more. The third surviving hen (we had 5 in total) has no visible injuries but has been acting in shock all day. Whatever it was ate parts of the dead hens- but not that much- and left. We found the hole in the coop today and patched it up so hopefully everyone should be safe tonight.

My question is about the surviving injured hens- mainly just one of them. The first hen, Petrie, had half her comb hanging by a thread, so we cut that off and have been keeping it clean with soapy water and applying neosporin. She seems to be acting more normal and is eating and drinking.

The other hen, Roxy, is not doing as well. she has a more complicated injury on her comb. It's torn in the middle between two of the points and also at the base on the bak of her head- not much but but just enough to causing the whole thing to flop forward over her eyes and the other tear to hang open. She's a rosecomb leghorn so she has a large floppy comb to begin with, but now it's making it hard for her to see and it seems painful. I am trying to decide if I should cut the back half of the comb of so there's a clean tear that can heal more easily- or see if it will heal ok as is?? The thing is, I will have to cut through about a half inch of comb that's not injured and it's a bit tricky since she jerks her head around whenever we clean it. (also cleaning her wounds with soapy water and applying neosporin)

We've gone one day so far, and she acts like she wants to eat and drink, but every time she lowers her head she stops just short of the food or water and raises it back up again as though it's too painful. I even put a tub of water up higher for her but I have not actually seen her drink from it. So i'm thinking if it's the same tomorrow I should probably cut it, but wanted to get some feedback from anyone who may have dealt with something like this before?

thanks for any help.

 

[chickenzoo]

Combs can bleed.a lot.... I would try an let her get over the shock first and let the comb try to heal up. Cutting more on the comb that's not falling off may cause more trouble then help. I wonder if you could wrap her comb with some vet wrap to hold it more inplace.

 

[miniwarrior]

Thanks for the advice. And I definitely saw they can bleed a lot this morning. I am trying to figure out the best way to wrap it?? The awkward shape and the fact that there are two cuts makes me think the wrap will not stay on very well. I tried using a butterfly bandaid to hold it in place and together, but it just will not stick. Either way, it's good advice to wait til she's not in shock to do anything. I will keep up the neosporin and cleaning treatments and see how she does.