Nasty head wound

[MysteryChicken]

I will try to tonight! We had just gotten home from out of town and I had to do baby and toddler bath and bed so I didn’t have time to chase her around all evening but I will try today!
I also think I’m going to move her into a dog crate in the garage or our basement because it is cooler than the horse stall. So that should help with care

It's fine. I can wait.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

She is in a 12x12 horse stall by herself with a wheelbarrow to roost on, some stone dust for bathing, shavings on the floor, etc. I did my best with what I had to make her cozy. I will grab some saline at work as I am a nurse practitioner. I’m pretty familiar with human wounds but chickens just seem like this weird mix of fragile but also resilient

I’ll try to grab some better pics tonight!

Ok. Sounds good,but I'd remove the dust bath. When chickens are taking dust baths, they rub their head in the dirt.

 

[blwest13]

It's fine. I can wait.

It's fine. I can wait.

Here it is! She is still quite fiesty so I think she doesn’t feel too terrible. It’s very hard and dry. No stench or bugs. I sprayed with vetiricyn and globbed triple antibiotic on it for tonight. I really think maybe it’s worse from the day she had one other chicken with her. Doesn’t look worse than yesterday to me.

 

[blwest13]

I grabbed some saline from work and have vetiricyn,

Chicken wound care is pretty much the same, if you are a nurse practitioner. Saline is the mildest to clean. Many chicken people buy the expensive Vetericyn, but saline is fine. Vetericyn has the hydrogel that many human wound treatments have. Triple antibiotic or plain Neosporin ointment is pretty standard twice a day, until healing occurs. Do you have a rooster who may be hurting her or the other hen?

No rooster and trying to pinpoint the bully hen bc these aren’t the first to be picked on. All the bullied ones are about one year and getting bullied by the older one(s) that are 3-4 years. I did not own them when they were introduced so not sure how long this has been a problem. They have a good size, clean coop, multiple feed Pails and water spread out, free range during the day with a solar dusk/dawn door. We made it open earlier bc my husband would hear commotion when he was leaving for work and thinking they were beating each other up getting impatient. Not sure how else to keep the peace.

 

[blwest13]

Ok. Sounds good,but I'd remove the dust bath. When chickens are taking dust baths, they rub their head in the dirt.

Ohhh ok. Will it become a personal hygiene problem for her if this takes weeks to heal?

 

[MysteryChicken]

I'd just keep it moist, the scab will eventually fall off, & new skin/feathers will heal, & fill in the bald area. Looks as if it rescabbed over at some point due to pecking of flock mates. So, there's fresh scabbing amongst the old.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

To me, I think it looks o.k. she's just got a bit of dust/dirt stuck in it.

Me, I'd just monitor the wound, spread a bit of ointment around the edges to help keep it moist, she's going to get itchy. You know how scab edges get itchy when healing?

I've had hens ripped open like this by roosters. After they scab over, I usually just monitor and apply ointment or cream around the scab, yes, they will get dirt stuck all over and look like a hot mess. If they got to looking too messy, I'd just give them a quick swabbing cleanup with Chlorhexidine or spray with Banixx (Your Vetericyn would work fine).

Show photos of your coop/set, especially the inside and all the birds if you can. They are getting beat up like early in the mornings? Maybe fighting over nesting boxes? I've never had hens rip open another like this, I've only had roosters do this, so one or more of your hens is ganging up or mounting them.