Nasty head wound

[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.

 

[blwest13]

I'd like to see some up close photos before you do much of anything to the wound.
Are you sure it's necrotic or just scabbed over with some dirt and debris in it.

Wait until dark, then grab her off the roost. Swaddle her in a towel if you need to, to capture her wings. A red headlamp works well when grabbing chickens at night. If you turn on normal lights, they can see.

Can you get a good close up of the wound? I've treated a few head injuries, & many flesh wounds.

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.

I have seen one of the hens mounting her since the injury started. My husband says he has seen a separate one do it as well. They don’t tend to lay until late morning but the door opens at 6:15 currently and prior it was a little later and my husband always said she were making a big racket when he was leaving for work. I’ll get some coop pictures!

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.

There are 12 hens in a 6x8 I think it is. 8 nesting boxes but they tend to use two at a time. I have three food trays and at least two waters out all the time. They free range during the day and coop door is on a timer for 6:15am-9:30pm open currently (in KY). When the injured one got loose for a hot second last week one immediately jumped on top of her and she crouched down and just let it happen like she was being mounted.
Not sure how much it matters but the ones that are getting picked on are about a year old and the rest of the flock are 3 to 4 years old. I did not own them when they were introduced to each other and I got them about seven months ago and 1-2 have always gotten picked on. Since then two of them have died. One from predator and one from osteomyelitis and they pretty much immediately picked two more to pick on from that younger group.