Need immediate help. I must leave for work soon.

[HomeSweetFarm]

What can I do to optimize this chicks chance of survival? I found him like this this morning and he was fine when I checked on them at 6:00 last night. He is acting fine and alert and was still hard to catch because of his quickness but he looks awful. The other babies did this. I separated him immediately. What should I do? He's eating and drinking normally. I will post pics in the coments.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Poor little guy, he's been scalped.

Gently flush the wound - saline, diluted betadine or soap/water. Apply some triple antibiotic ointment (neosporin) or Vetericyn.

Separating was a good idea. Since he is eating/drinking that is good. If you have them add some poultry vitamins to his water to help give him a boost.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Infection is the biggest concern. I would clean him up and put a topical on it. I usually use blu kote, but I find even with that the others will go back to pecking. If you have neosporin you could try that. Many people say only use the kind without pain relief but I nor many others find no scientific or anecdotal reason to avoid it.

 

[HomeSweetFarm]

I don't have any saline or betadine so I cleaned it with soapy water and put Neosporin on this morning and I put poultry drench in his water. When I got home his head looked a lot less red in most spots. The neosporin I have doesn't have any pain reliever in it Can I put aloe straight from the leaf on him to give him some relief?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It does look a little better

I would put the neosporin on for another day or two to help fight any infection. Once he starts scabbing over, then I don't see any harm in using Aloe to help keep the wound moist.

 

[mobius]

Does he have a friend his size or smaller who DIDN'T peck him? It might help him to have a friend while he is healing up. He sure needs to stay separated for now. Poor little guy!
You are doing great with him BTW! How old what breed? How many other chickens and are they older than him? It will help so folks can advise about separation going forward...

 

[HomeSweetFarm]

There are a total of 4 chicks. Out the the 4, he is the largest (go figure). I'm not sure what breed they are besides a bantam breed or half bantam. I think they are 2-3 weeks old. I got them from a garden center on an Amish farm and I was talking to the lady about her chickens (all free range and no coop) and she told me that one of the mothers had abandoned her 8 chicks and they were now down to 4. She said I could have them if I helped her catch them. He was the one we almost didn't catch.

I didn't actually see anyone of them pecking him but there is one chick that is seemingly docile and significantly smaller than the rest so I can try to put them together in a few days. Right now he is in a separate plastic tote right next to the others.

I just put them together in this pic to show the size difference

And here are the other 2