newborn has bad injury - scalp is "off"

[joe12pack]

I have a newborn (maybe 3-4 days old) that has been injured by another hen. I didn't see what happened. The injury looks really bad. The skin/fur on the top of the head has been pulled all the way back so there's a good inch of flesh showing. The entire scalp area is showing flesh. Yikes. I tried my best to pour h202 on the head and I have a loose gauze wrapped around the head so the chick looks like a nun. Not sure what else I can do. I tried putting on ointment with a cotton swab but because the area is slippery it doesnt really stick.

What are the chances of this birds survival?

This is my first experience with hens raising their own chicks. Now I am starting to think that is a bad idea.

 

[homesteadmomma]

I would say that if you keep a very close eye on it to make sure its eating and drinking, the chances of survival are pretty good with a flesh wound. I could be wrong, but it seems that they are pretty tough. I would continue with the cleaning and apply some type of antibacterial ointment if at all possible. Maybe just to the gauze so it can sit on the wound.

 

[franklinstreetwest]

If the skin is broken and slipped down, you could try pulling it back up together and putting a butterfly bandaid on it... to hold the scalp together. If the feathers get in the way, you could trim them off. Then wrap it up with gauze so it doesn't get pulled apart. Hope your little one heals well!

 

[joe12pack]

Ok. I am going to remove the gauze and try to reapply some ointment. These little critters just don't want to stay still.

Here's a pic: http://screencast.com/t/xrNU4w02GS5

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I once had a 6 week old who got pecked down to the skull. I brought him in the house and cleaned it out as best I could with warm water and soap. I'm told that peroxide actually causes more problems than solutions. I gooped neosporin on the wound with my clean finger. I laid it on really thick (the hole was about the size of a quarter). He then lived in the house for several weeks while he healed up. Every day I cleaned him up and gooped on the neosporin. Eventually the wound grew back over and he was fine.

You just need to keep the hole clean and germ free (thus the neosporin or other antibiotic ointment without pain reliever).

Good luck!

 

[BrattishTaz]

I've had two scalped chicks, one was in horrible condition. They both recovered fully. The skin will actually repair itself. I use Polysporin (Neosporin without pain reliever works too) applied daily with no bandage. You are probably going to have to separate the chick from the others to prevent them from injuring it more.

Good luck.

 

[joe12pack]

Here's a better picture:

and a larger version of the pic: http://screencast.com/t/NXmQsVhl5riI

You can see where the wound starts at the top, and all the way back to the base of the neck it is bare flesh. He/She is drinking which is good.

Looks like Mozart.

 

[okiedrifter]

I am pretty laid back about chicks..I spray blue loation on them but I have neve had one scalped like that....had a dozen hens gave to me once with their back and butts raw from the all picking ay each other I sprayed em with blue loation everyday for about a week and they were good to go....

 

[BrattishTaz]

Here is what happened with mine. Maybe some of the info will help you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=501351