peck wounds on day old keet - PHOTOS

[TexGardenGirl]

This little keet hatched yesterday afternoon and was with chicken momma, 3 other keets and 3 chicks. It is the youngest, one more hatched this morning but is bigger, and the others hatched as early as 4 days ago. I went out to check on them about an hour ago and found her with a bloody neck. Here are the pix:

I immediately removed her, I have her inside in a mini-brooder, got the temp right and food & water available. I rinsed off her wound (it had bits of food stuck to it) and put a little wound powder on it. It looks terrible, like the skin has been pulled off. In fact it kind of seemed like little flaps of skin were hanging down when I was rinsing, but now that's she's dry not so much. Any ideas on what else I should do? She seemed very unbalanced at first but is looking more stable now. I do have neosporin but haven't used it yet. It's so thick and the area is so raw, I'm not even sure how to spread it on effectively. That's why I used the wound powder, but it's just herbal, not an actual antibiotic, and it soaked in pretty fast too.
Thanks!

 

[TexGardenGirl]

A couple more thoughts.
1) Does this even have a chance of healing? It's an area about as big as a penny that's missing the skin. I imagine it will take quite awhile for it to grow back even without complications.
2) What's it going to be like for the keet to grow up without siblings? How will it fit back into the flock once grown? I've had to remove chickens for awhile before, but they were always at least several weeks old at the time.
3) Is there any chance of having a house guinea? I could be really aggressive about bonding with it and taming it, but I have no clue how that would work for a guinea...

Thanks for any advice anyone might have.

 

[dawg53]

Somehow you have to get neosporin onto it, otherwise bacteria will set in. What do you think its quality of life will be? You'll have to make a decision to treat or cull soon.

 

[JakRat]

Oh NO! poor thing. Its up to you whether to treat or cull. Neosporin it and also try to keep it clean. Cotton dressings maybe and put some anti biotic in the water. I had a little guy who was pecked on his back and he couldnt walk so you will just have to watch it for a while. Once it heels up a bit I would try putting BluKote on her/him to keep the pecking away, also vicks vapor rub helps because of the smell.

Good luck and

 

[TexGardenGirl]

Hmmm, I hadn't even thought about dressings - maybe because of the location. Any ideas how to attach a dressing to the neck? On a teensy weensy keet? I did put neosporin on it a few hours ago and it went on much easier than I expected - it melted nicely in the 95 degree room! In the time before I put it on, the wound had actually started to scab up and shrink a little, so it was starting to look much better already. Not that I think we're out of the woods yet, but I'm feeling more hopeful.
DH suggested superglue (or the equivalent actually designed for human wounds). If it were a small cut it sounds good, but I'm unsure for a large wound like this. Anyone got any experience using it with birds?

 

[JakRat]

Not sure. That may be for like stitching together but would like to see a response on that. I would look up "dressing an animal wound " to see how to do it but I'm sure some cotton gauze and a little tape would do.

 

[Emily1220]

I would keep neosporin on it at all times. Keep her separated from others and use old towels or rags in her area instead of shavings or hay. That way you dont have to worry about putting on a dressing. Good luck. In just a few days she'll be back out with her friends.

 

[Atomic Ranch]

Quote:
Since it's a wound and not a disease or chronic disability, and provided that the bird can recover, I think its quality of life would be perfectly suitable.

At the growth rate birds experience, I'd think the potential for recovery is reasonable enough to try to treat. If steady improvement isn't seen, I'd reconsider.

 

[TexGardenGirl]

Thanks everyone for the replies and the encouragement! She is doing fine this morning and I'm going to keep her indoors with neosporin and no bandage for now (might dress it later but she's keeping it clean and is isolated from others). I have more details on the guinea forum if anyone's interested but basically I think she's ok!