Pecked Hen Has Huge Wound on the Back of Her Head! Help!

[JacobMaxwell]

Today I came home to find on of my white leghorns (they are all 18 weeks old) with a huge wound on the back of her head. The skin is missing and and the wound reaches the bone. They are not beak trimmed, and I haven't really observed pecking before now. I have separated her and put blu-kote on the wound, but I need some advice as to what else to do.

Any help at all is appreciated.

 

[JacobMaxwell]

If anybody can give me any help at all, I would really appreciate it.

 

[cafarmgirl]

The Blu Kote is fine, just keep her separate and let her heal up some, although the Blu Kote helps hide a wound from the other birds. The question is why they did this. How much space do you have them in? Being crowded and bored contributes a lot to this kind of thing but sometimes even in plenty of space a bully bird or aggressive bird can do damage like this.

 

[JacobMaxwell]

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[JacobMaxwell]

The chickens have been confined to the coop (2-3 square feet per bird) because the run hasn't been built yet. That is probably the root of the problem and is why I'll start free ranging the flock without a run. I hope she heals quickly. Any other advice from anybody else who knows about treating wounds would be appreciated.

 

[K R 2709]

I am fairly new to chickens. When mine get hurt I usually use some ointment like pollysporin on the wound ( ones with no ingredients ending in the suffix Caine as these can be fatal to chickens. I agree about isolating her. Maybe giving the birds something to do untill the run get up would help with the rest of the birds. If you google chicken boredom busters tons of stuff comes up. Best of luck

 

[Eggcessive]

It may take a month for the scalp to heal, and for the feathers to come back in, but the Neosporin or other antibiotic ointment applied to the scalp for 3-4 days, then switch to BluKote or Iodine to dry it up should help. When this has happened to my polish, I separate them in a cage withing the coop and run until I can BluKote them. When feather shafts star appearing, keep up the BluKote because they will be pecked back out easily. When feathers are all back, you can stop. Free ranging is the best to keep them from pecking each other. Good luck.

 

[JacobMaxwell]

Thanks everyone for all the great help.