Pecked Polish head- infected? Brain damage?

[murphynhazel12]

My 13 week old polish cockerels head has been pecked at pretty bad. All his feathers in one spot are gone and there was some blood.We cleaned him off and taped some gauze around his head yesterday to try and stop the pecking, but it has since come off multiple times and his head doesn't look amy better. I applied Neosporin this time and re bandaged as thoroughly as possible, but I'm worried about him. There's a weird dark greenish spot on one side of the wound. And he seems very sleepy, if you apply any pressure to his bald spot he starts to fall asleep.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That doesn't look bad at all yet. Gives seen the skull pecked open. I would spray it with bluekote to hide the skin color and either trim his crest way down, or put it up in a pony tail. If he's with other breeds this may be a management issue.

 

[murphynhazel12]

That doesn't look bad at all yet. Gives seen the skull pecked open. I would spray it with bluekote to hide the skin color and either trim his crest way down, or put it up in a pony tail. If he's with other breeds this may be a management issue.

It's not actually a bad wound, I'm just worried about the potential of brain damage/bleeding because of the vaulted skull. We don't have blu kote bc we've heard it can actually be toxic, but I ordered alushield but it'll only get here Friday. He is with other breeds, but most are bantams (he's a standard) and also crested. The one I think is doing the most pecking is our mean partridge silkie cockerel...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's not actually a bad wound, I'm just worried about the potential of brain damage/bleeding because of the vaulted skull. We don't have blu kote bc we've heard it can actually be toxic, but I ordered alushield but it'll only get here Friday. He is with other breeds, but most are bantams (he's a standard) and also crested. The one I think is doing the most pecking is our mean partridge silkie cockerel...

If he's truly vaulted than brain damage is a risk. It might be better to separate the cockerel. I had a silkie get brain damage and she acted slow and dumpy. So watch for those types of behavior. I've used bluekote for decades without problems beyond blue fingers. It hides the skin color. Chickens are attracted to red.

 

[murphynhazel12]

The bandage just wouldn't stay on, and the gauze was causing issues with getting strings caught in his beak and toes, so we have switched him over to a fashionable ponytail. I rubberbanded it and put some surgical tape over it, will this be enough? I hope so, because I'm afraid if we separate to allow him to heal the issues will only get worse after time.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I would definitely separate him from your other birds. If you do not have Blu Kote, Hen Healer should also work. U can get it from TSC. Putting his crest up with a pony tail is a good start because it could work to conceal the bald pink spot. You might also want to trim some crest feathers away from his eyes so that he can defend himself and run away when he sees another chicken coming towards him.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The bandage just wouldn't stay on, and the gauze was causing issues with getting strings caught in his beak and toes, so we have switched him over to a fashionable ponytail. I rubberbanded it and put some surgical tape over it, will this be enough? I hope so, because I'm afraid if we separate to allow him to heal the issues will only get worse after time.
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That looks good. He's very handsome. Hopefully he heals up without issues. You may want to keep his crest trimmed long term. I do on some of my polish. Others seem to do fine without a trim. Since he's a target it's best he can see if someone is coming up behind him.