Please help ! Don’t know what to do for injured chicken

[Danicleares]

Currently have a chicken about four months old, was recovering and now has been attacked by another one of my chickens. Don’t know what to do, found her laying down in the backyard with an injury to the back of the head and neck. She was eating and drinking and standing and now is just lethargic and laying down with eyes shut. I have her on a heating pad in a quite dark room with food and water. Not moving, just laying down. I don’t know what to do I’ve cleaned the wound and I’ve put healexcel on it with Neosporin. What else can I do.. please help.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oof, sorry this happened. Start by treating her for shock. You can give her Gatorade if you have it, or NutriDrench. If none of those available, mix up some sugar water: 1 tsp sugar, a pinch of salt and a pinch of baking soda in 1 c of warm water. Stir to dissolve. Dip her beak in it but don't get it in her nostrils. If she won't drink, use your fingertip to put a drop at the side of her beak where the upper and lower beaks meet. Let her swallow and repeat until she refuses. Keep her in a warm dark place.

Use the Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment that does NOT contain pain reliever, as that is toxic to chickens. Keep the wound coated so it does not dry out.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Make sure that heating pad is not too warm, if your house is comfortably warm she probably does not need it.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Do you have a rooster?

 

[FarmerGirl101]

What did you clean the wound with? A saline rinse is a good idea to do. You can look up the ratio online. Betadine is also good to use to clean wounds. Do not use soap as this is the wrong thing to clean a wound.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

What is healexcel, I can't find anything on it? What country are you in?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Currently have a chicken about four months old, was recovering and now has been attacked by another one of my chickens. Don’t know what to do, found her laying down in the backyard with an injury to the back of the head and neck. She was eating and drinking and standing and now is just lethargic and laying down with eyes shut. I have her on a heating pad in a quite dark room with food and water. Not moving, just laying down. I don’t know what to do I’ve cleaned the wound and I’ve put healexcel on it with Neosporin. What else can I do.. please help.

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry about your pullet.

You mention that she was recovering and has now been attacked. Was she injured before this?

You can use the HealXCel to clean spray on the wounds to clean them. Anything really close to the eyes, use saline. Once the wounds are cleaned, apply a little of the Neosporin.

I agree, work on hydration. Getting fluids into her to work through shock is important.

Do take care that she has room to move off the heating pad, while she does need to be kept fairly warm at around 70-75F, a heating pad may be too warm if she's not got enough room to get off of it.

Keep us posted on how she's doing.