Polish with severe head pecking wound - need advice

[ttripp]

Hi all,

I have a 12 week old polish pullet we discovered two days ago with a head pecked clean of feathers and solid blood. I rinsed it with sterile saline and have been applying regular neosporin (no pain additive) for two days. The first night I slept with her wrapped in a blanket in my arms because she was very shocky and passing out a lot. She came around the next morning; I washed wound lightly with hydrogen peroxide and have continued to apply neosporin 2x per day. Her the area is scabbing and is yellow/green colored which alarms me yet there is no smell, no puss weeping....she's acting fine, pecking around in the front yard with me all day, sleeping well at night, eating and drinking well. Just the color of the darn scab is just killing me! It went from initially looking to be a whitish yellow to looking more yellow greenish as the day has gone by.

I purchased some Microcyn AH spray at TSC today to use on the wound and will continue to apply neosporin....question being - is a greenish scab "normal"? Or am I overlooking a serious infection? So confused!

Thanks for any help. If needed, I can post a picture. Gosh, I'm so worried!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi all,

I have a 12 week old polish pullet we discovered two days ago with a head pecked clean of feathers and solid blood. I rinsed it with sterile saline and have been applying regular neosporin (no pain additive) for two days. The first night I slept with her wrapped in a blanket in my arms because she was very shocky and passing out a lot. She came around the next morning; I washed wound lightly with hydrogen peroxide and have continued to apply neosporin 2x per day. Her the area is scabbing and is yellow/green colored which alarms me yet there is no smell, no puss weeping....she's acting fine, pecking around in the front yard with me all day, sleeping well at night, eating and drinking well. Just the color of the darn scab is just killing me! It went from initially looking to be a whitish yellow to looking more yellow greenish as the day has gone by.

I purchased some Microcyn AH spray at TSC today to use on the wound and will continue to apply neosporin....question being - is a greenish scab "normal"? Or am I overlooking a serious infection? So confused!

Thanks for any help. If needed, I can post a picture. Gosh, I'm so worried!!

Welcome To BYC!

If you can post some photos that may help.

Most likely the yellow/green that you are seeing is bruising.

It sound like you are treating the wounds well. Keep her separate and make sure she is eating/drinking.

Let us know how she is.

 

[ttripp]

Thank you for your response! I'm having trouble uploading pics, my apologies.

I will say that today was a better day - I sprayed Microcyn AH on her head (no Neosporin this time) this morning before I went to work and left her in the capable hands of my sister for daycare. The day went well; she roamed around, picking bugs, preening herself, took a dirt bath which resulted in a few specks of dirt on the wound but nothing major. The scabby area looks like it's drying up. It still is tinted green on the outside but I'm more and more convinced that it's the bruising like you mentioned. The wound remains a little moist but I assume with how bad it was that it needs time to dry so I'll try giving it that.

Thank you greatly for your contribution. It's hard to find any help when it comes to injured chickens around these parts.... Google and BYC go a long way for providing wonderful help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for your response! I'm having trouble uploading pics, my apologies.

I will say that today was a better day - I sprayed Microcyn AH on her head (no Neosporin this time) this morning before I went to work and left her in the capable hands of my sister for daycare. The day went well; she roamed around, picking bugs, preening herself, took a dirt bath which resulted in a few specks of dirt on the wound but nothing major. The scabby area looks like it's drying up. It still is tinted green on the outside but I'm more and more convinced that it's the bruising like you mentioned. The wound remains a little moist but I assume with how bad it was that it needs time to dry so I'll try giving it that.

Thank you greatly for your contribution. It's hard to find any help when it comes to injured chickens around these parts.... Google and BYC go a long way for providing wonderful help!

Glad to hear she is improving!

Keep us posted on her progress.