Pullet got scalped

[docdubz]

My entire flock has been going crazy today. Not sure how it happened because they've been acting like lunatics all day from fighting to escaping their run to breaking into the bachelor flocks run... Long day.

Anyway I just noticed one of my pullets looked funny so I picked her up and saw that the entire top of her head up to right between her eyes has a huge piece of flesh missing. The feathers are still their obscuring it but the skin is gone. The wound is between the size of a nickel and the size of a quarter.

How should I treat this?

 

[azygous]

My first experience with a scalped chicken was a Wyandotte hen with a oversized comb having it repeatedly ripped from her head from back to front. I would "glue" it back down with Neosporin after flushing it well, and it would reattach practically overnight.

The second victim was a two-week old chick that had stuck her head through poultry mesh fencing and gotten her head scalped completely off by probably the rooster, who probably ate the skin he snatched. Her recovery took six weeks of daily wound care. I wrote about it here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/healing-a-severely-injured-baby-chick.71976/

Coincidentally, this same chick was similarly wounded by another rooster during an attempted mating when she was eight years old. This time the wound had a flap of skin still attached. I learned about using an attached skin flap to fill in a deep wound when I underwent surgery for melanoma on my nose and the surgeon carved out a flap beside my mouth which he twisted and brought up to my nose bridge to fill in the excavation. He explained how it cuts healing time by a very significant amount.

I did the same thing when I treated my hen's scalp wound. I flushed it well with soap and water, rinsing well. Then I used the antibiotic ointment as a "glue" to keep the flap in place. I cleaned the wound each day and reglued the flap with the ointment. It was around the third or fourth day that the flap "took" and no longer required gluing in place.

With a skin flap, since it has a blood supply, it will grow new tissue from all the edges. Contrast that with a wound without a skin flap where the new cells need to march inward from the edges across a much larger expanse of raw wound.

 

[ackie]

Clean with betadine or chlorhexidine or soap and water. Make sure there arent bits of debris in it. If there are feathers getting in it, trim them back. Then put neosporin or another antibiotic ointment (with no pain killer) on it. Dont wrap it.

 

[docdubz]

I dont recommend peroxide. Itll hurt a lot and probably isnt necessary.

Do you have someone who could give you a hand tomorrow to clean it better and get us some pictures?

Yea I had my wife give me a hand today. I tried trimming the feathers but couldn't get that much done. She was moving too much and my hands shake too much. The pullet was not cooperative at all today. She's very stressed out right now. When I cleaned the wound yesterday I put the Neosporin on to vacuum seal the flesh flap back on. It worked, but she must have bumped it because the flap twisted a little. Overall it looks like it will be healed enough in a couple of days. As for pictures, I couldn't get enough feathers trimmed to be able to see anything since the flap is staying in place now.

 

[Eggcessive]

If the flap of skin will cover most of the wound, you could try to let it act as a skin graft. Make sure that it is clean with saline, and hopefully it will rejoin and just leave the smaller opened cut. She will need to be kept in a dog crate with food and water, and I would place it back in her coop with her flock in a day or two (if she is doing okay.) @azygous has some experience with skin grafts and autograghs (skin graft from the victim.) She might say a few words.

If you notice it becoming infected or amelling bad, I would use the 2%chlorhexidene and neosporin, but I would use just saline on getting the skin to self graft.

Could a hawk have come at your flock today causing everyone to become upset? Scalp wounds can be common when young birds accidentally get with older birds or older roosters/cockerels. Most recover if wounds do not become infected or if there is no internal damage.

 

[aart]

breaking into the bachelor flocks run

Was she one who did this?
What did you clean with?

Take clear pic of wound if you can.
Trim feathers from around it next time your clean it.
Just keep it cleaned and coated with the Neosporin daily.
@Wyorp Rock and @Eggcessive can add to first aid product possibilities.

 

[docdubz]

Was she one who did this?
What did you clean with?

Take clear pic of wound if you can.
Trim feathers from around it next time your clean it.
Just keep it cleaned and coated with the Neosporin daily.
@Wyorp Rock and @Eggcessive can add to first aid product possibilities.

Yes she was one of the trouble makers in the rooster run. The only thing I had to clean with was hand soap I was tempted to use peroxide but I couldnt get her to sit still and it's right near her eyes. I really only cleaned around it because id need a third hand to hold her, hold the wound open and clean it. She's extremely stressed out so I think I should hold off on more pictures til the morning. I'll trim the feathers then too.

 

[Eggcessive]

I think we just posted at the same time, so please read my post.

 

[docdubz]

Could a hawk have come at your flock today causing everyone to become upset? Scalp wounds can be common when young birds accidentally get with older birds or older roosters/cockerels. Most recover if wounds do not become infected or if there is no internal damage.

It's possible but I was out with the 90% of the day. I didn't see any. Saw a couple buzzards spook them but that's it. The only thing I actually noticed was the bachelor flock was extremely aggressive all day. (I can't wait to have extra fridge space)

 

[docdubz]

I think we just posted at the same time, so please read my post.

I did, thanks for the input