Rooster Attack - Possibly skull exposed on chicken? WARNING: Gorey Pictures

[BackyardDove]

Okay, to keep things simple, my 12 week old pullet got into a place she wasn't meant to get into. There was a rooster there and he beat the crap out of her. The only reason she lived is because, eventually, she hid her head underneath an overturned food bin and played dead. She was still alert and responsive when I found her, but she was understandably exhausted. I let her rest in a sterile cage for a day after cleaning off her wounds, only bothering her to syringe 3mL of electrolyte water to her every 4-5 hours, spray her wounds with anti-bacterial spray, and to mist her wounds with water between treatments.

Two days later, she's doing much better. She's still resting a lot, but she's walking around, very alert, resists being syringed, and even clucks when I pick her up. She's also starting eating food again. Tonight, while I was treated her wounds again, I looked over her to see if her left ear or eye will be saved. The left ear is a goner, but her left eye might be saved. While I was looking, I noticed and cleaned off an area that was discolored from the rest. After cleaning it and inspecting closer, I'm afraid it's a patch of exposed skull. The picture on top is her when I first found her and the picture on the bottom is how she is now, with that discolored patch.




Is that her skull? And if so, how am I supposed to treat an exposed skull?

And please, for the love of God, don't just tell me to take her to a vet. I'm not going to spend $100+ dollars on a chick that I couldn't even sell for $15. She's also a very tiny breed of chicken that is very easily stressed, so if the stress of being attacked wasn't enough, I'm sure the stress of going to the vet will be the final straw for her.

 

[kajira]

Okay good, I may not be able to keep the gauze on her for much longer anyways. Since she's becoming more active, she's decided she doesn't like having vet wrap and gauze on, so she's scratching it off! I had to put it back on her three times today. I was cleaning her eye everyday and checking it every few hours to make sure more gunk didn't form, but it seems to mostly form overnight. I'll be sure to run by Tractor Supply tomorrow, I'm hoping they have it but I'm not sure. Their medical supply section is very tiny, so they may not carry it.

I put electrolytes with vitamins in her water a couple days ago, and I'm still syringing her just in case she's not drinking on her own yet I'm not sure she'll like extra stuff in her food though, my chickens are very leery with new things in there food and will sometimes avoid eating all together if there's something new in it! I can give her the option of normal, dry crumbles and that wet mixture though and see which one she prefers.

Oh yes, there are definitely cases when veterinary care is needed. If she had her spine exposed, or even just tendons, I would consider a vet visit, but her wounds can be easily managed with the proper supplies and care at home. Thank you, I'm glad that people on this site are more understanding

Wow, that chicken had very similar injuries to mine, even down to the damaged left eye!



Thank you! It's the same for us, the cats and dogs get their vaccines from the vet but almost everything else gets done at home. Of course if there's a real issue we can't handle, we take them straight to the vet, but I see no need to take in every animal to the vet every time they get a boo boo or get sick. But yes, the idea that I was supposed to take a chicken in for wound care was just absurd to me. She wasn't even supposed to be my pet chicken, she was breed to be sold, nothing more. I do think chickens have an individual personality to an extent... But like you said, they can be replaced, and more often than not they have to be replaced because of their own stupidity. It's as if they're looking for trouble! As I said before, this pullet had no reason to be in his cage, and because she was able to squeeze into his cage in the first place, she could've squeezed out. The fact that I'm putting in as much time and effort to save her rather than cutting my losses and culling her should show that I do care about her life, but I guess since I'm not shelling out money to make a veterinary technician do what I'm doing now makes me a bad chicken keeper in some people's eyes. People put their faith in vets way, way too much. Unless you're talking about surgery, the vet technicians do most of the vet work, the actual veterinarian doesn't do a lot of the grunt work. Plus, most vet clinics don't require their technicians to be certified, meaning most vet techs have no formal education in vet care and care for the animals solely based off of experience. Just like most regular people who've learned how to treat their own animals.

We used to call the vet for advice, but pretty much every time we call it's a hassle to get any actual advice from them. They just give vague tips on how to help the animal while insisting we should bring them to the vet. Thank you and I'm hoping she'll be back to normal soon!




I know! In veterinary school, they don't teach you that kind of stuff. You pretty much have small animal studies(cats, dogs, other common pets) or large animal studies(horse, cattle, maybe sheep and goats). If you're wanting to be an exotic animal clinic or treat anything out of the ordinary, you have to learn either from personal experience or learn from another vet that already has the experience. Sure vet school may teach one or two lessons in uncommon animal care, but it's not enough and most vets forget it by the time they start practicing. It's just silly to think that a vet would know how to care for a chicken more than a chicken owner. I remember when I took my Prairie Dog in to my local vet after he had an allergic reaction to the stitches after being recently neutered at a specialty clinic, I actually had to tell THEM how to take care of his infection, since I didn't have the tools myself!



Thank you very much for all your support everybody!

I posted to this other site because, in the past, people there tended to be quicker to respond than on here, and though I already knew how to treat wounds, I thought hearing other people's advice on what to do would be good. After all, there's always better methods out there, and if I forgot to do something somebody would be able to catch my mistake before it was too late. It was really a shocker to be told I'm not a good owner for not taking her into the vet by several people! I pride myself on how good my animals are cared for and how healthy they are, so that really was a blow to me, even though I knew it was all bologna.

I wouldn't feel too badly about it. I wouldn't cull her either in this situation, and would probably drive my husband nuts trying to save her. We've saved all sorts of animals over the year. When a baby goat got attacked my a fox, my husband made her a special pen, and took care of her wound, and retaught her how to walk. (She had a limp for the rest of her life.) everyone else would have just put her down thinking she'd be worthless.

The litter of kittens and cat we took care of - I took to a special vet who fixes/vaccinates feral cats, I had the vet clip their ear so others would know they'd seen a vet and leave them alone. They are our barn cats now. (I didn't want a million cats, I do feel ethically we have too many cats running around, so before they went to live outside in our shed with food/water and free run of the place, they were vaccinated and spayed/neutered.)

it was only 20/cat which was VERY reasonable to get them all fixed. LOL

But, I also would put a dog down, for attacking livestock and I see plenty of people just replace their chickens and try to make a better coop to keep dogs away from their chickens instead of thinking of their dog being bad... And, i'm letting my daughter keep two chickens in her room as pet house chickens.... so obviously, I'm never going to fit into any one group either. too farmy for the foofy people, to animal-loverish for the farmy people who wouldn't understand even keeping a pet dog in the house.

 

[BackyardDove]

I just put some gauze and vet wrap on her to cover her skull and wounds. Her wounds were sufficiently moist these past couple of days just misting them with water, but today that no longer does the trick and her wounds are drier than I'd like them to be. I covered her wounds in triple antibiotic ointment before putting on the gauze.

 

[Outpost JWB]

Sounds like you are doing all you can for her. Poor dear. Something similar happened to one of my hens. She got her head in a rabbit's automatic feeder. The rabbit did damage to her head.....but I seen no bone. It healed up fine with little fuss. On your chicken, that does appear to be bone. The skin will probably eventually grow back. She may never grow feathers there, but I think the skin will grow enough to cover the skull. Please keep me updated.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you both for your help! I posted on another chicken site about this issue when it first occurred, and rather than actually getting helpful advice, I was told by several people to take her to the vet, and that since I refused to do so I'm essentially a terrible person. Apparently nobody realizes chicken owning has been around longer than veterinary care, and back in the good ole days, if you got an injured chicken, you cared for it yourself!



Oh no! Chickens just seem to look for trouble This little girl had no business or need to get into his cage, but yet she decided to squeeze out of her cage and into his. I looked for bone when when it first happened, but I didn't see any. I saw the gash, but I guess the bone was still covered up with some remaining blood or tissue. It's a small patch of exposed skull, I was just mostly afraid that, since she hadn't had gauze on or constant moisture on her wounds before, the bone was already dried out. Will she grow feathers on the rest of her head, or is it all probably too damaged?




How often should I change her gauze, once or twice a day? Her eye does look to be infected, when I went to clean it this morning her eye was sealed shut, and when I opened it, some cloudy thick liquid came out. I had been spraying her left eye as much as possible with the anti-bacterial too, but I guess eye wound treatment is a bit more work intensive than regular wound treatment! Do you happen to know where I can get Vetericyn or Terramycin?

I'm not sure how much she's eating, but I know she's eating some. Her crop feels empty, but I've noticed that there are still leftover crumbles in her beak when I go to syringe her. It's also difficult to tell since her breed is so tiny, their crops are almost never full. She's actively picking at food though, she even went after a cockroach that got into her cage last night.

Change it a couple a times a day. After a few days you may want to just use ointment and not cover with gauze so it can get air to it.
If the eye looks infected and goopy you may need to flush it and get the pus out at least daily (use a qtip) and then apply your ointment. If you have a Tractor Supply, they usually carry the Terramycin (mine does anyway) I think I saw the Vetericyn there as well. Your local feed or pet store may have something comparable.

These are things I'm sure you know - keep her hydrated, if you have some Nutri-Drench or poultry vitamins give her those for a couple of days, also wet chick starter is usually a big hit so try that, you can mix in little scrambled/hard boiled egg, mackerel, etc., to make it more enticing.

I do understand about the vet comment as well. A vet visit is not an option for me either. I do suggest on some cases to see a vet if possible and some people have access to a vet or want that level (and have the $$$). I do not think it's terrible or you are a horrible person. I'm sorry someone suggested that.

Let us know how she is doing.

Here's a bit of inspiration for you:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1091319/scalped-chicken-still-alive

 

[Outpost JWB]

Sorry that someone,would ridicule your decisions. I've never, nor probably ever, will taken any of mine to the vet. For what it's worth, my niece is getting her masters degree in veterinarian and she said they do not teach hardly anything about chickens, birds, snakes, exotic animals. She said when she has her own practice & runs across a chicken question, she will call me!

 

[BackyardDove]

Change it a couple a times a day. After a few days you may want to just use ointment and not cover with gauze so it can get air to it.
If the eye looks infected and goopy you may need to flush it and get the pus out at least daily (use a qtip) and then apply your ointment. If you have a Tractor Supply, they usually carry the Terramycin (mine does anyway) I think I saw the Vetericyn there as well. Your local feed or pet store may have something comparable.

These are things I'm sure you know - keep her hydrated, if you have some Nutri-Drench or poultry vitamins give her those for a couple of days, also wet chick starter is usually a big hit so try that, you can mix in little scrambled/hard boiled egg, mackerel, etc., to make it more enticing.

I do understand about the vet comment as well. A vet visit is not an option for me either. I do suggest on some cases to see a vet if possible and some people have access to a vet or want that level (and have the $$$). I do not think it's terrible or you are a horrible person. I'm sorry someone suggested that.

Let us know how she is doing.

Here's a bit of inspiration for you:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1091319/scalped-chicken-still-alive

Okay good, I may not be able to keep the gauze on her for much longer anyways. Since she's becoming more active, she's decided she doesn't like having vet wrap and gauze on, so she's scratching it off! I had to put it back on her three times today. I was cleaning her eye everyday and checking it every few hours to make sure more gunk didn't form, but it seems to mostly form overnight. I'll be sure to run by Tractor Supply tomorrow, I'm hoping they have it but I'm not sure. Their medical supply section is very tiny, so they may not carry it.

I put electrolytes with vitamins in her water a couple days ago, and I'm still syringing her just in case she's not drinking on her own yet I'm not sure she'll like extra stuff in her food though, my chickens are very leery with new things in there food and will sometimes avoid eating all together if there's something new in it! I can give her the option of normal, dry crumbles and that wet mixture though and see which one she prefers.

Oh yes, there are definitely cases when veterinary care is needed. If she had her spine exposed, or even just tendons, I would consider a vet visit, but her wounds can be easily managed with the proper supplies and care at home. Thank you, I'm glad that people on this site are more understanding

Wow, that chicken had very similar injuries to mine, even down to the damaged left eye!

Sounds like you're doing everything right - I don't take my animals to the vet either, unless we absolutely have too (and our dogs for their rabies shots) we do all other vaccines, deworming, ourselves. We even do our own farrier work on our goats/horses to save money. that stuff adds up fast if you're not capable of doing basic animal first aid. And short of surgery (and state required vaccines like rabies where you need a certificate) there's not much a vet can do for you, besides write prescriptions, and most over-the counter animal stuff works unless you want to get into really fancy things...

For a pet dog /cat/horse- I could see spending money, if the dog had the possibility of having a long life that's worth the money and being okay... (same for a cat/horse) depending ON the goat, I may or may not take it to a vet or see if I can get a vet out.... but a pet chicken? They are easily replaced and while I enjoy having them, the stupid things are stupid enough to get themselves injured and killed on a pretty frequent basis. :/

You're not a bad person for doing your own vet care since you had the tools available to provide it. There's nothing else the vet can really do in that situation, besides tell you what you're already doing.

When a stray cat had a litter of kittens - she got an infection and I didn't take her in, I just talked to the vet 2 hours away and asked what their treatment suggestions were, and I gave her daily shots myself, hand fed her, bottle fed the kittens, and got them to nurse off her a couple times a day to keep her milk in until she was healthy enough to take over.

So, I get where you are coming from. I'm glad she's doing better!

Thank you! It's the same for us, the cats and dogs get their vaccines from the vet but almost everything else gets done at home. Of course if there's a real issue we can't handle, we take them straight to the vet, but I see no need to take in every animal to the vet every time they get a boo boo or get sick. But yes, the idea that I was supposed to take a chicken in for wound care was just absurd to me. She wasn't even supposed to be my pet chicken, she was breed to be sold, nothing more. I do think chickens have an individual personality to an extent... But like you said, they can be replaced, and more often than not they have to be replaced because of their own stupidity. It's as if they're looking for trouble! As I said before, this pullet had no reason to be in his cage, and because she was able to squeeze into his cage in the first place, she could've squeezed out. The fact that I'm putting in as much time and effort to save her rather than cutting my losses and culling her should show that I do care about her life, but I guess since I'm not shelling out money to make a veterinary technician do what I'm doing now makes me a bad chicken keeper in some people's eyes. People put their faith in vets way, way too much. Unless you're talking about surgery, the vet technicians do most of the vet work, the actual veterinarian doesn't do a lot of the grunt work. Plus, most vet clinics don't require their technicians to be certified, meaning most vet techs have no formal education in vet care and care for the animals solely based off of experience. Just like most regular people who've learned how to treat their own animals.

We used to call the vet for advice, but pretty much every time we call it's a hassle to get any actual advice from them. They just give vague tips on how to help the animal while insisting we should bring them to the vet. Thank you and I'm hoping she'll be back to normal soon!

Sorry that someone,would ridicule your decisions. I've never, nor probably ever, will taken any of mine to the vet. For what it's worth, my niece is getting her masters degree in veterinarian and she said they do not teach hardly anything about chickens, birds, snakes, exotic animals. She said when she has her own practice & runs across a chicken question, she will call me!

I know! In veterinary school, they don't teach you that kind of stuff. You pretty much have small animal studies(cats, dogs, other common pets) or large animal studies(horse, cattle, maybe sheep and goats). If you're wanting to be an exotic animal clinic or treat anything out of the ordinary, you have to learn either from personal experience or learn from another vet that already has the experience. Sure vet school may teach one or two lessons in uncommon animal care, but it's not enough and most vets forget it by the time they start practicing. It's just silly to think that a vet would know how to care for a chicken more than a chicken owner. I remember when I took my Prairie Dog in to my local vet after he had an allergic reaction to the stitches after being recently neutered at a specialty clinic, I actually had to tell THEM how to take care of his infection, since I didn't have the tools myself!



Thank you very much for all your support everybody!

I posted to this other site because, in the past, people there tended to be quicker to respond than on here, and though I already knew how to treat wounds, I thought hearing other people's advice on what to do would be good. After all, there's always better methods out there, and if I forgot to do something somebody would be able to catch my mistake before it was too late. It was really a shocker to be told I'm not a good owner for not taking her into the vet by several people! I pride myself on how good my animals are cared for and how healthy they are, so that really was a blow to me, even though I knew it was all bologna.

 

[Morighan]

Vet tech here! You did really good wound care here. One thing I would recommend for the future is "don't wrap the wound unless to stop bleeding". And i wouldn't recommend neosporin in the eyes either. Chlorohexadine flush is also really handy to keep on hand. It's anti microbial flush, the blue stuff used by your vet. It's non prescription and I've found it pretty cheap where I live. It helps if they get fungal/bacterial infections and it's a wound cleaner. But it has to be diluted for birds to about 1 part chloro and 9 parts water.

My duckling had similar wounds on her leg and we simply gave an antibiotic injection and used the flush on her wounds everyday until healed. She has no scarring and her feathers are all back. Even one of the vets, an exotic specialist, I work with was surprised at her recovery.

Also, in basic animal care/veterinary school, they don't teach about exotics like chickens and goats. Because you get a license in basic small or large animal care. You can further your education by specializing in anything from reproduction to radiology to exotic animals(goats, reptiles, birds, rodents, etc..). Just a tidbit for the user with a veterinarian relative.

Also, don't feel bad about not taking your pet into a vet clinic for care. If you have enough experience to care for it yourself then by all means go right on ahead. At the clinic I work for, we always try to teach those with farm animals and exotics on how to care for their pets so they don't have to see a vet as often or in the event that a knowledgeable vet isn't near by. Also if you ever have questions about what's safe to use on your pet and what's the best antibiotic treatment for the injury, you should always contact a vet that is knowledgeable in that species (just call and ask a question) or contact your nearest veterinary school, most have a hospital on site and can deal with most species.

 

[BackyardDove]

How is your chicken now @BackyardDove

She's doing wonderfully! It took a lot of care and patience, but she's doing great. Her scalp has healed over and her ear and eye are just fine. She's completely healed, though she still doesn't have any feathers on her head. She can actually go ahead and join her new flock, but I'm giving her some extra time to rest after doing all that healing. Thank you for asking!

 

[BackyardDove]

Okay, after seeing these? You are my new hero!!! Pearl had a flap with some exposure... your baby had significantly more damage. Wow. And yeah, anyone who judges me for not taking a bird to the vet has no business in my life. You're so right, we have to draw the line somewhere. My dog, YES... my human children, yes.... I swear people on feeds like these know way more than any vet and I would trust them more too!!! I do EVERYTHING in my power for sure, but getting a farm vet involved for an instant $75 minimum, isn't happening. You are amazing!!! Can you show how she looks now?

Aw, thank you! The people who were telling me to take her to a vet, rather than actually giving me helpful advice, were in a chicken group I was in on Facebook. I actually ended up getting banned from the group because I said a 'bad word' in response to being told I'm an awful person for not taking a chicken to the vet. I wish I had taken screenshots of the whole ordeal so I could send them pictures of my now perfectly healthy pullet, but I didn't think I'd be banned because I defended myself! People in chicken forums absolutely do know so much more than vets do. Unspecialized vets don't know squat about chicken care!

I can definitely show you how she looks! Here she is.



A pretty big bald patch, but she's doing just fine! Both ears and eyes healed properly too. She actually turns 6 months old this month, so I may be getting some eggs from her soon! Her breed tends to be picky about laying though, in fact her mom hasn't laid any more eggs since this girl was laid as an egg back in March.