Wow! I have to say this site saved the day! Kudos!
I'm still not sure if the little guy - maybe 4weeks old, managed to get semi-stuck with his head out and was badly scalped by hardware wire or if one of the over interested farm cats contributed - but I found him with almost half his back of the head scalp gone. At first he seemed fine but over the next two days, slowly started to go down hill, laying around, loosing balance, seeking heat and sleeping a lot. The other young polts and keets weren't being real agressive pecking at him but I did notice the ocassional peck.
After doing a site search and reading up I did pull him out into a box in the house on day 2. Several layers of paper towels are not near as slick as newspaper. I had started putting a thin layer of triple antibiotic ointment on the wound. Poor guy had no balance, flopping over patheticly, sitting back on his "heels" unable to motorvate around. Trotted on down to Orschelins and picked up some Wound Kote spray that I started spritzing twice a day and find the dark purple stain makes the wound not look quite as gastly. Red, like with a raw wound, stimulates others to peck and the wound has a purple/blue coloration to it that helps avoid this. High in alcohol content, it's an antiseptic dressing and seems to help dry out the wound weepage as well. Can't imagine spraying alcohol on a wound of mine but it dosen't seem to bother him.
I would wrap him securely in a towl and hold him close to my chest - he seemed to like it there, not just for the warmth but as a flock creature the movement of breathing and a heartbeat - and hand feed him. He would eat but with his head cocked at a real angle and seemed to have a hard time pecking on target. My fishing worms in the fridge got put to good use - choped into several pieces. Crumbled hard boiled egg, a mash of game feed, dog food, tiny slices of cucumber and a little sugar and yogert in warm water to drink. I've got a packet of save-a-chick in reserve but he seems to be doing well enough without it. I'm thinking of this guy lives he is going to be soooooooo spoiled.
Day 4. He's perking up. Starting to chirp more and with some vigor to it. Making a bit of effort to self groom and preen. Still very unsteady on his legs but his pecking in now on target when eating . He's now sitting up on his legs instead of them just being splayed in front of him or laying on his side. His appetite is very good - nailing offerings with gusto and even eating some on his own. We've got communication going with little chirps that mean food! food! eat! eat! and I've figgured out that struggling out of the towel means it's poopy time (found that out the hard way -eewww).
I'm now optimistic the little fella is going to make it tho he's still got a ways to go before I'll feel comfortable putting him back in with his other jr. flockmates.
I'm still not sure if the little guy - maybe 4weeks old, managed to get semi-stuck with his head out and was badly scalped by hardware wire or if one of the over interested farm cats contributed - but I found him with almost half his back of the head scalp gone. At first he seemed fine but over the next two days, slowly started to go down hill, laying around, loosing balance, seeking heat and sleeping a lot. The other young polts and keets weren't being real agressive pecking at him but I did notice the ocassional peck.
After doing a site search and reading up I did pull him out into a box in the house on day 2. Several layers of paper towels are not near as slick as newspaper. I had started putting a thin layer of triple antibiotic ointment on the wound. Poor guy had no balance, flopping over patheticly, sitting back on his "heels" unable to motorvate around. Trotted on down to Orschelins and picked up some Wound Kote spray that I started spritzing twice a day and find the dark purple stain makes the wound not look quite as gastly. Red, like with a raw wound, stimulates others to peck and the wound has a purple/blue coloration to it that helps avoid this. High in alcohol content, it's an antiseptic dressing and seems to help dry out the wound weepage as well. Can't imagine spraying alcohol on a wound of mine but it dosen't seem to bother him.
I would wrap him securely in a towl and hold him close to my chest - he seemed to like it there, not just for the warmth but as a flock creature the movement of breathing and a heartbeat - and hand feed him. He would eat but with his head cocked at a real angle and seemed to have a hard time pecking on target. My fishing worms in the fridge got put to good use - choped into several pieces. Crumbled hard boiled egg, a mash of game feed, dog food, tiny slices of cucumber and a little sugar and yogert in warm water to drink. I've got a packet of save-a-chick in reserve but he seems to be doing well enough without it. I'm thinking of this guy lives he is going to be soooooooo spoiled.
Day 4. He's perking up. Starting to chirp more and with some vigor to it. Making a bit of effort to self groom and preen. Still very unsteady on his legs but his pecking in now on target when eating . He's now sitting up on his legs instead of them just being splayed in front of him or laying on his side. His appetite is very good - nailing offerings with gusto and even eating some on his own. We've got communication going with little chirps that mean food! food! eat! eat! and I've figgured out that struggling out of the towel means it's poopy time (found that out the hard way -eewww).
I'm now optimistic the little fella is going to make it tho he's still got a ways to go before I'll feel comfortable putting him back in with his other jr. flockmates.
