Scalped Chicken. Help, please. :’(

[nickelu]

Hi!

I have a scalped Silkie, Emma. I am beside myself. She was in a playpen in the garage with other hens. There weren’t too many in it. They had plenty of room.
Anyway, I found one of our Polish (Amelia) on top of her (Emma). After I pulled Amelia off, I saw this. See pics.

The skin that should cover her head is at the base of her neck right now. It can be pulled up. Do I do that and sew it?? Do I leave it?

I cleaned it with alcohol. I got two pieces of pine shavings out of her wound. I am not sure what to do next. From other posts, I will use Vetrycin. What else should I do?

Other info about Emma right now:
- She is breathing.
- She will not open her eyes
- She is separated. (Amelia is kicked out back with the flock.)
- I put water in front of her and she wouldn’t drink. Of course, her eyes are both closed.
- I have not tried to get her to eat yet.
- When I cleaned it with alcohol, it was obvious at times that it did not feel good because she moved her head away.

Did I leave anything out That would be helpful?

Thank you in advance for any advise!

 

[wyochick10]

Oh goodness! That looks bad. I unfortunately am not much help but I will tag a few that can help. Good that she is separated. Keep her warm and Vetrycin is always good-not the alcohol. I would also see if you can get her to drink a few drops of electrolytes. Do you have any Nutri-drench on hand? I am so sorry you are going through this!

@azygous @Wyorp Rock can maybe help and many others will hopefully chime in soon!

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Oh no!!! I’m so sorry! That doesn’t look going. I’m sorry I won’t be much help. But I’m praying she heals!

 

[azygous]

Read this. It can help. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/healing-a-severely-injured-baby-chick.71976/

First step is to flush the wound thoroughly with saline or mild soap and warm water. Then keep the wound moist with an antibacteiral ointment.

Use the skin flap as a graft. After thoroughly cleaning it and the wound, paste a generous amount of ointment on the wound and lay the flap over it. Then smooth more ointment over the top pf the skin flap graft to hold it in place. In about three days, the graft will take and you only need to keep the top pf the graft moist with the ointment. Never, never, never let the wound dry out.

 

[nickelu]

Read this. It can help. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/healing-a-severely-injured-baby-chick.71976/

First step is to flush the wound thoroughly with saline or mild soap and warm water. Then keep the wound moist with an antibacteiral ointment.

Use the skin flap as a graft. After thoroughly cleaning it and the wound, paste a generous amount of ointment on the wound and lay the flap over it. Then smooth more ointment over the top pf the skin flap graft to hold it in place. In about three days, the graft will take and you only need to keep the top pf the graft moist with the ointment. Never, never, never let the wound dry out.

Thank you soooo much! That has been my concern is the drying out of the tissue. Unfortunately, the skin that is now at the base of the neck that should be at the top of the head won’t stay on top of the head. Should I put one “stitch”?

 

[azygous]

No. Read my post again carefully. You are using the ointment like Neosporin, to "glue" the skin flap down. Use a LOT! Goop it on the wound thickly. Lay the flap on the ointment and press it down so it seats. Then use a lot more ointment on top of the flap as a continuous layer all over so it holds the flap down. Got that now?

Stitches almost never hold on chicken skin, it's too thin.

 

[nickelu]

No. Read my post again carefully. You are using the ointment like Neosporin, to "glue" the skin flap down. Use a LOT! Goop it on the wound thickly. Lay the flap on the ointment and press it down so it seats. Then use a lot more ointment on top of the flap as a continuous layer all over so it holds the flap down. Got that now?

Stitches almost never hold on chicken skin, it's too thin.

Okay. Got it! Thank you! Here we go!

 

[nickelu]

UPDATE
The skin at the base of the neck that should be at the top of the head would not stay up no matter what I tried. I ended up using a tiny hair elastic around the feathers on both sides (front and back) to hold the two together.(The hair tie is pink and difficult to see.)

That was after rinsing with saline and slathering with Neosporin.

oh! And she was able to open her right eye and when I put food in front of her, she ate!!

Thank you, @azygous !!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How many feathers are underneath what you pulled up and secured?
My concern is this will cause infection underneath the skin flap that has been pulled up.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would probably just clean it twice a day, and put plain antibiotic ointment on it, and let the tissue come together on it’s own eventually. Tissue will usually granulate in if kept clean and moist.