@staceyj has been guiding you well, as have the others that have chimed in. You are in good hands.
I would just add a tip on using soap to clean head wounds and avoiding stinging the chicken's eyes. All you need to do is keep a bottle of generic 99cent baby shampoo in your chicken first aid kit. It's good for washing everything on a chicken when you only want the mildest of soap. It rinses away so much easier than any other soap, too.
Another thing I'd like to point out is the black tissue in the wound area. It could be dried blood or it could be necrotic (dead and dying) tissue. In a case of such a large wound, debriding (daily removal of dead black tissue) needs to be done in order to promote new tissue growth. Without doing this, there's a big danger of such a large area getting infected, even using antibiotic ointment.
I've done this on myself when I had serious burns on my legs, and while it hurts, it's absolutely essential in order to get new skin to grow over a large wound. While it seemed counterproductive when the nurse at the ER instructed me to scrub my raw, skinless legs every day to remove all loose tissue and debris, it really produced excellent results.
You can give a baby aspirin 81grains twice a day for pain. The only time you wouldn't want to give aspirin is when there's active bleeding.
Last, you absolutely need to keep the wound moist and not let it dry out. The minute you let the wound dry out, new tissue growth comes to a screeching halt, and bacteria will back up the moving van and take up residence.
I would just add a tip on using soap to clean head wounds and avoiding stinging the chicken's eyes. All you need to do is keep a bottle of generic 99cent baby shampoo in your chicken first aid kit. It's good for washing everything on a chicken when you only want the mildest of soap. It rinses away so much easier than any other soap, too.
Another thing I'd like to point out is the black tissue in the wound area. It could be dried blood or it could be necrotic (dead and dying) tissue. In a case of such a large wound, debriding (daily removal of dead black tissue) needs to be done in order to promote new tissue growth. Without doing this, there's a big danger of such a large area getting infected, even using antibiotic ointment.
I've done this on myself when I had serious burns on my legs, and while it hurts, it's absolutely essential in order to get new skin to grow over a large wound. While it seemed counterproductive when the nurse at the ER instructed me to scrub my raw, skinless legs every day to remove all loose tissue and debris, it really produced excellent results.
You can give a baby aspirin 81grains twice a day for pain. The only time you wouldn't want to give aspirin is when there's active bleeding.
Last, you absolutely need to keep the wound moist and not let it dry out. The minute you let the wound dry out, new tissue growth comes to a screeching halt, and bacteria will back up the moving van and take up residence.
