Serve open head wound is Black

[staceyj]

While you’re checking with friends-
Do you have any chicken friends that live locally?
Or belong to any Facebook groups for chicken people in your area?

 

[staceyj]

I think the wound in the side of the neck needs to debrided manually with swabs dipped in 1/4 strength betadine.

 

[casportpony]

Can you see to it that she gets some hydration tonight?
If you don’t have any electrolyte mix
Gatorade
Plain pedialyte
Or you could improvise by mixing a cup of water with a small spoonful of sugar, 1 shake of salt and a pinch of baking soda in it.
Stir well.
Apply drops to her beak.
Or see if she’ll drink it for you.

Sorry I don’t have an exact recipe at hand but I could look one up for you and I’m confident enough that these amounts would be conservative enough but still beneficial.

*keep in refrigerator

Agree, this hen needs fluids ASAP, and they best way to get them into her would be to tube them.

I am SO very sorry this happened to your girl. You are doing a wonderful job with her. Have you administered anything g for pain? I personally think it’s time for a heavy duty systemic antibiotic. @casportpony , do you agree and if so, can you help with a recommendation?

If she continues to deteriorate, sadly, I would consider putting her down. Totally support you in whatever direction you decide to go. Hugs.

Yes, I agree.

 

[Crazychickenlady76]

While you’re checking with friends-
Do you have any chicken friends that live locally?
Or belong to any Facebook groups for chicken people in your area?

No

 

[casportpony]

@Crazychickenlady76, do you want to learn how to tube feed?

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you seen any more seizure activity, or the wry neck or walking backward symptoms? Does she walk around some and eat on her own?

 

[staceyj]

If you think tube feeding would be too difficult, it’s okay to say so. We would understand.
Remember I’ve told you early on. We are not here to judge you. At all.

All options are on the table in a effort to assist you, but YOU are the one living this experience.

It’s not a hard skill to learn. @casortpony and a number of others would guide you through it plus there are instructional videos on you tube.
Nutrition and fluids play a massive role in stablizing a patient and healing but if this isn’t the route you would feel comfortable taking we can discuss further some other ways of getting better hydration and calories into her.
The simplest method is to make her regular feed into a mash with water. It’s like porridge or oatmeal.
Or soft cooked eggs and a number of other things.

Tube feeding can be a lifesaver but there are materials you’d have to gather and most importantly, to do it
you’d have to stabilize the chicken’s head and neck in your hand. I think it would take a large amount of grit to accomplish this , given the extensive coverage and location of her wounds.

 

[Crazychickenlady76]

@Crazychickenlady76, do you want to learn how to tube feed?

She can eat just with help with me holding dish

 

[casportpony]

She can eat just with help with me holding dish

She's probably not drinking enough though.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I needed to feed her for 2 days and I think having seizures.

This happened about 4 days ago

Ok i can see parts of jaw bones

Her wound smells awful to

Now that I washed her and that she keeps her head low and tilted to the side and kinds walks backwards a bit

I cleaned her and since then she keeps her head low and walks backward a little

Yes there’s not skin on her neck at all I can even see parts of her jaw bone

When she eats you can see bones moving on each side of her cheeks. The smell is awful it been smelling for 3 days now and since I washed her with dish soap today after that she started putting her head low and kinds walking backwards a little

Update she ate a lot more this morning but I think she definitely has some brain damage

Behavior is she don’t know where her food is she keeps shacking her head to her back and sometimes walks backwards with her head down. And the head wound smells bad

What about the whole in the side of her neck?

I'm very sorry about your pullet.
You mention that she smells awful and there is a hole - is this the hole that I have marked below? Can you tell how deep it goes? When you washed the wounds, did that fill with water - did the water come back out or go somewhere?

Is there any way that you can get some antibiotics. I realize you may not want to stick her, but I'm going to encourage you to find some antibiotics. It may be harder to get them in Mass., but you can order them online as well.
Others may not agree, but if you can pick up some Penicillin G or even Tylan50 in your local store without having to wait for something in the mail, those would be what I would use. If you have to order, the I would get Baytril or Amoxicillin.
Sorry I'm not trying to be harsh, but this bird needs antibiotics in addition to being hydrated, by my count, unless I read the posts wrong, this is going on 6-7days. Something else needs to be tried.

If she declines further, then it's time to end her suffering. I understand, you have been doing everything you can for her.
We will continue to support you and root for her. I would like to see her recover too

More recent photo

First photo posted by the OP