Skin injury -- can it heal?

[normanack]

One of my first-time (and last-time) broodies attacked three newborn chicks. Two died, despite little visible injury. The third was pretty thoroughly scalped. We didn't put her down right away as oddly, she didn't appear to be suffering. In fact, several weeks later she is still doing great: active, growing, with none of the other chicks attacking her.

Her injuries never appeared to be infected: no discharge, no smell, only a few dry yellow flakes along one edge. The skin flap seems to have healed folded against itself, as far as I can tell, making a lump. I can't tell if it's skin, muscle, or bone I'm seeing where the skin was peeled back.

What I want to know is if this kind of injury will ultimately doom her if there is no skin left, leaving her open to infection. If so, I will cull her now to prevent future suffering. If she will only be disfigured, that doesn't bother me. She really seems absolutely fine right now, and is even one of the dominant chicks.

Many thanks for any advice.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Often the hens bash them in the back, between the shoulderblades, when killing, which damages their spine badly.

It possibly is her skull you're seeing but don't worry, that's not a total death sentence. If it was going to kill her it probably would have already though there's always a chance. It does look like the skin's been pushed back.

I think it would have been ideal if you had applied something to her head to protect the wound while it was bloody as the blood could then have gone straight into growing skin instead of becoming a dried out scab. I think there is possibly a little infection as that lump of skin at the back looks a bit swollen and is outside of the normal size range for a chick's head, unless she's one of those banties that has a pad of flesh on top of the head. Also the bright yellow stuff is weird.

If she was mine I would have put Lucas's pawpaw ointment on her head, followed by a coat of vaseline/petroleum jelly, as I've used this before to regrow skin on naked muscle. Otherwise I would have used Stockholm Tar. Unfortunately I don't know if either of those products are available where you are. Someone will be along to recommend some antibiotics soon, most likely, but the only ones I've ever used are those naturally found in raw garlic and herbs. Far more effective than man made ones. I might try bathing her head in rosemary tea (lol, I know) because it can heal atrocious dogbite wounds and such, without them even being stitched closed. It's got great active properties for wound healing, but I don't know about using it in a case like that as I haven't yet got experience with that particular injury.

However, depending on what you do next (best wishes with that) I think she's got a good chance. Doing something wrong rather than doing nothing at all might be the worse choice here.

 

[normanack]

Thank you so much! I felt so helpless and in the dark; now I know a little more and that helps tremendously. Looking back I wish I had spread some sort of healing goo on her head, but I'll look at it closely tomorrow morning and see if maybe a little lubrication (medicated or not, I'll see what I can find) might help, and look hard for infection..

All three chicks did indeed have wounds on their backs. It makes sense that what I took to be a scratch could have been far more serious, injuring the spine. Newborn chicks are so small!

Thank you again!

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: You're welcome, I hope it helps somewhat. I had a hen once who liked to bash other hen's babies between the shoulders, never left a mark but after the third peck a lot of them were down, in pain strong enough to prevent them from walking properly. I saved them, but have seen others die from that.

Regarding the chick you've got: I'd think putting something anti infective on its head will work regardless of the scab or state of infection, it should help heal both/either. I keep mentioning Stockholm tar but don't know if Americans have it; it's just pine sap boiled over and over and over again until it's tar. Don't know what species of pine either. It's miraculous stuff.

One thing on this forum people keep mentioning is 'Underwood' --- Americans use it and it sounds a lot like pine tar in its effects; it makes a scab, prevents scarring, disinfects, takes away pain, is used a lot for horses, etc; so I think it may contain pine tar. It's crumbly though, not sticky. But, it's in America, sounds great, I'd suggest you look into it, as it's being touted as being great stuff. 'Underwood.' I haven't tried it personally obviously but it sounds worth a go. Best wishes.

 

[jak2002003]

Oh, poor chick....how she gets better!

Weird how some hens are crazy like that. I only ever had one hen that killed her chicks. Her first clutch, she kept rolling eggs out of the nest until near day 20 there was only one left under her. Then she killed the chick as it was hatching.

The second time around (I thought she would have learnt what to do), she killed the first few chicks, pecking them, or throwing them out the nest to chill.

The few chicks that were left she would keep beating them up, until they were too scared to go anywhere near their mother, she broke ones wing. In the end the 3 chicks left were adopted by another hen with her own chicks and grew up fine.

I keep the crazy hen out of the coop now when there are any chicks.......she will hunt them down one at a time. Who knows why the heck she is like that!!!

So I advise you not to even think of giving your hen a second time to be raise chicks.

Good luck with the injured one.

 

[ten chicks]

One of my first-time (and last-time) broodies attacked three newborn chicks. Two died, despite little visible injury. The third was pretty thoroughly scalped. We didn't put her down right away as oddly, she didn't appear to be suffering. In fact, several weeks later she is still doing great: active, growing, with none of the other chicks attacking her.

Her injuries never appeared to be infected: no discharge, no smell, only a few dry yellow flakes along one edge. The skin flap seems to have healed folded against itself, as far as I can tell, making a lump. I can't tell if it's skin, muscle, or bone I'm seeing where the skin was peeled back.

What I want to know is if this kind of injury will ultimately doom her if there is no skin left, leaving her open to infection. If so, I will cull her now to prevent future suffering. If she will only be disfigured, that doesn't bother me. She really seems absolutely fine right now, and is even one of the dominant chicks.

Many thanks for any advice.

Skin will grow back,it is living tissue. She will probably always have an indent in the skin in at that area,and the feathers may not grow back properly,but that will not be a problem