Solo newborn got pecked in both ears-- advice?

[catandmilkart]

This is my 4th hatch; I feel awful! We had 10+ eggs and 2 hens incubating. They constantly stole each other's eggs, which I think lead to such a dismal hatch-rate.

Day 1: We got one bantam Barnevelder chick, who was promptly pecked on both ears. (Mother's Day Weekend, no less!) I brought it inside to an ad-hoc incubator, cleaned up the wounds with hydrogen peroxide on a Q-tip, then applied Neosporin.

Day 2: More Neosporin, ear wounds haven't scabbed over so they look bloody (Images below). Chick is standing up-right, not walking much, but pecks at things now and then. It has not eaten its grit, and tends to keep both eyes closed. Is that normal for day-2 chicks? When should I hope to have a bright-eyed, frisky chick? I'm worried that the wounded ears are infected and affecting its eyes, or maybe it is due to the entire head being very painful.

I have removed 1 broody hen (aggressive golden laced wyandotte bantam) from the coop, and put her in an elevated cage to try to get her non-broody. I am hoping to put this chick back under the other bantam cochin later today, and see if she will accept it when she is on her own. Good plan? Should I wait until the ears heal up so it doesn't get infected, or present a pecking temptation?

It is heartbreaking that this chick is in pain, and all by itself. (I stuck some chick-like cat toys in with it for company.) I'm going to try to find a last-minute chick for sale, but it's late in the season for the farm supply stores. Anyone in the Baltimore-area have an emergency chick to donate?

 

[azygous]

Yes, that chick is suffering. It may have internal injuries causing the lethargic behavior. Chickens usually ignore surface wounds, but internal injuries cause much more stress and are more likely to be life threatening.

I would give this chick a warm heating pad to fold itself into, giving it the necessary direct contact heat it needs as well as a dark secure place to rest. Make sure you give it all the water with electrolytes it will drink.

Giving the injured chick to a broody hen that didn't hatch it would be inviting tragedy, especially with the red open sores.

 

[catandmilkart]

Thanks so much, Azygous. I have it wrapped in some towels on my lap, which it seems to be enjoying, and dropped some watered down Nutri-Drench in its mouth. Should this chick be up-and-about already, or are 2-day chicks still sleepy? :-(((((((

 

[azygous]

Two day old chicks normally alternate between racing about and sleeping. If it sleeps all the time, you may have a problem with more serious injuries that the wounds you can see.

 

[catandmilkart]

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. The chick definitely has balance issues. If I had any guts, I would cull it, but is there a chance it could recover it’s balance if the ears heal...? The “dizziness” may be a result of being incubated under the Cochin, whose tummy is extremely hot. Just a theory. Anyway, it’s pecking at food and water, and seems to get bursts of energy pecking it’s towel.

 

[Life is Good!]

Thanks for posting photos - one of our new chicks has the EXACT same wounds...but wounds were inflicted 5/16. Which means your chick has had 4 extra days to heal.

What's the chick's prognosis? Has it improved?

I've placed our little wounded lady on towel in a bowel with the lid to our little Brinsea incubator over it. The incubator lid fits EXACTLY over the Correlle bowl. I open it every hour to give the chick more fluids, let it stand up on a towel and take a step or two. Thus far, the chick prefers to walk backwards...not a good sign in my viewpoint...and the wounds open up quite easily as one of her eyelids is swollen shut. The inflammation on her eyes has decreased over the course of the day - so that's encouraging. However, she's no longer peeping constantly (not a good sign).

what to do with this little one?! I very much dislike bad Momma hens...

 

[catandmilkart]

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this. It is stressful! My chick has improved a lot, actually. I'll try to be as specific as possible, in case anyone else comes across this post with the same issues:

I have been administering Nutri-Drench morning and evening- just a drop or two. She hates it, so I didn't want to contaminate the water. She is able to run around, climb on towel-mountains, and is pretty frisky during the day. She does fall over when grooming, and after I clean her ear wounds she gets worked up and falls over for a minute or two. She has started to compensate for falling over, and grooms herself against a wall.

She was really touch and go, like yours sounds, for about two days. It was not looking good. She rarely stood up, and when she did, she fell over. She rarely peeped. She didn't like to be very warm (I don't know if that is related to the ear-thing. Frankly, there were temperature fluctuations when she was incubated under 2 hens, so she may have an underlying condition.) She did eat, and I noticed that she wasn't very good with her aim when pecking. That has improved, and her appetite did increase rapidly.

I took her outside two days ago, and she did very well! When she tried eating an ant she went completely ape-shit--- she ran into stuff, fell over, flipped around... I think its just when she is over-stimulated, the balance issue is worse. She may be compensating for the vertigo, and when she is stressed or excited, she forgets to compensate. Or maybe its a neurological problem that gets touched off in those conditions-- I'm not sure. After the ant, she got the hang of it and acted just like a normal chick-- ran around after me (she is quick!), ate a grub, watched me dig, etc.

My concern now is that she is able to be self-sufficient; from the way things look now, I think she will be able to live outside with good-natured hens. I hope she will not experience dizziness all the time--it would've been more humane to let her die. However, her ears are not totally healed, so let's hope the issue completely clears up when the ears are back to normal. (She still looks like hell; there's a lot of dried blood around the wounds that I've been trying to remove but its taking a while.)

 

[Life is Good!]

Yeah for your little chick!

Update on ours (photo in next post to keep it shorter) - Day 1 was hard. I mixed up a batch of Sav-a-chick and Probiotics, put just a very small amount (2 Tbsps?) into a glass and added two drops of Poly-vi-sol (without iron) into it. That was her nourishment for day 1. Gave her literally just three or four drops every hour (6am to 11pm) and for the most part she simply slept. Although she did poop twice. Her eyes had been stuck shut, so every other hour, I used hot water on a cotton swab to simply moisten them so she could get them open herself.

Day 2 - she was awake, alert and anxious to get out of her confinement when I removed the towel covering her little warmer. Pecking at the paper towel! YEAH! Both eyes are open, although it appears that one might be out of alignment. So I'm getting the indoor brooder set up for her to rehab another day at home. I'll give her Sav-a-chick and Probiotics in her waterer and manually administer the Poly-vi-sol (am and pm). They REALLY don't like the Poly-vi-sol, so I'll do a drop if I can get it into her beak and not all over me when she shakes her head to get that nasty stuff off her tongue!

See next post for photos of both her incubator set-up and a close up of her also.

 

[Life is Good!]

So here is her Correlle with Brinsea mini lid - the bottom of the bowl had a washcloth wadded up into a circle covered with a piece of paper towel. Quarters were tight, but do-able, since she was mostly laying down all day.


And here is a photo of her wounds. The bright red blood coming out her ears and from above one eye has dried and is just the same dark color as her feathers. Her left eye appears normal; the right eye socket is not right somehow. I think it's her ear/cheekbone is out of alignment. But of course, it's hard to get a good photo of that.



Oh, and I know she's out of the woods - she's calling and cheeping as LOUDLY as she can. My co-worker (I telecommute) asked if I had the windows open with a robin outside! Nope, just the chick on the dining room table.....tomorrow, she'll join a new family where only one chick of two hatched. I'm hoping that Momma will accept this also new chick...

 

[Life is Good!]

Update:

The chick has pulled through! She spent all of Day 2 standing up, pecking at food, walking around normally, snoozing repeatedly, spending the day under her Brinsea EcoGlow brooder heater. She was chirping so loudly (lonely), I finally added a small stuffed animal and she immediately quieted down. Whew!

Late evening of Day 2, wounds appeared closed and healing over nicely. As her hatchmate was also solo under a new Mom, I took a chance and added her to the new Mom. I didn't sleep very well last night....but now, Day 3, she's bonded well with Mom and hatchmate and they're out in the run being normal little chickens! We've limited how much space Mom can roam with 2' temporary fencing and 2' t-posts to help this little one recover. They've got about 10sq' of space with a glorified dog-crate coopette to sleep in. (Yes, it's predator proof, yes, it's covered so they won't get rained on).

BTW, mean Momma was sent to Camp Frigidaire. My flock is too precious to me to have a chick-killer in the mix.