I'm sorry about your pullet.
The wound looks like it's been cleaned well. I'd keep it coated with triple antibiotic ointment and monitor her. Don't bandage. Don't stitch. See that she's eating/drinking well.
IF you detect a bad odor, then re-clean with Chlorhexidine or Povidone Iodine. Apply your ointment. Having an antibiotic or a way to get one quickly is a good idea, but generally one is not needed unless the wound gets infected.
I've had scalped hens before, it can be distressing to see them like this, but I've found that keeping the wound coated with ointment helps and they heal relatively fast, growing in new feathers too.
She will be sore for several days and the skin may become tight, so watch to see if she has any trouble bending the neck to eat/drink, if she does, then just raise the food/water higher (put it on a block of wood or brick). As she heals, flexibility will come back too.
Oh and don't get too hasty with letting her out on dirt or at least monitor her and don't let her take a dust bath. First thing they seem to want to do is take a dust bath. Ointment, a wound and a dust bath makes for a challenging time to get it all cleaned back up. Ask me how I know!
Photos from your other thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ound-graphic-sad-update.1680389/post-28920343
Thank you. She’s definitely not your typical chick—she was incredibly expensive and went through quite the trek to get here.
She actually ate pretty well last night: soaked crumbles and electrolyte water (with a tiny bit of sugar for glucose, since I’m sure she was completely worn out).
I honestly don’t know how skin could possibly regrow over a wound like this—I have very limited experience with true scalping injuries- especially in chickens as I dont treat avian livestock often. The only similar case I ever handled was a parrot patient whose crest had been cut with a knife by a mentally challenged young man who disliked it. I treated that bird with antibiotics, meloxicam, and brief sedation so we could apply a “new skin” product over the exposed muscle and tissue.
So I’m curious: has anyone here used a “new skin” product on a wound like this before?
Clear headed this AM, letting her rest rhoguh the night, I noticed a couple other small wounds upon examination on her back. They already had scabbed over, applied ointment- hopefully it softens them so I can clean them better. Current weight is 408 grams (whereas he siblings are 500ish grams and separated in 'see dont touch').
Now that she was a bit more stable (you can see that some of the bites went into the muscle- chucks removed). She wants to be with her siblings-
but I cant allow that as they peck the crap out of her wound.
Hubby is now aware that she will be a house chicken for quite awhile.
As for this morning, Ouzo ate less than yesterday evening, but she still took a few bites of fish and some soaked crumbles with bee pollen.
It wasnt enough food so
THANK YOU for the raised dish recommendation: then she was pretty enthusiastic to have some of her normal chop (zucchini, mixed microgreens, broccoli, spinach, peas, carrot, apple, papaya, arugula, bok choy, spaghetti squash and for extra calories I use a bit of CBD hemp oil (great omegas), nut flour with some scrambled egg that I mashed up with crumbles. All in, gourmet for sure... anything to keep her eating and drinking.
She definately wants to take a dust bath, I had to use a little soysauce/sushi cup for grit as anything more was about to become a dust mess. But Im keeping her indoors for forseeable future.
She got a dose of meloxicam this AM. Once she eats a bit more, ill start oral antibiotics- just to cover all the bases.
Thank you again, anything else I am missing?
(never had a scalped chicken- that quite litterally ate her own flesh when I was cleaning the wound... that is a first for me!).
