Week old chick injury with bone exposure

[nkiernan1]

Hello! I have two chicks less than a week old that have injuries.

Background - new mama hatched out two eggs in the coop. She was doing fantastic with them and even aggressive towards other hens - she would chase the other hens out of the coop while the babies were up to eat. The first baby, was trampled by the other hens on our ramp to the pasture (this is what I’m speculating). He has an injured beak that has turned black and an injured leg. I brought him inside for some TLC, no issues at all with eating, drinking, or pooping. We followed the tutorials on here and made a chicken chair for him. Within 3 days, he is now standing on his own again and has had made a great recovery.

Today - noticed my other peep is now injured. Her one wing was drooping significantly. Upon inspection under the wing, it was incredibly dirty (could be dried blood) and her wing in incredibly swollen and inflamed. She also appears to have part of the bone exposed. I’ll add some pictures here as well. I cleaned her up as best as I could for now, I don’t know when this happened. We used warm water and the applied some neosporin. My biggest concern is infection. What can we do from here? Let’s say she makes it, how will that wing heal with the exposed bone? Will the wing heal? Will the wing need to be removed/fall off? Any advice is appreciated.

I know I should have taken the peeps at hatching and kept them inside; I was really trying to let Jennifer (the mama) keep them. She was so dedicated during her broody phase and I honestly didn’t expect any eggs to hatch. We let her keep 10.

 

[nkiernan1]

Washed her with dawn to remove dirt. Injury site is very black.

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive another one! 911!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Upon inspection under the wing, it was incredibly dirty (could be dried blood) and her wing in incredibly swollen and inflamed. She also appears to have part of the bone exposed. I’ll add some pictures here as well. I cleaned her up as best as I could for now, I don’t know when this happened. We used warm water and the applied some neosporin. My biggest concern is infection. What can we do from here? Let’s say she makes it, how will that wing heal with the exposed bone?

I know I should have taken the peeps at hatching and kept them inside; I was really trying to let Jennifer (the mama) keep them. She was so dedicated during her broody phase and I honestly didn’t expect any eggs to hatch. We let her keep 10.

Welcome To BYC

Sorry about your chicks.

Can you get some clearer photos? One underneath if you can too?

Are you certain that is bone?

I'd swab the area with Chlorhexidine, then apply your ointment.

Hopefully with photos we can offer better suggestions.

Sadly, sometimes chicks do get injured when with the flock. Sometimes making a temporary fenced area or coral for the Broody Mama and chicks for the first week can help offer some protection and time for Mama to get settled a bit and for chicks to learn to stick with Mama. Having a broody raise chicks is the best method.

 

[nkiernan1]

Thank you for the response. I’ll see if I can get some better pictures. The wound is very black, I’m assuming dry blood. I did clean her up gently, but I didn’t want to really “scrub” it, I can’t imagine how it feels. By looking at that diagram, I believe it would be broken down by the elbow joint. I wrapped her injured wing in place for the night - I had concerns that her sibling would peck at her.

 

[nkiernan1]

I managed to get some better pictures this morning. I’m assuming the black is damaged skin/tissue?

 

[Eggcessive]

You can buy some some Hibiclens chlorhexidene to clean the wound, then rinse it off, or use saline or a wound spray such as Vetericyn twice a day. Then just apply plain Neosporin over the wound.

 

[nkiernan1]

I just picked up some Vetericyn. Should I keep it covered? Should I do anything with the bone?

 

[nkiernan1]

Update on injured babies 6/18. BB has been inside for 5 days now and can stand on his own! Can’t really walk, more like a hop. “Claire” is our song injury - she’s on day 3 of being inside. I worked up the courage to clip the bone off back to the skin. She didn’t even flinch and there was no blood. Appetites are incredibly high! And so are the poop levels! No infection - yet. But I know, it is a great possibility still for Claire. They got to spend some time together today and share some watermelon. I do keep them separated so the wing injury doesn’t get pecked. Other pictures are of Claire after this mornings wound treatment with lots of neosporin.