Ruffatoa
In the Brooder
I have an adult female midget white turkey who has been put in a small coop on our porch separated by the rest of the flock for a few weeks due to her having small (surrogate) chicks that needed to be kept safe.
When I went to check on her and the chicks around 20 minutes ago to give her some watermelon, there was a wound on the top of her head, close to the middle where there is usually that little feather mohawk, that had what looked like either adipose or skull peeking through. The wound itself is very wide and I do not think it can be stitched together.
I do not know how old the wound is. When I went out to give her and her chicks some watermelon, one of our indoor cats got out and ran past. This caused her to become VERY frantic; jumping, kicking at the wire fencing, screaming her head off. I do not know if this directly caused the wound or if a predator somehow got her through the fence.
The bedding is, admittedly, very old. We cannot change it out without all of the chicks and mother freaking out, but it was put in as pine wood chips over a wood flooring.
I have no idea what to do for this wound. I do not think we have any antibiotics I can safely use, the only one I think we even have is a bactine spray that I KNOW we cannot use on poultry. There is no way she would tolerate dressing the wound; she is very hormonal right now with her chicks and I do not think she would stay still long enough to have a dressing put on.
I am VERY DESPERATE for anything I can do, we have had Gravy for a few years now and she is one of our pets. We all love her, but are unable to go to a vet to do anything to help her. I am not even sure we would be able to get to a co-op to look for medication and dressings. She also has 5 feral-ish chicks that are not quite ready to be on their own yet, which makes me even more worried about this situation. Any advice any of you have is very, very, very wanted.
I do not have a picture right now, but at the moment of posting I am going out again to get one.
When I went to check on her and the chicks around 20 minutes ago to give her some watermelon, there was a wound on the top of her head, close to the middle where there is usually that little feather mohawk, that had what looked like either adipose or skull peeking through. The wound itself is very wide and I do not think it can be stitched together.
I do not know how old the wound is. When I went out to give her and her chicks some watermelon, one of our indoor cats got out and ran past. This caused her to become VERY frantic; jumping, kicking at the wire fencing, screaming her head off. I do not know if this directly caused the wound or if a predator somehow got her through the fence.
The bedding is, admittedly, very old. We cannot change it out without all of the chicks and mother freaking out, but it was put in as pine wood chips over a wood flooring.
I have no idea what to do for this wound. I do not think we have any antibiotics I can safely use, the only one I think we even have is a bactine spray that I KNOW we cannot use on poultry. There is no way she would tolerate dressing the wound; she is very hormonal right now with her chicks and I do not think she would stay still long enough to have a dressing put on.
I am VERY DESPERATE for anything I can do, we have had Gravy for a few years now and she is one of our pets. We all love her, but are unable to go to a vet to do anything to help her. I am not even sure we would be able to get to a co-op to look for medication and dressings. She also has 5 feral-ish chicks that are not quite ready to be on their own yet, which makes me even more worried about this situation. Any advice any of you have is very, very, very wanted.
I do not have a picture right now, but at the moment of posting I am going out again to get one.
