Mystery injury / infection on chicken face

[alinas2010]

thanks for those ideas! I was wondering about booties or something I like the idea of vet wrap. she sent me home with some supplies like that!

I was like can I tape her feet to the roost bar (joking!)

This is such a tough one! I’m sitting here like she needs ear muffs lol

Aside from babysitting her 24/7 until it starts to heal pretty well, I feel there are really limited options. That plus her kennel. It’d be a tough journey but as long as she can eat and drink and get breaks like you said, that’s an option.

 

[cheide]

it’s been a while since I have you an update on Millhouse.

we gave her 10 days of antibiotics. and spent about 7 days swaddling her in a towel and holding her on our laps or keeping her confined in a small pet carrier. when we let her out to stretch her legs, she was very closely supervised. all to try to keep her from scratching the wound on her face. this seemed to be working. until we woke up one morning and found she had scratched herself pretty bad in the night. there was a lot of blood inside the carrier and fresh blood all over her feathers.

it seemed like she was becoming more and more agitated with the solitude. we made the decision that if she was going to scratch herself anyway, she may as well live like a chicken. we put her back in the porch crate and let her out to roam the yard for a few hours every day. since we ran out of antibiotics, I give her a little spray of vetericyn once a day (). it doesn’t seem to be getting better - or worse? but she seems to be satisfied with the life she has like this? maybe it will never heal and she will die - but at least she gets to peck around, eat bugs, perch up, go sit near her friends until then. and maybe it will heal, but it’s just taking a very. long. time.

I’ll probably give more updates if things change. thanks for following along and sharing helpful advice

if anyone else has any other ideas I would be so happy to hear them.

until then, I think she’ll just be a porch crate chicken for a while. she’s even started putting herself to bed in there when out ranging the yard.

 

[alinas2010]

it’s been a while since I have you an update on Millhouse.

we gave her 10 days of antibiotics. and spent about 7 days swaddling her in a towel and holding her on our laps or keeping her confined in a small pet carrier. when we let her out to stretch her legs, she was very closely supervised. all to try to keep her from scratching the wound on her face. this seemed to be working. until we woke up one morning and found she had scratched herself pretty bad in the night. there was a lot of blood inside the carrier and fresh blood all over her feathers.

it seemed like she was becoming more and more agitated with the solitude. we made the decision that if she was going to scratch herself anyway, she may as well live like a chicken. we put her back in the porch crate and let her out to roam the yard for a few hours every day. since we ran out of antibiotics, I give her a little spray of vetericyn once a day (). it doesn’t seem to be getting better - or worse? but she seems to be satisfied with the life she has like this? maybe it will never heal and she will die - but at least she gets to peck around, eat bugs, perch up, go sit near her friends until then. and maybe it will heal, but it’s just taking a very. long. time.

I’ll probably give more updates if things change. thanks for following along and sharing helpful advice

if anyone else has any other ideas I would be so happy to hear them.

until then, I think she’ll just be a porch crate chicken for a while. she’s even started putting herself to bed in there when out ranging the yard.

Ah dang it, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t heal like we had hoped. I was wondering how she was doing, thanks for updating us.

On the bright side, maybe being distracted with chicken stuff will keep her from scratching at it too bad. And now that you know it’s there you can continue to treat it and keep a close eye on it. Glad it isn’t getting worse at least, though. Maybe in due time, since the infection is gone, it will surprise us and heal up. It could just be me, but it does look smaller. Perhaps it is healing very slowly because of the complicated nature of the location and involved tissues. I will say a little prayer for her great job caring for her, I know how stressful it can be having a sick or injured pet and you’ve had to put a lot of energy into this.

 

[alinas2010]

Do you by chance have a follow up appointment with the vet? Maybe she has something topical that could help it heal? An ointment specifically for the ear area or some sort of a paste that could help promote healing. I know that’s more money, and it’s hard to think about spending more when the antibiotic didn’t necessarily heal her as hoped. But I do think she looks a little better, to be fair. I suppose you could always call and ask the vet if she thinks it’s really worth another evaluation or if there are any other options before dumping money into another visit.

 

[alinas2010]

Sorry another reply to this lol but also, do keep in mind that sometimes really bad injuries take weeks and weeks to heal. The thing with most of the chicken injuries seen here is that they’re wounds to muscles and skin in areas where healing is pretty straightforward. We can watch those wounds heal easily, make progress, pack them with ointment, etc. even then, though, really bad and deep ones can take months to heal sometimes, so by ten days, a deep wound not being healed extensively is not abnormal.

I don’t want to give you false hope by any means but I say all this because I feel like her wound is kind of atypical. It’s in an odd spot where there are canals and cavities and delicate tissue, so healing around all that might take more time and look abnormal compared to a flesh wound. I really hope we are just seeing it healing very slowly because of the location of the wound. I really hope

Is she getting a boost of protein in her diet? Maybe some canned chicken or tuna would be yummy for her and promote healing.

 

[cheide]

thanks @alinas2010

I do think it’s maybe looking slightly better. the hole part still looks pretty big. but the edges seem more light pink and I can’t see all the way through..?? and it doesn’t bleed as frequently… all to say I am also actually pretty hopeful it’s just healing very slowly. and I know chickens can survive a lot of injuries! I’m really thinking she’ll be just fine as a porch chicken with a hole in her head.

the vet has been following up so I can call and ask about some type of ointment or something. and I did give her some leftover protein pancakes and scrambled eggs the other day she really liked I can definitely give her some canned chicken or tuna. I’m sure extra protein is a really good idea!

I forgot to mention earlier that I have been filing her beak. I noticed it wasn’t shutting all the way and is maybe slightly cross. she seems to be eating. and it’s closing better but still looks a little long. who knows if that’s happening because the injury is on her jaw or if maybe that was making it difficult for her to eat all along a led to malnutrition/infection

my brother laughed so hard when I told him I filed my chicken’s beak

just trying to make sure she’s comfortable

 

[alinas2010]

thanks @alinas2010

I do think it’s maybe looking slightly better. the hole part still looks pretty big. but the edges seem more light pink and I can’t see all the way through..?? and it doesn’t bleed as frequently… all to say I am also actually pretty hopeful it’s just healing very slowly. and I know chickens can survive a lot of injuries! I’m really thinking she’ll be just fine as a porch chicken with a hole in her head.

the vet has been following up so I can call and ask about some type of ointment or something. and I did give her some leftover protein pancakes and scrambled eggs the other day she really liked I can definitely give her some canned chicken or tuna. I’m sure extra protein is a really good idea!

I forgot to mention earlier that I have been filing her beak. I noticed it wasn’t shutting all the way and is maybe slightly cross. she seems to be eating. and it’s closing better but still looks a little long. who knows if that’s happening because the injury is on her jaw or if maybe that was making it difficult for her to eat all along a led to malnutrition/infection

my brother laughed so hard when I told him I filed my chicken’s beak

just trying to make sure she’s comfortable

Oh yes I do see where her beak is a bit long, good idea on the filing. It could be any of what you said, it could also just hurt her too much to swipe her beak and keep it short or be that she hasn’t had much opportunity to since she’s been crated up as of lately. Regardless, it’ll make it a bit easier for her to pick food up if her beak is trimmed appropriately.

Hard to say what may have happened, maybe she did sustain some kind of jaw injury. If she is maintaining weight and eating and drinking okay now, though, I’d say she is on the right track. Hopefully besides the obvious, she isn’t in too much pain. I hope she can keep getting a bit better day by day. Good idea on the eggs, too. Nice and soft source protein, I bet she enjoyed those!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Have you tried making a snood for her? You could probably cut a hole in a toddler or infant sock to make a quick cheap one.

I agree, a hole that big is going to take a really long time to fill in.

 

[cheide]

Have you tried making a snood for her? You could probably cut a hole in a toddler or infant sock to make a quick cheap one.

I agree, a hole that big is going to take a really long time to fill in.

I have tried a couple things like that. including trying to make one out of gauze and tape. but she manages to scratch through it or gets out of it. maybe because of where the injury is; it’s hard to cover and protect from herself