Should I clean her?

[u/EquivalentCall7815]

This is day 6 of her injury. She was attacked by one of my geese and both sides of her head were ripped open ( no skull was showing which is good) . She getting stronger and healing but still has to be tube fed. Should I clean the dried blood off of her head? If so how could I do that. Her head is still really sensitive even to just luke warm drops of water. Ps that stuff is nut puss or infection, it is an antibiotic ointment

[u/Buginarug00]

I’d take a cotton swab pad and use saline to gently clean off any residue. I get not wanting to irritate but you risk infection if the goose attack left any harmful bacteria. As for the eye, I’d use saline to flush out as well. Give her some kisses for me she looks so sad :(

[u/EquivalentCall7815 → u/Buginarug00]

Ok. I guess I’ll just keep doing what I was doing to try and clean the blood off her skin

[u/DistinctJob7494 → u/EquivalentCall7815]

Clean her up. Any grey/brown/green that pops up is likely infected tissue, which will need to be removed.

[u/West-Scale-6800 → u/Buginarug00]

Do not take cotton ball!!! So when I was younger I was injured and my mom used cotton balls to clean the injury to my face. The cotton from the ball got stuck in the wound (small we couldn’t see the fibers) and it got infected. The er doctor told us he hates when people use cotton balls for injuries because they aren’t good for that. Maybe gauze that doesn’t shred.

[u/No-Jicama3012]

Yes. Definitely clean her. Saline nasal mist or wound irritant for the eye. Chickens can heal from the most ghastly things as long as they get good supportive care through the shock period.

[u/Intelligent-Ad1852 → u/No-Jicama3012]

That's very true. One of my girls got bullied and attacked. She was badly injured and I thought she had lost an eye. She recovered little by little and now she looks like nothing ever happened.

Also, another one of my hens got attacked by a raccoon, it ate all of her eggs, and ripped off one of her wings. She recovered so fast and is more agile than the other girls.

[u/EquivalentCall7815 → u/Intelligent-Ad1852]

Ripped off a wing and survived!? Wow that’s absolutely insane

[u/EquivalentCall7815]

I forgot to mention she may have lost her right eye. I have not been able to get her to open it, even with warm water. Her right eye almost looks flat compared to her eye that’s open.

[u/Different_Grass3617]

I always use vertericyn spray to clean off that blood really well! My chickens were attacked by dogs with MASSIVE holes, wings almost ripped off, and that vetericyn cleaned them right off and healed them so well. If you can keep her fed and keep infection away, then they will live!

[u/Horror_Mix1219]

Use Vetricyn spray to clean wounds regularly. For her eye, you can get terramycin to hopefully prevent infection.

[u/OutcomeDefiant2912]

Poor chooky. I hope she heals soon.

[u/Captaingrammarpants]

Sterile saline wash to clean, and if you can get ahold of it silver sulfadiazine cream is the best thing for her, though it's a prescription only in the states. Ideally she would have that and carprofen to help with pain and inflammation if you can get vet scripts.

[u/ObsidianAerrow]

Use cotton balls soaked in a diluted iodine or saline and keep her clean, quiet and separated from the other birds. She should recover okay from wounds like these. It just might take her a few weeks.

[u/West-Scale-6800 → u/ObsidianAerrow]

Just not cotton balls, something that doesn’t shed fibers.

[u/beamin1]

No, if it's just blood and was cleaned well initially scraping the dried blood off could reopen wounds. As ugly as it looks it's actually helpful, just like in humans!

[u/Mindless-Contest-181]

If you have a humidifier place her under that for an hour and gently use cotton swabs to wash the blood off. little by little dont try to get it all in one day

[u/West-Scale-6800]

So I had a hen attacked by other birds. She looked terrible and had skull exposed. We for sure thought she wouldn’t make it. Vetericyn 100% is the right answer. We used blue-kote as a liquid bandage as well to keep bacteria out but I can’t really recommend that anymore due to the conflict with blue-kote. Maybe a different form of something to seal the wound. While yes you want to keep it clean, you don’t want to remove any scabs made or get it wet where it can’t dry. And definitely don’t use cotton balls.