HELP! Hen has gaping wound from rooster's spur ***GRAPHIC PIC***

tamtam84

Songster
9 Years
Mar 19, 2010
212
13
114
SE Missouri
Tonight one of my hens was sitting on my lap preening and I noticed this HUGE wound on her side under her wing.



I don't even know what I'm looking at here! I've never dealt with any wounds on my chickens. Is this something I need to sew back together? Is the brown part dead underlying tissue? Is it a big scab? If I move the skin to the side, it's almost like I can see inside of her.

I don't know how long this has been there. She showed no signs or symptoms of being injured, and I just saw it tonight. When I was touching and inspecting she just kept on preening and didn't seem like it hurt her.

I'm pretty sure it's a wound from our rooster's spur. She is the only hen with feathers missing and he always chases her around to mount her. For about a month or so, she has been freaking out when he tries to mount her but I just figured she was getting tired of his advances. So maybe this has been there for a while???

Do I need to sew the healthy flesh together over the top of the brown part? Will it heal on its own if I just spray it with Blu-Kote? Please help! Any advice would be appreciated!
 
Thanks for the input! So you don't think I need to sew it up? Just put something like neosporin on it and it will heal?

I'm going to make a saddle for her to wear so hopefully that will prevent future wounds.
 
Same thing happened to the Salmon Faverolle I rescued, she had an open wound just like that. She was the roosters favorite hen to mate with. This rooster did not have any spurs either, his toe nails must have ripped her open. I didn't do anything for this bird except remove her from the rooster, and she healed on her own.
 
TNBEARCHICK - Thanks for the kind thoughts! She has had her feathers missing for a while now but when I saw this I was shocked.

flockwatcher - Thanks for the advice. She is hardy so I think she'll heal up ok!

Florida_country_boy - Sounds like maybe I just need to separate her til she heals up completely. Our rooster's spurs aren't very long, maybe only an inch or so, but they are pretty pointy. It's possible it could have been his nail that cut her.

Thanks everyone for confirming my thoughts! I've never dealt with this before so I appreciate the comments!
 
Another question - I noticed tonight that her wound smells pretty bad, like rotting flesh. Is it going to die and eventually fall off? If it's rotting will it spread to her surrounding healthy tissue?
 
Clean the wound,and apply neosporin,keep her indoors,where no flys can lay their eggs in the wound..Remove the roosters spurs,i used to do it all the time with my rooster.GL
 
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