- May 2, 2014
- 10
- 0
- 22
One of my 4 month old BSL hens sustained an injury on Monday. She had a dime sized flap of skin hanging off the back of her neck at the base of her head. I'm still not sure exactly what happened, I've gone over the coop and found a suspect corner of hardware mesh that was sharp (about my only suspect), unless it was a predator or one of the other hens. but regardless, the cut didn't appear very deep but the skin flap was only being held on by a tiny piece of skin. the next day it was clear infection had set in and the wound became swollen and filled with white puss. I cleaned it out with a sterile cloth and put neosporn on it. the next day (Wednesday) it looked 100% better. I gave it a second coat of neosporn and she seemed fine. Yesterday the skin flap either fell off or was pulled off by another hen, and the infection seemed to have returned. I repeated the process, cleaned and neosporn... this morning it looks real bad, I think either my roo or the other hens are pecking at the wound, there was fresh blood and it is clearly still infected and possibly spreading to the surrounding area. the wound also appears larger now, about the size of a nickel. she has been avoiding the other chickens in the run and spending time in the coop. however, she is eating and drinking just fine and was out free ranging this morning pecking at bugs and acting normal. I had to put them back in the run for the day, and didn't want the injured hen in there with them. I just did a very thorough cleaning of the wound with kids antiseptic (forget the exact name but its a foaming wound cleaner for kids made by neosporn, does not have any pain reducers in it) and put more neosporn on it. I moved her indoors to a nice clean, sterile environment because i think the other hens and roo are making it worse.
Am I doing the right thing?
shes not happy being alone inside, and I'm afraid stressing her might make things worse. but we are supposed to get rain for the next few days and that will certainly make things worse. I also think its just not having a chance to heal with the other chickens messing with it.
I'm going to see if I can get some antibiotics to add to her water today, good idea?
any help would be greatly appreciated.
Am I doing the right thing?
shes not happy being alone inside, and I'm afraid stressing her might make things worse. but we are supposed to get rain for the next few days and that will certainly make things worse. I also think its just not having a chance to heal with the other chickens messing with it.
I'm going to see if I can get some antibiotics to add to her water today, good idea?
any help would be greatly appreciated.