Dog attack - chunk of skin torn open

Have one chicken that got attacked by a dog. The dog wasn't completely intent on killing it and I got there fairly quick. It looks like she just got a chunk of skin torn open. It was already pretty clean but I wiped it down with an antiseptic wipe, trimmed back feathers, and applied some antibiotic to the area. She seems to be okay, she hasn't drank anything yet but she's moving around fine. If I pick her up she settles down and closes her eyes. She's just standing around at the moment. She let me work on the area quite a bit without fussing. My main question is, do I need to do something with the skin that's torn open? Been reading a lot of other injury posts and it sounds like these birds can regrow skin pretty well but it seems like I would need to do something to help that along here. There's pretty much no bleeding. I'm working on figuring out how to get a non-stick dressing on it so that it will stay in place. It seems like this has to be painful for her, but like I said she let me work on it like it wasn't there. It's only been about an hour since this happened, so I imagine it could become more painful for her. This is our first time dealing with an injury so if you think I'm missing anything please let me know. Thanks! - Ben

if i where you i would take her to a vet to have it stiched up oh and

i was in the same situation with a dog attack and my chicken got gangreen but she survived and your chicken will survive since she is being so calm

I might do that tomorrow, since it didn't look like a life or death situation at the moment I didn't want to get into the vet as an emergency after hours and all that.

wow, thats a big wound, I hope someone comes along soon. put some extra heat on her and keep her calm for a while so she wont go into shock while your waiting. fyi, I have heard of people using super glue but i have never done it myself.

good idea

I've had a couple people say they think the skin should heal on its own so I think I'll hold off on the vet for now. We're keeping it clean and she's pretty much her usual self. We'll keep her isolated for a few more days and see how it goes.

do not put her back in your flock because the other chickens might peck at her which could kill her

this is my hen that got gangreen and survived

how is she doing

One of my hens got attacked pretty badly on her back and side by something that I don't know what, but it took a chunk out of her back pretty bad. I gave her 1/4 Asprin in a little bit of water from a dropper, for pain and also had some Cephlexin that I broke the capsule and added a little bit of that to the Asprin water to keep down infection. I cleaned the wound every day with 1/2 Betadine 1/2 water mixture, warmed up to a warm temp. I squirted it on there with a large syringe without the needle in it while holding paper towels around the area to keep the wetness down, After cleaning it really well with the Betadine mixture, I put Neosporin very liberally all over the areas that were wounded. I did this every night when she was more apt to be sleepy. I gave her some water in the dropper several times during the day to make sure that she didn't get dehydrated. She wasn't hardly moving at all to start with and was very good at letting me tend her wounds. I never did put a bandage on there as there wasn't really any way to do that with the areas, Oh yes, clip the feathers from around the wound so that they won't start sticking to it and so that you can see to treat it better and get the medicine on there. It took a while for it to heal up but it did and she is fine today like nothing ever happened except for a small bald spot in one area. Be sure to keep her warm since when they have been hurt like that they get really cold and can get sick on top of that and kind of like catch a cold. You don't want that. Also it is very uncomfortable for them since they loose a lot of their heat. Very important to keep hurt chickens very warm. Clean the wound every day and it will start to grow a scab around the edges and get hard and soon it will be healed. I had to keep mine in my shop in a warm pen the whole time till she was fully well. Hope she gets better soon. Just keep the wound cleaned and if you start to smell a bad smell you need to get some Penicillin and start giving her some shots to keep out infection. Good luck, will pray for your girl!