Chicken attacked by hawk leaves large gash in meat of chicken and removes skin and feathers

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ChickenWisher

ChickenWisher

Hatching
5 Years
Jan 5, 2015
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My question is . . . can my hen regrow skin which in turn would give her the capacity to grow feathers? Apparently she was attacked by a hawk which dug its beak into her back making like a ditch all the way across her back. It also ripped off her skin and feathers on her back. She is completely bare except the feathers on her neck are covering the area so the other chickens don't see it. Can she repair or do I need to replace her? She is a bar rock if that matters and won't be a year old until March or April.
 
You can give it a go. Chickens recover from some remarkable injuries. She will need a warm, quiet place to recover, away from the flock. A spare bathtub is a good choice. She may be in shock and not eat or drink much at first, but do encourage her, as she will need to start in order to recover. Drop a drop of water alongside her beak and see if she will pull it in, and repeat.

Clean the wound with something mild like Saline and apply Neosporin. You can use most any cleanser or antiseptic or local antibiotic ointment used for humans or other animals, but never use a product with a "caine" drug in it on a bir. Examples are cetacaine, bennzocaine, fluorocaine, etc. Follow with Neosporin daily til healed; don'[t clean again unless needed.

The wound might heal by what is called scondary intention, meaning it will form scar tissue. If it is not too big, chances are her feathers will cover the area even if every inch does not regrow feathers.

Good luck!
 
Judy said:
You can give it a go. Chickens recover from some remarkable injuries. She will need a warm, quiet place to recover, away from the flock. A spare bathtub is a good choice. She may be in shock and not eat or drink much at first, but do encourage her, as she will need to start in order to recover. Drop a drop of water alongside her beak and see if she will pull it in, and repeat.

Clean the wound with something mild like Saline and apply Neosporin. You can use most any cleanser or antiseptic or local antibiotic ointment used for humans or other animals, but never use a product with a "caine" drug in it on a bir. Examples are cetacaine, bennzocaine, fluorocaine, etc. Follow with Neosporin daily til healed; don'[t clean again unless needed.

The wound might heal by what is called scondary intention, meaning it will form scar tissue. If it is not too big, chances are her feathers will cover the area even if every inch does not regrow feathers.

Good luck!
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x2



And Welcome to BYC! I hope your chicken heals and remember even if she is scarred she has enough feathers to cover the defect. Good luck with her!
 
She is actually out in our yard eating with her 7 other chicken girlfriends. She is eating and drinking just fine. I looked at her wound tonight before I closed the door on their coop. It is actually pretty dirty as the flock decided that today was a good day to wallow in the dirt. Though I never saw her wallowing like her friends, it appears she has thrown quite a bit of dirt onto the wound. So, I plan to bring her in and run some warm water slowly over the wound to clean off the dirt and re-apply some more Neosporin. The wound has formed a hard surface. She is such a great chicken and pet, she even laid an egg today.
 
Noticed this morning that her meat appears to have skin on it and there are the beginnings of the pin heads to the feathers. I hope she continues to get feathers! I cleaned the wound out again with warm water and re-applied more Neosporin. Tonight she is in her coop with her friends. She is continuing to eat and be very active. Again, laying another egg today. She talks quietly to me when I run hot water over her owie and put medicine on it.
 
wee.gif
 
I JUST put a first aid spray with benzocaine on my chicken -- a wound very like the one you describe. Why is "-caine" bad? Worried.
 
MichB1 said:
I JUST put a first aid spray with benzocaine on my chicken -- a wound very like the one you describe. Why is "-caine" bad? Worried.
Click to expand...
Those drugs can be toxic in large quantities. It may not hurt to have used it only once, but I would try to use something else instead. Vetericyn is a very good antiseptic wound treatment, found at most feed stores. Weakened betadine or Hibiclens (chlorhexadrene) are also good.
 

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