Chicken caught in fencing, left with bad injury

[britt_brat]

Hi all, it's with a sad heart that I even need to make this post.
I have a 7 month old sliver laced wyandotte.
Sometime this evening she caught her neck in some fencing, or that's what I'm assuming happened
It ripped all of her feathers, and skin from the top of her wings, to her wattle.
I can literally see muscle and meat.
She is alive, she is breathing, and somewhat lifting her head to look around.
I've got her isolated from the flock, but what else do I need to do?
Is this an injury that can heal? Or do I need to put her down?
I do not want her to suffer, but I want to give her a chance.




***EDIT***
I have her isolated in a dog kennel away from the other hens.
My girls have started to try to roost on anything they can find instead of getting in the coop.
I have some plastic fencing tacked around the bottom of the porch to keep them out from under there.
A friend said that a opossum could have tried to get her through the fencing. Which sounds plausible to me being that my cat got in a fight with something under the house a few weeks ago, but I thought it was another cat from a nearby cat colony. I sprayed some peroxide on the wound, and will be going first thing tomorrow to get some ointment.

She is alert and in pain. I tried not to move her around more then needed. I will keep an eye on her through out the night, and come morning I will check the wound again, get pictures, post them, and make a decision then. I'm so hoping it will heal and that infection stays away


another edit****

Today she seems to be doing fine. I still have her isolated, shes been drinking, and barley picking at food. I'm sure that is probably due to pain. She has moved around often throughout the night and today. I'm going to try to find some fresh corn and see if that will get her to eat more. Her poop seems normal, and other than being confined, she seems to be acting as normal as possible given the situation.

 

[ValerieJ]

Hi all, it's with a sad heart that I even need to make this post.
I have a 7 month old sliver laced wyandotte.
Sometime this evening she caught her neck in some fencing, or that's what I'm assuming happened
It ripped all of her feathers, and skin from the top of her wings, to her wattle.
I can literally see muscle and meat.
She is alive, she is breathing, and somewhat lifting her head to look around.
I've got her isolated from the flock, but what else do I need to do?
Is this an injury that can heal? Or do I need to put her down?
I do not want her to suffer, but I want to give her a chance.

Pictures will help anyone help you specifically. Chickens do overcome some tough injuries. Clean the wound with betadine or saline solution and apply a triple antibiotic ointment without pain killer, something like neosporin. Keep her in a warm, quiet and dark place for now.

 

[glassdragonfly]

So sorry for your hen! Chickens can heal from terrible wounds. ValerieJ said it all.

 

[Eggcessive]

Did you find her in the fence, or could a rooster or predator have hurt her. Follow the advice to clean the wounds and keep them coated with an antibiotic ointment. Pictures would be helpful to see what you are seeing. Try offering her sips of water, and some watery chick feed plus a little scrambled egg, tuna, or sunflower seeds. Let us know how she is doing a little later. Keep her warm and separated from the others.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

I had a hen attacked from an injury on her back under her wing. It was about 5-6 inches all the way around and down to muscle, tendons, ligaments, you name it. I sprayed her with peroxide (2 days only) and then monitored her from there while giving oral antibiotics. I thought I was going to have to put her down too, but she was perky the entire time and picked her own flies/maggots off. I would see if she starts to change status, stop eating, drinking, walking around, all that. If she does stop doing those things then I would put her down because she is giving up.

 

[Folly's place]

In addition to cleaning and applying ointment or maluka honey, have her inside on 'puppy pads', towels, or disposable hospital pads, not normal shavings, so her wounds stay clean.
Water, food, applesauce, anything wet and interesting to eat. Warm mash maybe.
Can she visit the veterinarian?
Mary

 

[britt_brat]

Did you find her in the fence, or could a rooster or predator have hurt her. Follow the advice to clean the wounds and keep them coated with an antibiotic ointment. Pictures would be helpful to see what you are seeing. Try offering her sips of water, and some watery chick feed plus a little scrambled egg, tuna, or sunflower seeds. Let us know how she is doing a little later. Keep her warm and separated from the others.

Hi all, it's with a sad heart that I even need to make this post.
I have a 7 month old sliver laced wyandotte.
Sometime this evening she caught her neck in some fencing, or that's what I'm assuming happened
It ripped all of her feathers, and skin from the top of her wings, to her wattle.
I can literally see muscle and meat.
She is alive, she is breathing, and somewhat lifting her head to look around.
I've got her isolated from the flock, but what else do I need to do?
Is this an injury that can heal? Or do I need to put her down?
I do not want her to suffer, but I want to give her a chance.

In addition to cleaning and applying ointment or maluka honey, have he inside on 'puppy pads', towels, or disposable hospital pads, not normal shavings, so her wounds stay clean.
Water, food, applesauce, anything wet and interesting to eat. Warm mash maybe.
Can she visit the veterinarian?
Mary

I don't have any vets that will see chickens around me... I have to rely on any info I can get from here, the internet, and friends...

 

[Rose66]

Like others have posted, I too had a hen with a very large wound on her back/side/under the wing. Her skin was pulled off and muscles were exposed. I put Neosporin on the wound twice a day to keep it moist and help heal it. I also gave her long lasting Penicillin IM injections. She recovered and has no lasting proof of the wound.

So, as long as your hen acts like she wants to live, I'd give her the chance. You can also give chickens aspirin for pain but I don't remember the dosage. Someone on here will know it I'm sure.

Sending healing prayers for your hen!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Use a neosporin without pain meds and no more hydrogen peroxide please