ShiviBear
Songster
Hello fine people!
This hen was left with me ( caretaker of chickens) at the suggestion of my sister (owner of chickens and farm) as I have treated injured chickens successfully before. (My sister's friend brought her and my sister agreed to get her checked out for me
). Since she was already here, I said I will see what I can do. Her name is Fredric.
Owner said her other 5 hens have been picking on this one, although I would call this more then picking...it looks to me like they are starting to eat her
The main wound is pretty big and it's on her lower back, close to the tail. I would describe it as a crater...about an inch across and deep, probably to the bone and with very irregular borders.
I cannot tell whether it hit bone as it's got a pretty big and hard scab over it. She has another wound on her head and a bunch of smaller ones on her body as well as bruises, obviously made by tiny beaks.
The wound did smell a tiny bit funky yesterday so I decided to give her 3 days of penicillin injections (she has gotten 3 doses of .25 each so far) but honestly am not sure if she really needed it...in hindsight I wish I had waited as that smell wasn't necessarily indicative of festering.
I lightly cleaned her wounds with Unscented Bronner's and water and doused them with iodine after which I applied triple antibiotic.
She seems fine, definitely stressed from being pulled from her home to live in a cage with a stranger who pokes and prods her, but is eating and pooping and is actually very very sweet.
So, what is next...from my experience (which is not extensive, I've only kept chickens, albeit "aggressively", for a year this month) chickens heal up from pretty gnarly injuries through mostly supportive care but that back wound IS super deep and am wondering how that skin and muscle will manage to grow back.
Should I keep her wound covered?
I directed owner to purchase some Vetericyn and Pick No More and am planning to send the hen back as soon as she is done with her penecillin...I think the stress is affecting her more then the wound.
I also plan on instructing her to reintroduce the hen through a cage slowly, consider expanding their roaming area, give the offending hens more to do so they are not bored and maybe think of getting a rooster.
Even with all those improvements, this girl still might get pecked on so she might be coming to live here permanently....we'll see what the future holds I guess.
Any suggestions, advice and general wisdom is always GREATLY appreciated.
This hen was left with me ( caretaker of chickens) at the suggestion of my sister (owner of chickens and farm) as I have treated injured chickens successfully before. (My sister's friend brought her and my sister agreed to get her checked out for me
). Since she was already here, I said I will see what I can do. Her name is Fredric.Owner said her other 5 hens have been picking on this one, although I would call this more then picking...it looks to me like they are starting to eat her
The main wound is pretty big and it's on her lower back, close to the tail. I would describe it as a crater...about an inch across and deep, probably to the bone and with very irregular borders.
I cannot tell whether it hit bone as it's got a pretty big and hard scab over it. She has another wound on her head and a bunch of smaller ones on her body as well as bruises, obviously made by tiny beaks.
The wound did smell a tiny bit funky yesterday so I decided to give her 3 days of penicillin injections (she has gotten 3 doses of .25 each so far) but honestly am not sure if she really needed it...in hindsight I wish I had waited as that smell wasn't necessarily indicative of festering.
I lightly cleaned her wounds with Unscented Bronner's and water and doused them with iodine after which I applied triple antibiotic.
She seems fine, definitely stressed from being pulled from her home to live in a cage with a stranger who pokes and prods her, but is eating and pooping and is actually very very sweet.
So, what is next...from my experience (which is not extensive, I've only kept chickens, albeit "aggressively", for a year this month) chickens heal up from pretty gnarly injuries through mostly supportive care but that back wound IS super deep and am wondering how that skin and muscle will manage to grow back.
Should I keep her wound covered?
I directed owner to purchase some Vetericyn and Pick No More and am planning to send the hen back as soon as she is done with her penecillin...I think the stress is affecting her more then the wound.
I also plan on instructing her to reintroduce the hen through a cage slowly, consider expanding their roaming area, give the offending hens more to do so they are not bored and maybe think of getting a rooster.
Even with all those improvements, this girl still might get pecked on so she might be coming to live here permanently....we'll see what the future holds I guess.
Any suggestions, advice and general wisdom is always GREATLY appreciated.
