Infected facial wound on hen!

[maritown]

The Vetericyn or saline (nasal saline is sometimes available in our medicine cabinet) would be good to flush out the wound. Betadine or chlorhexidene are also excellent. It sounds like this may have been festering for awhile, so if a vet is at all possible, I would get her there in the AM. Once a wound is cleaned out, then plain bacitracin or neosporin is good to use to apply twice a day. Not many antibiotics are still available OTC, but procaine penicillin G injectable can be used 1/4 ml once a day for 5 days as a breast muscle injection 1/4 inch deep. There are many other oral antibiotics that may work as well. This sounds like either a hawk or other predator injury, but chickens can fly into things, or get pecked by spurned cockerels. Let us know how she gets along.

I know, I can't believe it's this bad. I check them every AM and PM so she must have literally been facing me with her good side every time.

 

[Isaac 0]

Thanks everyone! I will clean and spray tomorrow and post pictures. Do you think the spray will fight the infection on its own? It just seems so severe!

As suggested pictures would help to see how bad it is.I think the spray will fight it.You should consider adding more feed sources. It seems like she is at the bottom of the pecking order, Getting bullied from the feed sources and getting pecked at.

 

[maritown]

As suggested pictures would help to see how bad it is.I think the spray will fight it.You should consider adding more feed sources. It seems like she is at the bottom of the pecking order, Getting bullied from the feed sources and getting pecked at.

There is no issue with feed sources. There are two distanced feed sources between 10 free range hens.

 

[Isaac 0]

Quote:
If that's the case it would probably be a potential predator or a cut from some sort of object.

 

[donrae]

As far as what to treat it with, you'll need to be able to properly evaluate the wound first. I've heard chickens are great at "walling off" areas of infection, meaning the infection stays localized and does not go systemic. In that case, a local treatment can be just fine. Antibiotic ointment, etc. A lot of times, just cleansing the wound well and keeping it clean can do the trick. they have wonderful immune systems and powers of recovery.

Once you get it clean, you'll need to focus on keeping her hydrated and properly nourished. Wounds, especially those that make pus or seep, take a lot or liquid. She'll need a lot of water to replace that. You might look for a home made electrolyte solution or buy some Save a Chick to help her along. And she'll need an increase in protein for healing, all those amino acid building blocks come from protein. Egg is fine, bits of meat, some folks use cat food, etc.

 

[maritown]

Okay...it's been quite a day!

The chicken is acting MUCH better today, but looks about twice as bad. The swelling at least doubled over night. However, she is drinking and eating and foraging around as happy as can be. Not sure what changed but I won't complain.

Anyway, I grabbed her to do an evaluation on the wound in actual daylight. It's really, really, disgusting. Much bigger than yesterday and smells awful. But here's the kicker-the mass is rock hard. I thought maybe there was an absess that I could drain but it's a solid, rotting swollen mass. In addition to that I opened up her beak and there is hard yellow...calcified...cheese? Ridges? I thought it was pus at first but when I tried to swab them out, they are solid and attached to her mouth on both the infected and non infected sides. So is this fowl pox? Canker? Attaching pics below, they are just importing now.

 

[maritown]

 

[maritown]

So, what I did was bring her in for a bit and soaked a cotton pad with an antibiotic wash and soaked the sore for a bit. It didn't seem to do anything. I was really at a loss because there isn't anything to "clean" out, it's all a solid mass, not pus like I initially thought. I could be more forceful with the swabbing but I was hesitant without knowing what I was dealing with. I put some antibiotic ointment on and let her back out, she started eating and drinking again.

 

[maritown]

Thanks! We can definitely seperate her and give the meds. I'm curious, is there any way besides a vet test to know the difference between canker and wet fowl pox?

Is one more common than the other?

The symptoms/pictures I have seen comparing them look so similar. I did read that canker is more often on the roof of the mouth in the back VS wet fowl pox along the sides, which is what she has.

 

[Eggcessive]

Are you in a warm climate with mosquitoes out now? If not, then it wouldn't be pox. Also, you should see some evidence of dry pox on combs, ear, wattles, and faces on her or the others. Pox is a virus, and would run it's course over 2-3 weeks.