INJURED SILKIE PULLET - HELP!

[kdavison05]

I have 7 week old Silkies and today a dog got ahold of one. I think the dog’s paw got ahold of the tail and pulled it and the skin down along with it. Also broke off some feathers. I immediately wiped off the blood with water and applied Vetericyn to the wound. I also put on Hen Healer which is why you see blue which was probably a mistake in hindsight. He/she has been quarantined to the chicken hospital and is pooping although I’ve not seen it eat or drink yet. Will the skin grow back (and if so — how soon?) also what about the blue? Stained permanently? I’m mainly concerned that this baby will survive more than anything.

 

[Ebony Rose]

The blue will wear off, no worries. I've seen chickens recover from horrid wounds and expect that if you keep this one doctored up, they'll heal nicely. Confirm that no blood feathers were involved (new feathers that still have a blood supply) as these will continue to bleed; If some were blood feathers (still bleeding feathers), then yank those particular feathers out with pliers. As for the dog...they're fair game in my country if they attack livestock. Having your chicken hospital within eyesight of the rest of the flock should help your silkie maintain their pecking order. Once they've got a good, solid scab over the wound, you can respray the blue-kote over the area and get them back out with the flock; just keep an eye on their interactions to be sure that bullying and pecking isn't going on.

 

[kdavison05]

Thank you so much for responding!!! I hope to see a nice improvement within 48 hours, at least from what I’ve been reading about other similar injuries.

 

[Katonk]

Thanks so much to this post. I've just found one of my new Delaware chicks with the same kind of injury, I'm pretty sure it was attacked with in the coop and I'm going out to predator-proof it a little better. At first I thought it was a pecking order thing but once I picked up the baby and saw how serious it was I brought it inside and hit the forums pretty quick. Looking forward to a fast recovery, thanks for the advice given to op