Rooster's wing torn completely off by our dog- Is there anything else I should be doing for him?

[subhanalah]

Have you asked the vet about keeping It moist? From my understanding, wounds need oxygen to heal and drying out is part of that process. This could be an outdated understanding though.
Bacteria thrive in warm, moist environments, if his wound is stabbed over, it will protect him from infectiong.

 

[nab58]

What a special guy! I don't have any roosters so I'm always surprised to see how large their combs and wattles are. very regal!

He does look off balance with that wing missing, doesn't he?

 

[subhanalah]

What a special guy! I don't have any roosters so I'm always surprised to see how large their combs and wattles are. very regal!

He does look off balance with that wing missing, doesn't he?

I think he wears it as a badge of honor!

 

[kdwhita]

Day 12 Update

Well here I am a day late after just bragging on myself in the last post about updating every two days. Whoops..lol. However, there's not really much to report other than HEALING which is why I haven't thought about it! Big Red is doing so well, and I am so amazed when I look back at photos and think about what a traumatic injury he suffered!
Big Red continued to crow at all the wrong times, so I made the decision to turn off his heat lamp. I felt like he was healed up enough to the point where he really didn't need it, and maybe that would stop him from crowing at random times during the day/night. (It's been in the high 70's-low 80's here during the day and he's in the house so no chance of him being too cold) Since he's been without the light (his box is by a window, and I pull up the blinds at night so he'll be able to see the sun come up in the morning), he's gone back to crowing at his usual 5:30 am time, which is wonderful since that's when I have to get up for work (earlier some days). It's been really nice having a real live alarm clock in the house!
On my last post, I said I was going to keep neosporin and bandages on him since it looked too dried out and cracked almost without it. I changed my mind on that though after his bandages continued to come off. He is moving that wing "nub" way too much now for anything to stick, and some of his feathers are growing back too, which makes it even harder. So, for the last couple days we've just left it alone totally, and it's continuing to heal slowly but surely!
One other funny thing to report is that even though he is in a box that has sides over 2ft. tall, he's been caught escaping three times now! One morning, my fiance came home to find him wandering around our living room after I'd gone to work, and two other times when it was later in the day than the time we usually take him outside, he just jumped right on out like he owned the place! Lol..so obviously the lack of one wing isn't hindering his jumping ability one bit!! Today was the first day where we left him outside for an extended period of time. We have a separate round pen that is very secure that we usually use for when our hens hatch out chicks, so we let him stay in there for a few hours by himself and he loved it! It was cooler outside today, so I didn't feel like we had to worry as much about flies (and maggots) or gnats getting in/around his wound, which is my main concern about him being outside.



Sorry about the bad lighting, I usually take photos when he's out during the day so there's lots of natural light, but this is just under the light from his heat lamp that I turned on for the pics.


Full body side view.



Injury side view.



Looking down on him, you can't see his injury at all! I'm sure once his feathers grow back it it will be even harder to tell he was hurt at all.

 

[subhanalah]

That's fantastic! He's looking great!

 

[kdwhita]

Three Week Update

Today has been three weeks exactly since Big Red was injured. He continues to heal wonderfully and has returned to pretty much all his normal activities! I wanted to continue to update with his progress, and will start doing weekly updates and photos until he's healed since there's rarely any notable changes from day to day anymore. Seeing other posts on this forum are what helped us to be able to save Big Red's life, and I hope documenting what we've gone through with him may help someone in the future to save their bird as well!

​

He's such a handsome guy!



As far as injury care goes, we are still taking a hands off approach and just letting him heal on his own with time. We continue to check him daily to monitor for possible infection or other problems, but still so far so good! Here's what his wounds look like today.

Just in general, the whole area looks so much more healthy than it did. There's a nice hard scab formed over the entire wound area, and it's starting to come off around the edges, and I can see peeks of new healed skin under there! I'm sure it will look so much better when that black scab is gone, but it's doing it's job of protecting him as he heals.


Here you can see what I mean about it starting to come off around the edges. Must. Not. Pick. lol


Look at all those new feathers sprouting!






His little nub is looking good!



Big Red has gone back to staying outside full time in a secure pen since about five days ago. We haven't put away his 'hospital room' in our living room just yet though. We have been watching the weather forecasts and bring him in anytime it may rain (we don't want him/his scab to get wet) and also watching the temperature closely to make sure it's not going to be too cold (he still has a lot of feather growing to do to cover up those bald spots and be able to keep himself warm). So when it's a pretty day, he is by himself in a secure pen, and away from the other birds that could/would possibly peck at him. They can get right up to the outside of the pen however, and many times I'll look at the window and see them lying in the sun by the side of his pen-they miss their friend being free! I miss it as well, and even though I've never seen any of them try to peck at him, I'm not going to take that risk since he's come so far! It'd be a shame to have him get re-injured simply by us returning him to the flock before he's fully healed.

The first night he was back outside in the pen, I was curious to see what he had done about roosting. We didn't move any of the perches from the levels that they were at before he was injured (one at about 3.5ft. off the ground, and another at about 4ft.) so I was sure I'd go outside to find him sleeping on the ground. Nope-he was up on the perch roosting like not a thing had ever happened to him! I continue to be amazed by the spirit and resilience that Big Red has shown!! Every time I've doubted him, or thought that he would have a problem with something, he's proven me wrong, and that he will continue life as normal-no matter how many wings he has!​

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Look how high he is off the ground! (Nevermind that old pot..lol..we had it fixed up at one point for a broody hen, but it's fallen down since and we never took the time to fix it since the pen wasn't being used anymore)

 

[subhanalah]

What a great update!

 

[kdwhita]

Week Four Update! Big Red One Month Later

Today marks one month since Big Red's injury! This first month has sure been a rollercoaster ride! From the beginning where we were doubtful that he would even live, to him slowly becoming alert, moving, and eating/drinking again, then a few days later his whole nub/ injury area turning green (scared it was gangrene..thankfully not..just a bad bruise!), the fun of daily antibiotic injections and bandage changes, then finally having the rollercoaster smooth out over the last couple weeks with no setbacks, just healing and getting back to his old self!


Progress from day one to one month! So impressed!


No change in how we are handling his injury, we just make sure it stays clean and dry, and are letting him heal with time. Big Red continues to stay outside in his personal pen, and we are still bringing him in anytime there's rain in the forecast, or if the temp. at night gets below around 45-50ish degrees. We don't want him getting wet/muddy and damaging the scab that has formed, and since he still has a good sized bare spot under his nub I don't want him getting cold either. I know he could stand for temps. to be lower than that and be just fine, but my common-sense method is if my bare skin is chilly when I go out at night, then his probably is too! There's no sense in him being uncomfortable outside when his warm 'hospital room' inside the house is available..lol.


He's roosting mainly on the top pole now! The other day I looked out the kitchen window and caught him practicing roosting! It was the funniest thing, and something I had never seen him do before. He would start on the ground and go: ground-lower perch-upper perch-ground-lower perch-upper perch, he did this like 5 times in a row! Self-imposed physical therapy I'm guessing? I'm still working on getting a video...




On this photo you can see that lighter color piece of scab that is falling off. Over the past couple of days several strip like pieces have started to hang off, so I just snip them off with a pair of scissors so it doesn't look so gross mainly, and to keep them from poking him/ snagging & pulling on something.



He's still making great progress on growing new feathers, too! The majority of his bare skin has filled back in with a light layer of feathers, but he's still bare on his nub and on the underside of it. I'm curious to see if he'll eventually grow feathers there or not.



I'm waiting for that big black chunk of a scab to fall off any day now! It just wiggles like a loose tooth when you touch it, and I can't wait because it will look so much better when that's gone. You can already see on the right hand side where the scab has already fallen off on its own how much healing has taken place under there!





He's such a trooper! Enjoying his perch..

 

[sourland]

Great update - I am amazed at the recuperative powers of chickens from many injuries.

 

[kdwhita]

Week 8 Update

The last four weeks have been great for Big Red!! Since the last post that I shared, we stopped messing with his wound all together and let him go back to just being a normal rooster at that point. He still resides in his separate pen, and most likely live his life out there except for supervised visits out into the yard of course. I just feel like he's too much of a risk to predators minus the one wing.
He's still doing great perching, and we actually have a hen in with him now so he has some company. He does get a little off balance from time to time, and on one occasion I saw him stumble and fall down when he jumped off the highest perch to the ground, but he just hops back up like it's no big deal. He's a tough old bird..literally..lol.
Since we've left him alone as far as picking him up and inspecting his wing area, I was totally shocked when we went out today and took pictures!!


LOOK HOW AWESOME!! That big black scab has fallen off, and a few feathers are even starting to grow back in!!



I had to pick up his little nub of a wing that's left for the picture, because you can't even see it now when he's just walking around since his feathers are starting to grow in so well around it. He still does have a bald patch below and on the nub (and probably always will) but you can't even see it unless you're really looking for it.



So glad to report good news, and I'll post another update when there's more changes that can be seen!