Some of my Barnie pullets decided to sleep outside recently, and a raccoon took advantage of the situation. I interrupted the attack, saving this girl's life.
The wound on her neck was about 2" long by 1" wide. It looked really bad, and I thought we'd have to euthanize her. After examining the wound at work, I decided to try closing it. Chicken skin is so elastic! It came together nicely. We used disolvable suture after cleaning with betadine scrub, irrigating with saline, and using tetracaine jelly to numb the area. Covering her face relaxed her enough to close the wound with no sedation. She will be on injectable antibiotics for the next 8 days, and her eggs will be discarded for the next month. We covered the wound with a light bandage as she was trying to pull the sutures out. She's doing very well.
My friend took a good 'before' shot of the open wound, but she's not yet mailed it to me.
Here is a pic of me closing the wound. I suck at suturing!
The 'after' shot.
I'll include the before shot when my friend mails it to me.
The wound on her neck was about 2" long by 1" wide. It looked really bad, and I thought we'd have to euthanize her. After examining the wound at work, I decided to try closing it. Chicken skin is so elastic! It came together nicely. We used disolvable suture after cleaning with betadine scrub, irrigating with saline, and using tetracaine jelly to numb the area. Covering her face relaxed her enough to close the wound with no sedation. She will be on injectable antibiotics for the next 8 days, and her eggs will be discarded for the next month. We covered the wound with a light bandage as she was trying to pull the sutures out. She's doing very well.
My friend took a good 'before' shot of the open wound, but she's not yet mailed it to me.
Here is a pic of me closing the wound. I suck at suturing!
The 'after' shot.
I'll include the before shot when my friend mails it to me.
