Hen has large wound on her back

Date sort Score sort
thechickenboss

thechickenboss

Hatching
6 Years
Oct 13, 2013
9
0
7
One of our silverlaced wyandotte's was found with a large wound on her back this morning. It was unclear if she was attacked by something or if the other hen's have just pecked her. The hens are in a large fully enclosed coop and run so it would seem that there would be signs of an intruder predator, but we found none. The wound is about 2 inches across and is down into the muscle tissue. We brought her inside so the hen's would not continue to peck at it. What is the best treatment? Should be just clean it and put antibacterial ointment on it? We plan to keep her separated until it is healed. Any suggestions are much appreciated, this is our first major chicken injury and we have only had our flock since May.
 
Oh you defiantly have the right idea on what needs to be dune and please
try to keep the fly's away from the wound area ..... Clean the wounded area
as best as she will let you then keep her in a dry warm area to let the wounded
area dry out so it can start the healing process ....... Do you have the ability
to keep her inside ?????? And have you checked the others for any marks ???

gander007
 
From what we could tell there were no other injured hens, but we plan to investigate more when we get home from work today. We can keep her inside, so that is likely what we will do until she heals. Thanks for the advice. We were a little freaked when we saw her wound this morning!
 
Yes I do believe anyone in their right mind would be
freaked out over this happening to their baby's just
remember one thing these are small animals so
when a playing any medicine use what you would
on a month old child or be easy but do not let any
thing linger and good job on putting her inside ....

gander007
 
Clean the wound with some warm water and apply some antibiotic ointment without any "caine" ingredients or painkillers. Keep her seperated from the other birds to prevetn pecking of the wound. You might also want to get some BlueKote antiseptic spray (should be able to be found at a feedstore/livestock supply store) and spray that on. Keep the wound clean. If you see any signs of infection, like discoloration, heat, or a bad smell, you may need some antibiotics like Penicillin.
 
Thanks for all the great advice. We cleaned the wound and put some antibacterial cream on it. She seems to be doing fine and is doing chicken "stuff". We are going to keep her in the garage and away from the other hens until she is all healed up.
 
Hi! Sorry about your hen, but I think you are on the right track. The waiting for recovery is the hardest. We had a hen with a nasty back wound. I am still amazed at how she healed. Below is a link to my experience that I posted hoping it would help others. I will say that I was super impressed with the Vetericyn as it covered the possible infection issues and promoted the healing. Good luck and hoping for the best.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...oining-to-say-thanks-contribute#post_12331493
 
We have a hen with a similar problem.

Yesterday some dogs we didn't recognize got ahold of one of our hens and did manage to drop it (my son whacked the dog with a stick). She did not run away so my son picked her up and she's now inside (in a dog carrier with hay, food, water).

She's missing a huge patch of feathers on her back.

The kids washed her up with water before my husband and I got home; later we treated with peroxide and applied Neosporin to the abrasions.

She's not eating much nor drinking much. Can't tell if she's tired/shocky or dying? She'll peck grain out of our hand... and we haven't seen her walk around the dog carrier at all. Then again in cramped quarters would she even want to...?

I did buy some Blue-Kote today but haven't used it yet; I assume we'll have to wash her up again with water/peroxide to get the Neosporin off.

How long do we let her just "sit"... and how would we know when it's time to euthanize?

I appreciate this forum and all that we have learned.
 
wsufans said:
We have a hen with a similar problem.

Yesterday some dogs we didn't recognize got ahold of one of our hens and did manage to drop it (my son whacked the dog with a stick). She did not run away so my son picked her up and she's now inside (in a dog carrier with hay, food, water).

She's missing a huge patch of feathers on her back.

The kids washed her up with water before my husband and I got home; later we treated with peroxide and applied Neosporin to the abrasions.

She's not eating much nor drinking much. Can't tell if she's tired/shocky or dying? She'll peck grain out of our hand... and we haven't seen her walk around the dog carrier at all. Then again in cramped quarters would she even want to...?

I did buy some Blue-Kote today but haven't used it yet; I assume we'll have to wash her up again with water/peroxide to get the Neosporin off.

How long do we let her just "sit"... and how would we know when it's time to euthanize?

I appreciate this forum and all that we have learned.
Click to expand...

Yes this is hard to deal with but nice job by your children and hopefully your pet will recover in a couple of weeks
as for the euthanizing when the time comes where she is just laying with her head down and legs kicked out to
the side them come back and ask but you should have several days till this happens ......
Let her rest for now for sure she is tired and shocked .......
Good luck to you and yours .........

gander007
 

Similar threads

Frizzle and Friends
Fox Attack - Large Wound on Side
2 3 4
Replies
31
Views
2K
Frizzle and Friends
Frizzle and Friends
E
SEVERELY INJURED HEN
Replies
3
Views
366
Kuma1
K
L
what to do about protruding healthy tissue on wound
Replies
7
Views
292
lisahl
L
LakeGirlHens
    • Like
Help hen has wound under wing
Replies
3
Views
720
LakeGirlHens
LakeGirlHens
K
Accidental pecking injury on baby chick
Replies
2
Views
368
Kerrr52
K

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom