Calling on You for Help!

[analyticalblonde]

I came in last night from being out of town and the first thing I did when I got home was go out to see my sweeties. My flock of 10 girls are 5 months old and have just started to lay. Nine of my 10 girls were fine but my little red had an injury. I took these pictures this morning and I am hoping someone can tell me what, if anything I should do. The pictures show her left ear that is injured and her right ear which is fine for comparison.

I am a newbie so I don't know if I should isolate her, try to clean the wound up (it's already dried which I believe was the blood), or just let nature take its course. She is alert and acting just fine. I don't know if there was a tiff over a nesting box - the girls that are laying seem to prefer two boxes although I have 7 that are available. I do know my reds were the first to start laying. I don't know which others have started to lay. Could it be a tiff over pecking order? I have monitored all of them since I discovered this injury because I don't want this matter to escalate and thankfully, it doesn't appear it has. Please provide feedback as to what you think may have happened and what course of action I should be taking. Your input is greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Little peck try using warm water to clear the dried blood are you certain it is not a cockerel ?

 

[slordaz]

clean with warm water or saline if needs to be flushed , so you get a good look at the injury and can make sure there is no foreign material in it. Then apply an antibiotic without pain medication added to it, and apply like blue kote, or any color you like, as chickens with an injury are gonna try and peck at it.

you can use neosporin or such and should be applied 2 times a day

 

[townchicks]

I always think it best to clean a wound, but sometimes it can be ok to leave it alone too. This looks fairly shallow and open, so less risk of an abscess forming.She should heal fine. That bit of skin hanging off will probably die back, it's too late now to try to get it back in place. You may have to trim it at some point, or not. You could try gently flushing it with saline and see if you can wash of some of the blood to get a better look.Then spray it with Vetercyn. I'd watch for the other chickens picking at it. If they do, you'll have to keep her protected, a dog crate in the coop or run helps to keep her safe w/o losing her place in the pecking order.

 

[analyticalblonde]

Little peck try using warm water to clear the dried blood are you certain it is not a cockerel ?

Hi @penny1960 !

So, my girls are all 5 months old and I have heard that a cockerel could start to crow around 4 months and no Roo song as of today. Also, I have kept an eye on all of my girls legs to look for spurs and none have appeared as of today. I ordered my girls (day-olds) from MyPetChicken.com selecting only girls. Although they say they can't be 100% certain all will be girls, they do offer replacements should a male slip in with the gals.

I have two NHRs and they both have the same-sized combs and waddles.

So far, as far as I can tell, no cockerel.

Thank you for responding!

 

[analyticalblonde]

clean with warm water or saline if needs to be flushed , so you get a good look at the injury and can make sure there is no foreign material in it. Then apply an antibiotic without pain medication added to it, and apply like blue kote, or any color you like, as chickens with an injury are gonna try and peck at it.

you can use neosporin or such and should be applied 2 times a day

Hi @slordaz

I went out to TSC and picked up the Vetericyn - it came in a spray bottle. I also saw they had Blue Kote but the label did not indicate it could be used on poultry, just dogs, cows, and some other animals. I was leery about this so I just got the Vetericyn. I did ask if they had any saline solution but they only carry it for washing dog eyes so I will be using just warm water with a microfiber cloth to see if I can get any dried blood and debris from the wound. I have to wait until hubby gets home because it is a 2-person ordeal.

Thank you for the tip on the medication and for responding!

 

[Eggcessive]

Were your pullets locked in a run while you were gone, where no predators could have gotten inside? I would use some disinfectant spray to clean the wound, and apply som plain Triple Antibiotic Ointment twice a day. Look at the other side and see if the ear canal ir ripped open. This looks more like an injury on something sharp or a predator has gotten a hand through the fencing and ripped her ear.

 

[slordaz]

theres lots of things that don't say they are specifically say for poultry but can be used. Saline solution you can get in the eye care of any drug store in either a spray or bottle

 

[analyticalblonde]

I always think it best to clean a wound, but sometimes it can be ok to leave it alone too. This looks fairly shallow and open, so less risk of an abscess forming.She should heal fine. That bit of skin hanging off will probably die back, it's too late now to try to get it back in place. You may have to trim it at some point, or not. You could try gently flushing it with saline and see if you can wash of some of the blood to get a better look.Then spray it with Vetercyn. I'd watch for the other chickens picking at it. If they do, you'll have to keep her protected, a dog crate in the coop or run helps to keep her safe w/o losing her place in the pecking order.

Hi @townchicks

@slordaz also said to pick up Vetericyn so I went down to the TCS and picked up a bottle. When hubby gets home we will be cleaning the wound and spraying the medicine on. It says to keep the wound wet while it heals; is that going to attract problems from the other girls? So far, there hasn't been any picking on her from the others but certainly don't want to invite it either. When you've had to, have you kept the wound wet until it healed?

Also, how will I know if I may need to cut the dead skin off? Can it become gangrene?

Thanks so much...!

 

[slordaz]

I would suggest if you have access use a game cam put it out there, they should have their pecking order down and should not be seeing that kind of injury, you may have a predator watching that decided nobody was around they were gonna try. if you don't mind posting a picture of your set up where this happened some one can make suggestions if they see a weakness in it for predators to abuse