Chicken cut open - pics

[I'vegotchickenfever]

These pics are 2-3 weeks old. Just found out today that now she's cut open on the other side too, same spot. She isn't limping from the first cut anymore, but we don't even know when the other one happened. We're planning on getting antibiotics tomorrow, but don't know how much or how often. Poor girl, she's just not herself. She's about 1 year old, eating, and as far as we can tell, otherwise healthy.

Can't really tell about drinking and pooing yet. Lots of rain - we've been in the house quite a bit. Comb looks fine, she just keeps hiding from the others and well....I guess she acts like she's injured. We're quite certain the cuts are from the rooster's spurs. Those were taken care of today.

 

[jemagsy]

We had this same problem. What we did is isolate our girl for a while and treat her with antibiotics she recouperated within a couple months (personally I think she milked extra time recouping, but when she's your husband's favorite hen you let her get away with it). Just watch her and make sure she's eating and drinking everyday. Follow the directions for the antibiotics as well. Check her wounds for any puss or other signs of infection, you can't really stitch up a hen too well as their skin is too thin.

In the future you may try looking into aprons too if you have more roosters or just want to give her a little extra padding for when she goes back outside. We attempted an apron but she hated it and I couldn't ever get it adjusted to fit her very well (she was a very very large hen).

 

[I'vegotchickenfever]

WOW - a couple of months? That's a long time.

Check her wounds for any puss or other signs of infection, you can't really stitch up a hen too well as their skin is too thin

So, are you saying they just live a normal life with gaping holes on their sides? They'll never really heal closed or anything? Seems like she'd be in danger of infection for the rest of her life, huh?

Thanks for all the info!!​

 

[RooptyDoo]

Do you have hawks????

 

[I'vegotchickenfever]

Do you have hawks????

We have in the past, but the injuries came after we got a new very large rooster, with spurs to match. The hawks in the past created quite a fuss outside - we KNEW when one was around. Could be a hawk, but I would think the 2 roos would defend the girls - and I haven't seen one around for a couple of months.

 

[maplesky7]

I had one of my hens in the house for about a week or so this winter and she healed up from her spur wounds. Didn't do anything too special...gave her some yogurt and my girls fed her scraps. She loved the extra attention.

me,
g

 

[jemagsy]

Wait, are you saying her feathers aren't growing back? Roxy's skin scabbed over and all her feathers came back, we couldn't even tell where she had been torn open and this was a pretty large gash.

Has she molted recently? If not (and I guess even if she has) the stress from being torn open could cause her to go into a molt and then regrow her feathers just like a normal molt, but her skin should heal up on its own. We just used warm water to clean the gash and then some Betadine applied directly to the skin where it was cut open to clean further and prevent infection. Then we gave her antibiotics in her drinking water for about a week and a half. Note you cannot eat her eggs for at least a couple weeks after treating with antibiotics. We also gave her scrambled eggs about once/twice a week, and occasional greens and scratch.

As for the two months we have a barn and a wooden brooder that's in there all the time, just in case of emergencies, etc, so it's not like we had to make room for her in the house or anything, which helps (we have lots of cats).

 

[speckledhen]

Just doctored one of my blue Orpington girls today. Huge gash with skin ripped down by the rooster. They will heal if infection doesnt set in and the rooster is separated from her. The dead skin should be excised, the wound cleaned with Betadine, preferably, then antibiotic ointment packed in the wound. Ours was so big we had to use two stitches to pull the skin back up to the top, but it is open so it can drain. She is getting three days of penicillin injections to combat any infection that may be in there. Hope yours heals up.

 

[Opa]

Sounds like it time to clip the spurs on that rooster.

 

[Brickman House]

We've had excellent results when we've had to stitch one of our hens.

We rinsed the gash well with antibiotic wash, put 4 or 5 stitches in, and swabbed the wound with Blue Kote.

Checked on her regularly, removed the stitches after a week or so, and she was good to go.