Chicken Had tail bitten off, need advice.

[kJamesJr]

So I cleaned the area best I could. She keeps all her feathers down to block the area. I tried getting in there and cleaning it but she fights it so it's difficult. Tried to Clean all the poop off her butt and flushed the whole area with saline solution.

Shes eating. She's drinking a lot of water. Her crop is full of water. Not sure if that's normal. I'll tackle it again in the morning. Went to the store to pick up some Blue Kote but they were out.

 

[kJamesJr]

Sorry. No pictures of the hamburger butt because it's late and I didn't want to stress her too much. Plus I didn't add "Graphic" in the title so people might be a little grossed out not expecting it.

I do appreciate all the feedback and advice.

 

[kJamesJr]

Between the heavy wound and being confined in a box (out of necessity), your bird's little world is upside down right now. She's active, so that's a good thing, but her chatter may be due to something as simple as missing her flockmates.

TAO should be fine, but I like to use the clear (non-aspirin) Neosporin. Sounds like you're taking good care of your girl.

I don't believe in a "throw away society". If she doesn't make it, at least I can say I tried.

 

[Eggcessive]

The resistance to your treatment can be a good sign that she is strong. They can be pretty resilient little critters. I picked up my hen in a ditch after a neighbor was walking her dog up the road, and I had to look for her a bit. She looked dead, but when I placed her back in the coop with the other girls, she just hung out there for a couple of days limiting her own activity. They can sometimes recover on their own without a lot of treatment. One with lesser looking injuries died shortly afterward. I hope she recovers, and please keeep us up to date.

 

[brucifer]

I don't believe in a "throw away society". If she doesn't make, at least I can say I tried.

I'm with you on that. Besides, if a dog sunk it's teeth into one of my birds, I would not eat the bird in case the dog introduced an infection. To me, it's almost like eating roadkill.

 

[kJamesJr]

The resistance to your treatment can be a good sign that she is strong. They can be pretty resilient little critters. I picked up my hen in a ditch after a neighbor was walking her dog up the road, and I had to look for her a bit. She looked dead, but when I placed her back in the coop with the other girls, she just hung out there for a couple of days limiting her own activity. They can sometimes recover on their own without a lot of treatment. One with lesser looking injuries died shortly afterward. I hope she recovers, and please keeep us up to date.

I'm thinking if I can give her some pain relief she'll relax a bit and let me in there. I just don't know how to do that.

 

[kJamesJr]

Update on miss hamburger butt:

It's amazing how much the area has scabbed itself over with very little intervention. She's definitely getting restless. May upgrade her to the dog crate suite as shes getting a little sneezy in the box. Plus she keeps poking her head out the top to check out what's going on.

Don't think she's in much pain back there. She actually let me work some magic on it tonight. Flushed the whole area with saline. Cleaned a lot of the built up poop out. She's having a hard time pooping now, I think because she hasn't been able to get up to poop, so it just kinda builds up in the feathers. Every time I've cleaned it she drops a good poop and has a good stretch.

As mentioned the whole area is scabbed over black dry and thick. There's still a little bit of pink tissue poking out. The tip of some kinda organ i think. It moves when she breathes . It's between her colon and where her tail used to be. That was largely exposed before about the size of a quarter, but it's closed up to about the size of a pea.

Found another raw area under her wing. Needless to say I spayed the entire area with Blue Kote. Wish I New how that stuff worked before I used it on a new clean towel. It's like permanent marker ink. I let the Blue Kote dry and smeared triple antibiotic ointment over that too.

She's still eating like a growing chick. Chick feed mixed with crushed TotW cat food. Still drinking tons of water. She's not holding it in her crop though so I guess that's good.

Her color and energy levels are still really good. I'm upgrading her to a 30% survival rate. Still contemplating giving her that left over amoxicillin... do chickens like bubblegum flavor?

 

[Eggcessive]

It would still be great to see a picture to see what you are seeing. I am glad she does not seem to be in as much pain. Hopefully, she has not suffered so much damage as to not be able to pass her droppings or have problems laying eggs in the future. With damage to the rearend, sometimes using a butt bath with Epsom salts and warm water or just a soapy bath can have a good effect on softening scabs and helping to heal, along with cleaning. BluKote is pretty messy, and although it has alcohol and gentian violet for infection prevention, it works better to hide wounds to prevent others from pecking a red wound. Plain triple antibiotic (neosporin) ointment works well and along with helping prevent infection, can soften the scabs. Thanks for the update, and I hope she continues to recover.