Chicken Injury – Not sure if healing or infected? [Gross pics]

AverageJess

Chirping
Mar 25, 2021
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Violet is a Lavender Orpington about 6 months old. I noticed a bleeding wound on her backside 10 days ago (Mon 11/8) with missing feathers and we took her into the vet right away. We’re not sure how the injury happened, but the vet said it was an abrasion, not a laceration. Since going to the vet, she’s been getting a topical antibiotic on the wound 3x per day and an oral antibiotic twice per day. We aren’t sure if she’s been eating and drinking like normal, but otherwise has been acting normal. We are monitoring her food/water intake more closely now to make sure. Her poop seems to be watery. She is normally in an enclosed run with two other hens of the same age. Since the injury, we’ve kept her in a separate smaller run. On cold nights we’ve been bringing her inside so the other girls can have the coop to stay warm. I should mention that the wound feels very hard. Does it look like it’s getting better? Is the white stuff puss? Is that normal? It seems obvious the wound is healing up, but just wondering if it’s infected?

IMG_20211108_104952580.jpg

The above was taken 10 days ago (when the injury was first noticed).
IMG_20211117_182110332.jpg

IMG_20211117_181841783.jpg

The above photos were taken last night after a bath.
 
The wound looks better in the picture today, except it has developed what may be a fungal or yeast infection. It does look like it is healing.

Google 'coconut oil antifungal' and 'coconut oil antibacterial'. It works so well i always treat chickens injuries with it once or twice a day. I have never treated a fungal infection with it since it never developed into one, but i wouldn't hesitate to use it.

You could apply an antifungal on the outside edge of the wound. I treat wounds with coconut oil, but you could just apply it to the outside if you want to continue with the vets creme. All of the wounds I have treated have healed by using coconut oil as the antiseptic. I have treated a lot of wounds and never used a topical antibiotic. I always use coconut oil which is a topical antifungal, antiseptic, and antibacterial. For deeper wounds i use violet, which also would have prevented that side effect.
 
Violet is a Lavender Orpington about 6 months old. I noticed a bleeding wound on her backside 10 days ago (Mon 11/8) with missing feathers and we took her into the vet right away. We’re not sure how the injury happened, but the vet said it was an abrasion, not a laceration. Since going to the vet, she’s been getting a topical antibiotic on the wound 3x per day and an oral antibiotic twice per day. We aren’t sure if she’s been eating and drinking like normal, but otherwise has been acting normal. We are monitoring her food/water intake more closely now to make sure. Her poop seems to be watery. She is normally in an enclosed run with two other hens of the same age. Since the injury, we’ve kept her in a separate smaller run. On cold nights we’ve been bringing her inside so the other girls can have the coop to stay warm. I should mention that the wound feels very hard. Does it look like it’s getting better? Is the white stuff puss? Is that normal? It seems obvious the wound is healing up, but just wondering if it’s infected?

View attachment 2901837
The above was taken 10 days ago (when the injury was first noticed).View attachment 2901840
View attachment 2901838
The above photos were taken last night after a bath.
The chunky, yellow stuff around the wound looks to be pus. Don't apply any oils.

Ideally you should bring her back to the vet before doing anything yourself. The infection looks to be antibiotic resistant. I'll also tag some others here to help.

@Miss Lydia
@sourland
 
Last edited:
The wound looks better in the picture today, except it has developed what may be a fungal or yeast infection. It does look like it is healing.

Google 'coconut oil antifungal' and 'coconut oil antibacterial'. It works so well i always treat chickens injuries with it once or twice a day. I have never treated a fungal infection with it since it never developed into one, but i wouldn't hesitate to use it.

You could apply an antifungal on the outside edge of the wound. I treat wounds with coconut oil, but you could just apply it to the outside if you want to continue with the vets creme. All of the wounds I have treated have healed by using coconut oil as the antiseptic. I have treated a lot of wounds and never used a topical antibiotic. I always use coconut oil which is a topical antifungal, antiseptic, and antibacterial. For deeper wounds i use violet, which also would have prevented that side effect.
Thanks so much for the tip! I will keep this in mind.
 
The chunky, yellow stuff around the wound looks to be pus. Don't apply any oils.

Ideally you should bring her back to the vet before doing anything yourself. The infection looks to be antibiotic resistant. I'll also tag some others here to help.

@Miss Lydia
@sourland
I appreciate the reply. Yeah, I think we'll probably take her into the vet again before doing anything ourselves, just to be safe. Wanted to get some opinions on here first though.
 
Have you ever seen your other chickens pecking at this wound or even before she got this? I am wondering if the other hens didn't get this started. They are notorious for pecking at redness and with her feathers missing it would be a good target.
I am not sure what's going on with the yellow. What is the cream your vet prescribed?
If you can have the vet look at it again maybe even pictures sent via email? See what the vet thinks. I'd def keep her from the other chickens until she is healed.
 
Have you ever seen your other chickens pecking at this wound or even before she got this? I am wondering if the other hens didn't get this started. They are notorious for pecking at redness and with her feathers missing it would be a good target.
I am not sure what's going on with the yellow. What is the cream your vet prescribed?
If you can have the vet look at it again maybe even pictures sent via email? See what the vet thinks. I'd def keep her from the other chickens until she is healed.
Thanks for your input. We didn't notice any pecking before the wound developed, no. We have kept them separated since the wound was first discovered. We do let them all out together a couple times a day to scratch around in the grass, but it's always supervised. During these outings they do occasionally notice her wound and try to peck it, so I could definitely see that being a possibility for how it started (especially since she's the most docile). We will for sure continue to keep them separated until it's fully healed.

The ointment we were prescribed is just a generic triple antibiotic ointment. We decided to schedule another appointment for her just to be safe. :) Thanks again!
 

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