Chicken injury- Contained but could use some advice!

[Hayduke27]

My neighbor's dog got into my yard this morning and gave one of my hens a pretty good thrashing. At first I thought he had eaten her, but upon taking a walk around later, I found her laying in the street not far from my house. She was laying down mainly because she was lost and scared, and when I tried to catch her it was no easy task.

I gave her a good looking over, and she has no broken bones or deep punctures. Most of the feathers on her back have been torn out. On her left side, she has a cut that broke skin, went through the fatty layer on her rump, and just barely got the muscle at the end of the cut. I applied Neosporin to this cut (the kind with no drugs in it ending with "cain"). Her right rear has had a lot of skin torn off. There is probably about 4 square inches of muscle exposed, with the skin mostly torn away. I covered this entire wound with neosporin as well. She is not really bleeding, and none of her wounds are deep. The worst I think is the large patch of missing skin.

That's as far as I have made it in my doctoring. This particular chicken really, REALLY hates being handled, so just getting the neosporin on her was quite the chore (easier in part thanks to all those who have described how to make a towel burrito!!). She is now back out with the other chickens in the yard. She is getting around just fine, is not limping or favoring anything. She is active, and from a distance you can't tell she's injured.

To my questions: Her wounds are treated but still open. I didn't have any gauze, and didn't know if it would stay on her anyway. The other chickens are not messing with her, and she is definitely WAY happier in the yard than in the house with me. She gets really stressed when removed from the flock. Should I be bandaging her and/or quarantining her? Is there anything else I can do for these wounds? It seems like there is a lot of skin missing, and certainly a chunk of it is hanging from the tear. Will this heal? I've heard chicken have amazing healing abilities, and seeing as how she is acting okay, I think she stands a chance of recovery if I do this right. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!!!!!

 

[Hayduke27]

I just checked on her again. Status is unchanged, she's acting very normally, will run and compete with the other chickens for food, has a very healthy appetite, and is not acting any differently than normal. I am worried about that patch of exposed muscle. I gave it a really thick application of Neosporin in hopes of staving off infection.

 

[Hayduke27]

At the moment, she has gone into the nesting boxes and settled into one of them. She is still very alert. I fed her an entire scrambled egg, which she ate eagerly.

I'm glad she is not having to deal with the other chickens. I'm keeping a close eye on her. I am still not sure if I should try to wrap her up in some gauze or something, or if it would be better just to let things breath and keep Neosporin on the wounds. I want to handle her as little as possible, as she gets extremely stressed. I worry she would hurt herself even more just trying to get away from me, she's such a spaz!

 

[Hayduke27]

It's the second morning after the attack, and the hen is doing okay. She is active, eating, and not showing any signs of illness or lameness. I have been giving her scrambled eggs each day, to make sure she's got a crop full of good nutrition. So far, I have not attempted to re-apply the Neosporin, as I really do worry that the pursuit and struggle of catching this hen would do more harm than the ointment would good.

I have continued to read what I can, and it sounds like keeping this kind of wound in the open air is good for healing. Thus, I have not messed with any bandaging. I also have not separated her from the other chickens, as she gets extremely stressed. They have lot of room in my yard to run around, and luckily the days are getting warmer so they are not cooped up. Nobody seems to be pecking at her.

So yeah, after the initial, liberal application of Neosporin, I haven't done much with her other than keep an eye on her and feed her lots of scrambled eggs. So far, she's doing okay. Hopefully this trend continues. Again, if anybody has any advice on things I could/should do, it would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[GrannyMann]

I am sorry about the injuries. I don't have any advice, but can sympathize with you, if it helps. Had a skunk attack last night (wee hours) and had to put one hen down. Heartbreaking to say the least. Another is acting very scared. Not eating, and has injuries to her head/ear area. I too will make a post to see if anyone can tell me the best way cae for her. Best of luck to you! I will try to keep up with your post to hopefully learn something as well. Sounds like you are doing good for her.

 

[Valk]

Hayduke, I am so sorry about your hen. At least the injuries are not in any vital areas - it sounds like anyway. My mother always said that if the lesion or laceration is not profusely bleeding, that air is very good for the healing process. I would think that if it's getting very dirty or bleeding you should bandage it, but otherwise it sounds like you have a grasp on things.

I wish you and your hen the best of luck. Keep us informed!

GrannyMann - the same goes for you, good luck!

 

[Hayduke27]

I thought I would update this in case it was helpful to anybody in the future. I kept an eye on my chicken, and just let her stay with the flock and do her thing. So far as I can tell, she is recovering very nicely. She never started acting sick or lame, and just did her normal chicken thing. I put the heat lamp on the roost for a few cold nights right after the incident, but for the most part she has just recovered on her own. She is acting happy and healthy, and has got her skin back. I imagine the feathers will come back, at least partially, over the summer.