Chicken with Week Old Gash in Side- ADVICE PLEASE

[marissa98]

Good morning everyone. This morning, we were catching our chickens to put aprons on them as they had been losing a lot of back and side feathers due to our rooster. When we got to one of our hens, we discovered a large 3 inch long and 1/2 inch wide gash under her wing on her back. We are assuming it's from our rooster. It is sliced clean down to her muscle and could have been there for a week to a week and a half, as we didn't notice it when we sprayed for lice on January 8th. We hadn't noticed her acting any differently and we never did see blood. We assumed a wound to that caliber would have bled greatly. She still is in high spirits, running around, eating and drinking. We now have her penned up by herself with food and water. We soaked the wound with hydrogen peroxide and packed Neosporin (no painkillers) into it the best we could. We are going to pick up some penicillin to start her on a round of that. Does anyone else have any suggestions as to what to do next? We don't necessarily want to close it up yet and we're not sure if that would work anyway, as it may have been a while since the initial wound. We can see a scab starting to form at the top of the wound where it's the narrowest. Any advice or input would be much appreciated!

 

[Mogul Moonshine]

@Eggcessive @MGG @JadeFarms

 

[Aapomp831]

Do what you’re doing, just don’t use the peroxide again (you should only use it once to kill germs, any more and you could damage good bacteria needed to help it heal), keep her isolated with her own fresh food and water until completely healed. Chickens heal up easily as long as they don’t have other chickens pecking at the wound and they themselves can’t move around much to re injure themselves. I would add a little electrolyte to her water (maybe every other day) and offer her some scrambled eggs for extra protein to aid in the healing. The antibiotics are a good idea. Just keep the area clean as best you can and I bet she’ll be good as new in a week or two.

 

[Isaac 0]

Have any pictures?

At this point, you're going to want to stop flushing with hydrogen peroxide and only apply the Neosporin daily to keep the wound moist and ensure there are no flies on the wound, and it's not getting contaminated with dirt or dust. I think an antibiotic may be good given the period in time the wound was left for. However, Penicillin does not have the most desirable antimicrobial effects against bacteria anymore, so you may consider getting something like Amoxicillin, cephalexin, or enrofloxacin which might be better suited. All can be obtained online in fish or bird form without an RX in the US.

https://www.chewy.com/fish-aid-antibiotics-cephalexin/dp/185208
https://www.walmartpetrx.com/p-2377-fish-mox-amoxicillin.aspx

 

[LaFleche]

Does anyone else have any suggestions as to what to do next?

Most important thing to do is trimming back the rooster's spurs and claws and then round them to prevent further injuries.

I would not close the wound as it is too old and could start to fester.

When one of my hens suffered a similar injury some years back, it healed up nicely within two weeks and did not even leave a scar, although it was already green when I discovered it.

 

[marissa98]

Have any pictures?

At this point, you're going to want to stop flushing with hydrogen peroxide and only apply the Neosporin daily to keep the wound moist and ensure there are no flies on the wound, and it's not getting contaminated with dirt or dust. I think an antibiotic may be good given the period in time the wound was left for. However, Penicillin does not have the most desirable antimicrobial effects against bacteria anymore, so you may consider getting something like Amoxicillin, cephalexin, or enrofloxacin which might be better suited. All can be obtained online in fish or bird form without an RX in the US.

https://www.chewy.com/fish-aid-antibiotics-cephalexin/dp/185208
https://www.walmartpetrx.com/p-2377-fish-mox-amoxicillin.aspx

I will get a picture and attach it here soon.

 

[MGG]

What is your hen to roo ratio? They shouldn't be losing that many feathers.
I agree with the others.

 

[LaFleche]

And welcome to BYC @marissa98 .

 

[marissa98]

What is your hen to roo ratio? They shouldn't be losing that many feathers.
I agree with the others.

Rooster to hen ratio is 1:14, but he has his favorites that he won't leave alone a lot of the time. For a while we had them penned in a smaller area and that's when it got worse. They've been roaming an acre now for a couple of months, so now they have the aprons to protect them as they grow their feathers back.

 

[marissa98]

Keep in mind we just applied Neosporin which is why it's so shiny and goopy. Beforehand, it was dry. I assume the yellow that can be seen on the muscle is fat, but I'm not sure.