Chicken with wound w/maggots and possibly broken leg :( *slightly graphic pictures*

[StarLover21]

Hi,

I have a red star pullet (she is about 21 weeks, and not yet laying) and yesterday afternoon she got into my neighbors yard with several dogs in it. I wasn't there at the time but this morning I went outside and found her sitting in a corner, not standing.

At first I thought maybe she had an injured or broken leg. She is able to awkwardly stand on one leg but she can't walk at all or she falls over. I found some dried blood on...I'm not sure what it's called on chickens but I think the best way to describe it would be her thighs? The part of her leg that is feathered but still part of her leg.

Upon searching her further I found the source of the wound. Here are some pictures:



Different lighting:



It's located sort of on her side. I tried to cut away the feathers around the wound but I may still not be able to see the full wound. What scared me most is that she has a few small maggots in her wound- small white looking maggots. Is there any way I can kill these so that her wound can hopefully heal? How should I treat or clean the wound?

It also may be a very likely that she additionally has a leg injury, since she can't seem to stand on one of her legs. She is clearly favoring one of her legs and won't hardly put any weight on the other one. she can't walk and can barely stand. At first I thought her leg was broken, but I've felt all over her leg and can't feel any sort of break- if her leg was broken would I be able to feel it? I may just not know what to look for. Here are some pictures of her leg as well.



You can see she's favoring her leg.




I've brought her inside with a towel and gave her food and water, and she IS still eating and drinking, and has had a source of food mealworms and water all day.

Our chickens are pets so I'm really hoping to make sure she survives. We do have a vet that we've taken our chickens too before if you think that is neccesary.

Any suggestions on how to treat her (especially the maggots) would be extremely appreciated.

All I've done so far is cut feathers away from the wound and washed it with water. I was too squeamish to continue so now she is wrapped up in a towel. Is it possible for chickens to go into shock? She seems VERY calm and quiet. She only seems to cluck if I touch or pull on her possibly injured leg. She is very very friendly normally, however.

Resting:


Thanks!

 

[DylansMom]

Hi,

I have a red star pullet (she is about 21 weeks, and not yet laying) and yesterday afternoon she got into my neighbors yard with several dogs in it. I wasn't there at the time but this morning I went outside and found her sitting in a corner, not standing.

At first I thought maybe she had an injured or broken leg. She is able to awkwardly stand on one leg but she can't walk at all or she falls over. I found some dried blood on...I'm not sure what it's called on chickens but I think the best way to describe it would be her thighs? The part of her leg that is feathered but still part of her leg.

Upon searching her further I found the source of the wound. Here are some pictures:



Different lighting:



It's located sort of on her side. I tried to cut away the feathers around the wound but I may still not be able to see the full wound. What scared me most is that she has a few small maggots in her wound- small white looking maggots. Is there any way I can kill these so that her wound can hopefully heal? How should I treat or clean the wound?

It also may be a very likely that she additionally has a leg injury, since she can't seem to stand on one of her legs. She is clearly favoring one of her legs and won't hardly put any weight on the other one. she can't walk and can barely stand. At first I thought her leg was broken, but I've felt all over her leg and can't feel any sort of break- if her leg was broken would I be able to feel it? I may just not know what to look for. Here are some pictures of her leg as well.



You can see she's favoring her leg.




I've brought her inside with a towel and gave her food and water, and she IS still eating and drinking, and has had a source of food mealworms and water all day.

Our chickens are pets so I'm really hoping to make sure she survives. We do have a vet that we've taken our chickens too before if you think that is neccesary.

Any suggestions on how to treat her (especially the maggots) would be extremely appreciated.

All I've done so far is cut feathers away from the wound and washed it with water. I was too squeamish to continue so now she is wrapped up in a towel. Is it possible for chickens to go into shock? She seems VERY calm and quiet. She only seems to cluck if I touch or pull on her possibly injured leg. She is very very friendly normally, however.

Resting:


Thanks!

At least you caught it fresh. This past summer I found a gaping open wound on our pet turkey that was not fresh. It was hidden by her wing, so by the time I found it the flesh was black and smelled bad, it had hundreds of maggots burrowing into it. That said, get some Swat from TSC, it is a wound cream for horses, I put this on the wound and the maggots were literally throwing themselves off of her, she was completely maggot free after an hour or so. I flushed the wound with warm soapy water and debrided the dead flesh and feathers as well as I could. I put betadine in a spray bottle and sprayed the wound one day then coated it with trip. antibiotic ointment the next day, then back to the betadine spray and back and forth between the two. Also gave her a scrambled egg a day with oral antibiotic mixed in. It took about a month but it healed up amazingly well. If you don't have Swat, try a little Vicks vapor rub, I swear Swat smells exactly like Vicks. I don't know if they have the same ingredients in them or not, but it might work. Here are some seriously graphic pics. Good luck with her.

 

[whiterooster329]

Hi, My rooster recently had a gun shot wound very similar to that, I was wondering if you ever nursed your hen back to health again?