Chicken wound on back above tail - what to do?

[Eggcessive]

Betadine or iodine to clean the wound would be good to use, since you don't have antibiotic ointment. Perhaps use some honey or coconut oil on the wound to keep it moist for healing, or use saline once a day to flush away any dirt. Do they sell Chlorhexidene where you live? That would also be good to use, instead of iodine.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I let the little girls out for a roam today. Could have been one of the big girls, or one of the dogs, or she could have caught herself on something, I really don't know. (no roosters, so it's not that)

She's polish (cross). Not sure exactly how old, but she's young.

I'll separate her tomorrow, I don't want any of the others fussing with it.

We can't buy antibiotics, only doctors/vets can have them. I'll flush it again in the morning and decide whether I need to take her to the vet or can dress it myself.

Potato chip, chickens have amazing healing abilities on nasty wounds. We have seen some ugly ones on this forum, even a chicken half eaten by a hawk.
I have had some nasty rips on some of my birds over the years. Clean the wound, (which you did), separate her, which you did, put antibiotic ointment like people said, and give her a few days for it to close up. If it starts looking infected anyway, you may need some internal antibiotics or injectable like penicillin.
One thing you could get which I have found VERY HELPFUL over the years is a product called Wonderdust. You can find it in the horse/cattle aisle in feed store. I had a hen that was missing skin (just hanging there) , muscle exposed and gashed, just ugly wound and I applied this powder to the wound. It just took one, maybe two applications and that was it. It formed a hard scab (ugly and black) quickly, which helped keep the bird from messing with it too much herself also. It kept the flies and all the other nasty critters away. It contains an antibiotic and a type of drying agent I think, but I put it right on the muscle and that ugly wound did heal over time and I didn't see signs of infection or have to worry about keeping wound dry and flies away or her taking a dust bath or anything like that. I didn't even separate her, but I do recommend that for a few days. I keep a bottle of that in my animal med cabinet. That stuff works.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Update:

I went out to check on her and the wound has closed back up (or she's holding her tail up so that it closes it). I'm happy with how it looks, unless somebody more experienced tells me she needs prophylactic antibiotics, I'm going to watch it at home and just keep applying the antiseptic powder.
View attachment 1262541
Here is the patient. (not happy, Jan )
View attachment 1262540

Hmm..that doesn't look like a fresh wound.

I'm wondering if it is oil gland infection? Isn't that where the oil gland is Eggcessive? Looks swollen.

 

[MrsBachbach]

View attachment 1262481
I managed to get a photo, but it's not very good. I'm not good at photos at the best of times, but trying to hold a chook and get definition of something like this is beyond my skills.
I couldn't close it up the way I could last night, it was bleeding freely last night and the line of the wound was "straighter", but now the blood has clotted (the "black stuff" is dried blood") and it's perhaps a bit inflamed? It doesn't look so horrid in real life, to me it looks quite clean (clean as in not infected).
Anyway, I flushed it with warm water and covered the lot with antibiotic powder. Even if they could have stitched it, they wouldn't be able to do it now.
She seems quite well in herself, perky and normal. Can I watch this at home? Ideally, I'd get her up to the vet, but new brakes on my car make that a bit less easy to fund right now.
I know with cats, you need to get antibiotics ASAP because they tend to fester inside and they get cat germs poked inside. Can an open wound on a chook be treated at home or do I need to get her some antibiotics?

If it doesn't look as bad as the picture, and doesn't look infected, just continue to monitor. There may be some infection in there that needs cleaning out. If it doesnt look like it is getting better in a week, I would start some penicillin injections in a week. You can get that at feed stores if you can't get her to vet. That stuff is good for wounds and I've used it, but that is totally your call and your bird and a hen would of course have a withdrawal period on her eggs and that is also your call, but I've seen anywhere from two weeks to two months mentioned on stuff like that. Dosage and how to administer you can search this forum as I'm sure it's been discussed.

 

[User395221]

but unfortunately my girl died a few days later because I think the dog's grasp broke an egg inside my hen. So that makes me worry about your hen.

That makes me worry. (EDIT: she did a googie this morning, so she's not all busted up inside ) Obviously when you don't know exactly what happened what you can see might not be the full extent

Betadine or iodine to clean the wound

The antiseptic powder I used is povidone/iodine. As for Chlorhexidene, I don't know whether it's freely available or not (we do have it, I had to wash with it before I had an operation)

It contains an antibiotic and a type of drying agent I think,

If it contains antibiotic, only a vet would have that. We cannot just buy antiobiotics without a prescription from somebody who can give prescriptions (doctor, dentist, vet)

Hmm..that doesn't look like a fresh wound.

It was definitely a fresh wound when I first saw it. It was freely bleeding. That photo was the next morning and the dried blood makes it look very different. The whole thing looks "different" in that photo.

 

[WVduckchick]

@potato chip how's your girl getting along now?

 

[User395221]

She seems fine. Eating and drinking normally, laying eggs, and majorly upset about being confined by herself. It's nearly bedtime, so I've put her back in with her "sisters". The wound isn't bloody or anything, so hopefully nobody will be interested in pecking at it. I'll watch them tomorrow morning to check on them and put her back in solitary if anyone else is interested in it, otherwise I'm hoping all is good and it'll heal uneventfully. fingers crossed.