Coyote attack - stitches needed for pullet?

LavenderAndRoses

In the Brooder
10 Years
May 31, 2009
70
0
29
Mesa
Hello all,

Yesterday morning we found a coyote in our backyard trying to attack our flock. After running him off we discovered that he had bitten our bantam cockerel (who had been doing his best to defend the girls).

After checking out the cockerel, we discovered that he had a smallish puncture wound on his back. We cleaned the area, put neosporin on it and have him resting in the garage. None of the rest of the flock was acting/looked hurt.

Later in the afternoon, my son discovered that our blue (?) orpington pullet (appx. 26 weeks) had a large gash in her skin under her left wing. There seems to be no damage to the muscle underneath, just a large skin cut. It is in an upside down v shape with each leg of the v being about 1" long. She wasn't exhibiting any symptoms at all, in fact she was walking around scratching and eating with the rest of the flock.

We've cleaned the area, put betadine on it, a big dollop of neosporin, covered it with a gauze pad and wrapped it so it will stay covered. She is resting in a separate "pen" in the garage.

My question is, will such a large gash heal itself, or will I have to try and attempt stitching it? I've never done anything like that at all! I wouldn't even know where to get the supplies. Again, it seems just to be the skin, no muscle tears at all. If I could find the supplies, maybe even one stitch at the top of the v cut would be enough to bring the skin together close enough to help it mend faster...I just don't know.

She is eating/drinking fine and is almost irritated to be penned up instead of outside with her girlfriends, lol.
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I'm sorry I don't have any pics, I've just finished redressing her cut and didn't think to snap a pic before wrapping it again.

I can add a pic tomorrow when we change the dressing.

Any help/advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Christy
 
If it is just a skin wound then she should be ok. You have done the right thing by cleaning it and wrapping it. It is amazing what these birds can take. We had a hawk attack that ripped one of our girls around the neck. There was a 2 inch wide strip of skin and feathers missingfrom all the way around her neck except for a thin strip about 1/4 inch wide right in front. We left her alone as there wasn't much we could do but clean it. That was nearly a year ago and today she just has a bit of ripple in the feathers on her neck.
Check the wound daily and apply more neosporin. Clean it if she will let you and rewrap. It will heal over in a few days and she should be fine. Maybe give her some vitamins and electrolytes just as a boost for her system.
 
Thanks for the quick reply!

I put a large goop of neosporin over the area with gauze and then vet wrap around her body to hold it in place.

I was just trying to read the past posts and I saw one that said NOT to wrap it because it cuts off air to the wound. Now I don't know if I've covered it too much or not.

Since she is in a kennel, do you think I should take the vet wrap off and just leave the gauze pad with all the neosporin?

Also, how long does it take the skin to grow back? My girlie's cut is about 1/4" at the widest point (top of the v) and it seems it would take a long time for the skin to fill in the area.

Do you think a butterfly bandage to pull the sides closer together would help?

Again, thanks for any advice! We are relatively newbie chicken owners (less than a year) and we've never had anything like this happen before!

Christy
 

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