Day 3 of dealing with large laceration in side of my favorite hen

[OwlLover]

That's great!

Glad she's doing well! Hope she continues to recover, and best wishes for you

 

[greenkjb]

Hey Ruth,
I'm being reminded of when one of my girls was chewed up by my neighbors dog. Long story, but when I went to go get her body from the dog, there she was, looking at me. It took about 3 weeks as she had huge tears in her skin. I figured there was so way it could heal they were so large. I posted on BYC and was assured that not only would she heal, but it wouldn't be long before there would be no evidence of the wounds. Everyone was right! Those tears do indeed heal from the inside out. The smaller tears healed within a week, the feathers started growing back soon after, and the large laceration began to heal quickly too. I cleaned it daily with vetricin and neosporin, and left it open to air (she was inside for the bulk of the healing time). I did wrap her up (with an ace bandage) when I put her back with my flock so they wouldn't peck at the still healing skin. One thing I did which I swear helped a lot was a scrambled egg daily for the first couple of weeks. I've heard it is the perfect food, and honestly i think it is true! Anyways, so glad your girl is getting better. Pretty soon you'll never know it happened!
Cheers!
Kate

 

[earthlove]

Just had my vet staple and suture a huge laceration across the width of my roosters chest. What is the chicken dose of aspirin for pain? The doctor isn't familiar with bird care but came over because it was an emergency. I read your post and could use your advice. What do you recommend using to keep the wound clean? Did you use neosporin ointment or spray? We gave fluids and amoxi. if he makes it through the night we'll continue antibiotics.
Any advice would be much appreciated!!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Hi earthlove, Neosporin ointment is better. If you haven't found the dosage for asprin yet, I copied and pasted some info:

• Buffered aspirin (such as Bayer, etc.) can be used for a chicken to help reduce:
  • Stress, listlessness, discomfort, pain
  • Fever
  • Swelling / inflammation that is not caused by bleeding (Aspirin thins blod and keeps it from clotting as quickly as normal.)
    • Birds bruise more easily when on aspirin.
    • You should wait until internal and external injuries have begun to heal before using aspirin.
  • Note: A standard baby Aspirin is 80 mg, and a standard adult Aspirin pill is 325 mg.
  • Dose for chickens: Approx. 25 mg per pound of chicken's body weight each day.
    • Examples: For a 6-lb. Large Fowl Leghorn rooster, 2 times per day give 1/2 of a regular aspirin ( = ~300 mg total per day).
      For a Bantam 1.6-lb. Bantam Leghorn rooster, 2 times per day give 1/2 of a baby aspirin (= ~75 mg total per day).
  • To administer:
    • To give immediately or in individual administrations: Crush up and split dose up into 2 or 3 administrations per day. Sprinkle the powder on a small tasty treat such as fruit or yogurt and give to the chicken.
    • To have the chicken self-administer throughout the day: Crush up the total daily dose and dissolve in the approximate amount of water that the chicken drinks each day. Pour into chicken's drinking container.
• Never give a chicken any kind of painkiller with 'caine' in the name. These are EXTREMELY toxic to chickens.
  • Do NOT use a Triple Antibiotic Ointment with Painkiller because almost all include '-caine' ingredients.
    • Exception: Neosporin with Painkiller products usually only use Pramoxine HCl as the painkiller ingredient, and that is alright for chickens.

I hope your rooster heals up well.

 

[earthlove]

Thank you so much, scratch-n-peck. I am amazed that my sweet rooster made it through the night! He slept in a crate by the bed and woke up crowing this morning! He even pecked at his seeds and is taking pedialyte by syringe well. He's a trooper. His wound is all the way across his chest, sliced from wing to wing. I don't have any idea what happened. He's got at least 15 staples and a dozen sutures holding him together, but still perky and alert this morning. I handle my chickens lots every day, so am grateful now for such a sweet and cooperative rooster. Someone posted about arnica and calendula drops in water, can you give me an amount? Should I start aspirin immediately or wait? His wound is not bloody, I believe the muscle was cut in a very small section under his wing, but other than that the laceration is only through the skin. I would love to make him more comfortable, but don't want to cause more problems. Thoughts? I am worried about him but hopeful that we made it through the night. It's a brutal wound. We gave amoxicillin last night and the bet suggested I get some tylosin from the feed store today. Thoughts on that? He's got a little bed that's half on and off a heating bad. Anything else I can do? Love my roo so much!!

 

[Chicks on DL]

I read Pedialyte should be diluted. Sounds like he is doing well and eating and drinking on his own. I had a hen that was attacked and I had to hand feed her for 2 weeks. It is hard to not to worry. She has recovered and now thinks she is a house chicken. She spends her morning standing by the back door looking for us.

 

[catmad]

I've had good results from staples when I need to hold open wounds together, so I keep one of these handy. Easier by far than stitching, and you can leave it partially open to drain.

http://products.kvsupply.com/skin_stapler_3m_109119121.php

You do need to have a remover as well, although my Vet will let me use hers at no charge. She doesn't "do" chickens, but will help in whatever way she can without actually seeing the chickens....<G>

Margo