Deep injury

[StonyCreekFarm]

One of the girls got attacked early this morning. Sir came to her rescue and scared off the assailant but not soon enough because Cheese is really injured
She isn't one of our most friendly chickens but I threw a towel over her and brought her inside. We rinsed off her wounds but not very well yet. Her back is really mangled and she has a wound under her wing that I haven't gotten to look at yet. She's currently in a little dog crate with water. She ate some boiled egg this morning and she even laid an egg. We have wound spray, but that's about it.

What else can we do for her? Should we soak her in warm water? Trim her feathers around her wound. (I haven't looked too deeply at it yet)

I have attached a pic.

 

[coach723]

Yes, I would trim any feathers back to help keep the wound clean, and so you can see it better. Go over her really well to make sure you haven't missed any wounds or punctures. You can use the wound spray, you can use plain neosporin (no pain killer) on them. Chlorhexidine (hibiclens, you can get at any drug store or walmart) is very good for an initial cleaning flushing of wounds. As long as there is no infection or internal injuries she should heal up with time and hopefully be fine. Once you get things cleaned up, pictures of wounds are always helpful.

 

[StonyCreekFarm]

Thanks! It almost looks as if a piece of her back skin/fat has gotten pulled back. Once by backup has arrived to help me clean her up, I get some better pictures. I read we can put a sock over her head when we clean her up so she won't peck. Is this wise?

 

[coach723]

I've never done that. If she's really hard to handle you can wrap her in a towel to help hold her, if you have a helper it will probably go OK. When I'm working alone I will sometimes drape a lightweight towel or cloth over their head, but most of them will calm down sufficiently to do what you need to do. Since she's injured on the back and under the wing, wrapping her may make it difficult to do what needs to be done. If you end up needing to cover her head to calm her down, make sure she can still breathe well, they can get very stressed by handling and you would want to know right away if she was having breathing difficulty. Make sure you have a block of time so you can take your time and not rush. Stop and breathe for a minute and de-stress yourself if you need to. While working on the part under the wing it may be easier to lay her on her back (on a clean towel since she's injured there). Once on their back they will often relax more.