EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[kwhites634]

Quote:
There's nothing to stitch, it's gone. You can see my pics here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1168745/cannibalistic-feather-picking-graphic-pics#post_18388552
Check with Kristan; I think she went through this a while back
@Fire Ant Farm
She stitched up one that had been scalped, if I recall?
Yeah, I think so. I thought someone had your problem. I can't get your pics to show up right now, but I'd normally say leave it open so air can get to it; just make sure to keep it clean

 

[campingshaws]

 

 

 

 

On chickens do y'all cover deep wounds or leave them open? Not a puncture, but lots of skin is gone.

If wound is clean and gaping I would put in a few stitches to hold it together. It will heal better and keep dirt out.


Make sure that it is not so tight though that if puss does develop it can drain.


Chickens do have magical abilities to heal remarkably well despite devastating wounds.

There's nothing to stitch, it's gone. You can see my pics here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1168745/cannibalistic-feather-picking-graphic-pics#post_18388552

Check with Kristan; I think she went through this a while back
@Fire Ant Farm

She stitched up one that had been scalped, if I recall?

Yeah, I think so. I thought someone had your problem. I can't get your pics to show up right now, but I'd normally say leave it open so air can get to it; just make sure to keep it clean

She's down to meat and bone from hip to vent. I'm not holding out much hope for her at this point. Eyes closed, not holding her head up. I got a little Gatorade into her with a syringe. She was moving around and alert in the crate with the others, so I guess now she feels calm and safe enough to relax? Hopefully she's channeling all that rest into healing. She's a little thing, about the size of a baseball. The frizzle is alert, vocal, scratching in the bedding, flapping around, eating and drinking. They're in separate crates in the same room.

 

[BullChick]

I have to run to the feed store. I broke my rake in half. ^.^

I've done that. I sanded it down, and taped it for Duckling.

She's down to meat and bone from hip to vent. I'm not holding out much hope for her at this point. Eyes closed, not holding her head up. I got a little Gatorade into her with a syringe. She was moving around and alert in the crate with the others, so I guess now she feels calm and safe enough to relax? Hopefully she's channeling all that rest into healing. She's a little thing, about the size of a baseball. The frizzle is alert, vocal, scratching in the bedding, flapping around, eating and drinking. They're in separate crates in the same room.

 

[kwhites634]

Quote:

There's nothing to stitch, it's gone. You can see my pics here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1168745/cannibalistic-feather-picking-graphic-pics#post_18388552
Check with Kristan; I think she went through this a while back
@Fire Ant Farm

She stitched up one that had been scalped, if I recall? Yeah, I think so. I thought someone had your problem. I can't get your pics to show up right now, but I'd normally say leave it open so air can get to it; just make sure to keep it clean
She's down to meat and bone from hip to vent. I'm not holding out much hope for her at this point. Eyes closed, not holding her head up. I got a little Gatorade into her with a syringe. She was moving around and alert in the crate with the others, so I guess now she feels calm and safe enough to relax? Hopefully she's channeling all that rest into healing.

She's a little thing, about the size of a baseball. The frizzle is alert, vocal, scratching in the bedding, flapping around, eating and drinking. They're in separate crates in the same room.
I did finally get the pictures up; nasty looking. I believe I'd go with ChickenCanoe. She may well surprise you & bounce back; Kristen's hen did it, Banty's duck did it....stranger things have happened.

 

[Honora]

She's down to meat and bone from hip to vent. I'm not holding out much hope for her at this point. Eyes closed, not holding her head up. I got a little Gatorade into her with a syringe. She was moving around and alert in the crate with the others, so I guess now she feels calm and safe enough to relax? Hopefully she's channeling all that rest into healing.

She's a little thing, about the size of a baseball. The frizzle is alert, vocal, scratching in the bedding, flapping around, eating and drinking. They're in separate crates in the same room.

Sorry to hear that. I had a Silkie that was actually killed like that by vicious flock mates. I rehomed those nasty murderous hens and they ended up with hens that were even meaner and kept them in line. Hope you can find a good place for the mean ones.

 

[The Duck Ladie]

I set my Harlequin eggs! The nice Lady had extras so instead of 12 I got 18 eggs! She showed me the ducks and they are beautiful!

 

[campingshaws]

She's down to meat and bone from hip to vent. I'm not holding out much hope for her at this point. Eyes closed, not holding her head up. I got a little Gatorade into her with a syringe. She was moving around and alert in the crate with the others, so I guess now she feels calm and safe enough to relax? Hopefully she's channeling all that rest into healing. She's a little thing, about the size of a baseball. The frizzle is alert, vocal, scratching in the bedding, flapping around, eating and drinking. They're in separate crates in the same room.

Sorry to hear that.  I had a Silkie that was actually killed like that by vicious flock mates. I rehomed those nasty murderous hens and they ended up with hens that were even meaner and kept them in line. Hope you can find a good place for the mean ones. 

They're all juvies, still peeping, so I'm hoping it's something simple like overcrowding and a protein deficiency.

 

[Phage]

On chickens do y'all cover deep wounds or leave them open? Not a puncture, but lots of skin is gone.

If wound is clean and gaping I would put in a few stitches to hold it together. It will heal better and keep dirt out.
Make sure that it is not so tight though that if puss does develop it can drain.
Chickens do have magical abilities to heal remarkably well despite devastating wounds.

There's nothing to stitch, it's gone. You can see my pics here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1168745/cannibalistic-feather-picking-graphic-pics#post_18388552

Yikes for that I would treat with betadine and rooster booster to discourage more picking. Isolate if possible.
Also give all the birds a high protein boost like canned fish.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Those incubator manuals are often wrong. Suggest checking out the first part of the thread (I made the "too high" error my first time, lost some chicks.

)

On chickens do y'all cover deep wounds or leave them open? Not a puncture, but lots of skin is gone.

If wound is clean and gaping I would put in a few stitches to hold it together. It will heal better and keep dirt out.
Make sure that it is not so tight though that if puss does develop it can drain.
Chickens do have magical abilities to heal remarkably well despite devastating wounds.

Quote: There's nothing to stitch, it's gone. You can see my pics here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1168745/cannibalistic-feather-picking-graphic-pics#post_18388552
Check with Kristan; I think she went through this a while back
@Fire Ant Farm
So sorry to hear - saw the thread, that looks bad.

In general, if they survive the injury, they heal well on their own, and putting stuff on it is unnecessary (vet recommended against it, except maybe some VetRx or something). It needs to be clean, and the chick needs to be isolated from others and kept warm and get good nutrition. My vet gave my dog-attack rooster antibiotics because he had a lot of deep bites filled with dog-mouth stuff and dirt. Once Dumbledore was stable, hydrotherapy (warm water on the wound) followed by blowdrying every day helped stimulate blood flow and speed healing (be very careful - don't bathe an unstable chicken, it can kill them, ask @casportpony ).

This is a minor bit of acting up of the boys on the girls (pullet skin is fragile) - first photo is the day after the injury after BluKote - it was worse on the day, a pretty big swath of the back of her head was just ripped off (about 1/2" x 1"). I have a couple of these every year as I'm raising the NN pullets if they're with boys, it freaks one out at first, but they heal fine. I just used BluKote so it wouldn't get pecked. It has healed well and very quickly, though I'm not sure what to do with that tag of skin (but no one is messing with it) - the after photo is 5 days later:








Here's Dumbledore, multi-dog attack, more complex, took longer to heal, and I kept him indoors for a long time because of the concern for fly strike. He's doing great now, just has a weird tail because he lost a giant chink of tissue there, so the feathers are weird.

She stitched up one that had been scalped, if I recall?

No stitches - I personally wouldn't ever do that. Unnecessary. See above.

Quote: They're all juvies, still peeping, so I'm hoping it's something simple like overcrowding and a protein deficiency.
Kev had a really bad problem with a batch of EEs - it was severe feather picking in that case, but FWIW, he used a high protein kitten food (meat as first three ingredients) to supplement their feed - only thing that got it to stop. (That being said he got rid of them eventually because of this trait.)

_ Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

@campingshaws - other than for the initial cleaning of the wound, I would not put anything else in it, and do not try to cover or close it. This was the advice of my vet (it surprised me, I was thinking I should put something on there). She said that they heal well enough that when you put a lot of stuff on it (peroxide, butadiene, etc.), it just impedes things. Try giving the little one scrambled eggs, and whatever you give weak chicks (e.g., probiotics in water, or whatever). Dumbledore received pain medication, which I think helped him, so be aware that that wound hurts a lot.