Emergency - extreme injury about tail feathers

[Leighem]

My husband and I are new to keeping chickens and up til now have had no issues. We went out of town for a week and left a friend to house sit. When we returned we found one hen with extreme damage to the area above her tail feathers. Because we were gone for the week I have no idea what caused the injury, whether the subsequent trauma was self-inflicted or caused by picking. We have 22 other hens and they are all 5 months old. Can anyone successfully treated this level of injury? If so, I would love to know your protocol. Thank you!!

 

[FrostRanger]

It's definitely treatable. Separate her and clean the wound off then put neosporin without pain relief (very important to get the one without the pain relief) and put that on her. Keep it clean, and keep her separated and where flies can't get to her and she should be fine. Ik it looks scary, but it's really not too bad, there are birds with far worse injuries who have pulled through

 

[Susan Skylark]

You may want to get that stitched (or do it yourself). You can try healing by second intention (let it heal over itself) but you’re looking at 6-8 weeks bs 7-10 days (assuming they can close it fully). It looks fairly fresh so it should be close-able. I’d guess something tried to grab her and she managed to get away or caught herself on a nail (or has really been pecked at). You’ll want oral or injectable antibiotics, topical isn’t helpful with this big of an injury. Put her away from the others, good feed and water access, keep her dry, use fly control (catron in wound or wipe fly spray around it). If suturing it yourself (is your neighbor an emt or your cousin a med student?) make sure the edges are bleeding and soft, not dry or crusty, trim off any dead dry tissue. Pull the edges together and close with either multiple stitches or a continuous stitch. Throw two square knots on each tie off. You can use fishing line or thread. You want the skin edges to come together but not a ton of tension. Stitches out in 7-10 days. If you can’t get her stitched you’ll want to clean the wound, let it scab over and leave her in a confined space for 4-8 weeks until fully healed and continue with fly control until dry and we’ll sealed.

 

[nuthatched]

It's possible she was cannibalized, how big of space do they have? What's their diet?

 

[The Coop Crew]

Irrigate with saline solution and keep it moist with antibiotic ointment as @FrostRanger mentioned.
You could try to stitch but I’ve seen many many comments about how it’s useless to stitch a chicken because they will not leave them alone.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My husband and I are new to keeping chickens and up til now have had no issues. We went out of town for a week and left a friend to house sit. When we returned we found one hen with extreme damage to the area above her tail feathers. Because we were gone for the week I have no idea what caused the injury, whether the subsequent trauma was self-inflicted or caused by picking. We have 22 other hens and they are all 5 months old. Can anyone successfully treated this level of injury? If so, I would love to know your protocol. Thank you!!View attachment 3889960View attachment 3889961View attachment 3889962

Clean the wounds with Chlorhexidine or saline. Trim the feathers away from the wound, then apply triple antibiotic ointment.

Leave the wound open, don't stitch. IF she starts to pick at the wound, then put an infant's t-shirt on her.

Place her somewhere that flies cannot access the wound.

Looks like she's been pecked and plucked. How much space do you have?

 

[Leighem]

It's definitely treatable. Separate her and clean the wound off then put neosporin without pain relief (very important to get the one without the pain relief) and put that on her. Keep it clean, and keep her separated and where flies can't get to her and she should be fine. Ik it looks scary, but it's really not too bad, there are birds with far worse injuries who have pulled

 

[Leighem]

Thank you all so much for your advice! She is doing much better with saline washes and neosporiin. I have noticed that she has started picking at it so I will find an infants tee to help prevent more picking.


They are fed a 19% protein diet and we had electric net fencing but since this happened they are all free ranging. Now we’re trying to figure out how to keep them safe from random dogs and our own German shepherd puppy.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad she is doing o.k.

Nothing is always 100% secure, even fully enclosed coop/runs can have a security breach.

Electric Fencing/netting can be a deterrent. I don't know enough about training dogs to help you, but since your GS is just a pup, you may be able to train him/her to not harm but protect the chickens when they are loose.

 

[Themellowyellows]

It's definitely treatable. Separate her and clean the wound off then put neosporin without pain relief (very important to get the one without the pain relief) and put that on her. Keep it clean, and keep her separated and where flies can't get to her and she should be fine. Ik it looks scary, but it's really not too bad, there are birds with far worse injuries who have pulled through

Why does it have to be without pain relief?