Exposed muscle on neck

[OlekLorenc]

Today I discovered on of my hens with a fairly large wound on her neck, presumable done by one of my roosters. It's hard to see in the picture below, but there is a flap of skin with feathers torn in the shape of a V, 1" on each side, and I am able to see her skinny neck and muscle and fat when I lift it. I have isolated the hen in a large cardboard box with food and water and a perch. She is acting normal, walking around, pecking, etc. and doesn't even seem to notice the wound.

I called the local vets and animal hospitals but they don't take "farm animals". One hospital recommended bactitracin, but on the box it says for minor cuts and scrapes, which doesn't seem appropriate. I quickly browsed the forums here and saw that BluKote is highly recommended, but there's no TSC or real feed store within an hour of here. At the local tack shop they recommended "Wonder Dust: Wound Powder for Horses and Show Stock". It is composed of: 71% hydrated lime, 13% copper sulfate, 5% activated charcoal, 5% potassium alum, 2% tannic acid, 2% flowers of sulfur, and 2% of iodoform.

Now I'm not sure which to use. I'm afraid the bactitracin is not really sufficient, and that the powder will dry the wound out to much and that in either case the skin won't grow back together due to it's flappiness and the hen moving its neck a lot. Any recommendations?

 

[chickensioux]

From what I can see in the pic, the skin is torn but there is no muscle damage. Is this correct? You can use neosporin (without pain killer in it - lidocaine, anything that ends in caine). It should heal up on its own. Wash it with warm water and keep her seperated from the rest of the flock until it heals up some. If she is eating and drinking normally as you say, she will be fine. Just watch for infection. You can also clean it with a watered down betadine solution. You can get the neo and betadine at any drug store or Walmart. Good luck.

 

[ClutteredCounty]

I had a chicken with a similar injury. It was further up on the neck and I could actually see some skull showing. It was really bad. I did as chickensioux suggested and she did live! I kept her, her wound, and her bedding clean. Neosporin with out pain killer only...... worked like a charm. She also regrew all her feathers back! I hope she does well!

 

[Southernbelle]

Agree with the others. I had one who was laid open from the top of her skull to her shoulders and she healed great. I seperated her into a dog crate and kept it in the coop so her coopmates wouldn't forget her. I washed her wound with sterile saline (boiled 1 qt water, add 1/4 tsp salt. Use when cooled.) and loaded her up on Neosporin. It took a few weeks, but she formed a thick scab and slowly the wound got smaller and smaller. The feathers grew back, except a very small bald spot.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

Our crazy leghorn pullet had the same type of injury on the side of her neck. I just cleaned it (once!) with peroxide, wiped the peroxide off, put triple antibiotic ointment on a cotton ball, and held it to the wound. I couldn't keep it on her neck, but I slathered triple antibiotic ointment on the wound for when I put her back in the coop after her treatment every evening. No one else pecked at it, and it healed up in a few days.

 

[sunket77]

mine had the same thing on the back of her entire neck as well (she was horribly pecked) I just separated her and did nothing with advice from my sons 4h leader and she is now growing feathers back! chickens are amazing healers!!!

 

[OlekLorenc]

Thanks for all the advice and hope! I didn't see any muscle damage. I cleaned with with hydrogen peroxide and applied the bacitracin. She didn't seem to mind and isn't cleaning it out, so we'll see how she does.

 

[Overeasyplz]

chickens can take a lot of damage and miraculously pull through.. Unless it's your favorite and suddenly she's a delicate fragile flower

 

[OlekLorenc]

Chicken seems to be doing well, acting normal, still laying eggs. The wound also looks good, clean and dry. Only thing I'm concerned about is a bubble of air (lower right in the picture). Is this normal, maybe the crop? or should I try to pop it?

 

[Bar' Rock]

I have a chicken with a similar story and it's been a marathon. Initially cleaned it and crated her for 2 weeks. Let her rejoin the free-range flock when it appeared healed up and mostly covered by feathers. Was torn back open again. Repeated the crate process, attempted to create a shield of some sort with gauze and duct tape, but removed it when she freaked out and couldn't walk straight because it upset her so much. She's now on re-injury/re-tear #3 and though it's fairly healed up I think there won't be feathers in that spot now that it's gone through multiple traumas. Righ now we keep her (with two friendly hens) in our aviary separate from the rest of the flock (and rooster who seems to be the culprit of re-injury), but it's been a hassel and I really wish I could figure out some sort of shield kinda like folks use the 'chicken saddle' for protecting back feathers from the mating roosters. Anyone have any ideas for the neck area??? I'm out of shield-making ideas for such a tricky body part...