I spent most of today repairing chickens and I had a couple of roosters I needed to process but I'm tired!!!!!
Repairs made: one of my hens had a big gash in her side from where the rooster's foot slipped off her back and his toenails ripped her open. The gash was probably about 3" long. I'm not sure when it happened because she had some scabbing and a lot of yuk in it but it wasn't infected. I cleaned her up real good, got all the yuk out and off, plucked the feathers around the wound, treated it with peroxide and then with iodine and then I took a needle and thread and sewed her up. There are some gaps between the stitches as well as a bigger one at the bottom, but I wanted it that way so the wound could drain. I'll be checking on her several times a day for a while to make sure it stays clean and she heals up nicely from the inside rather than from the outside and sealing in some problems. I got her put out in a cage by herself til I can get to the roosters. Then as I was putting her in, I felt a big scab on her other side and looked. What I found was another gash. This one was only about 1.5" long and didn't look too bad. It was kind of healed up but I knew I'd have to open it to get whatever might be caught inside out. Well, there were feathers caught in the scab and once I got that off I found about 3 feathers under her skin. They were all coated with mucus but I got them all out and cleaned up that wound and sewed her up some more. She's a really good girl. She has all this going on and she has continued to lay right through it! I like her a lot.
Once I got her back into her little cage, I noticed one of the other hens was limping pretty hard as she tried to get away from me. So I snatched her up for an inspection. No side wounds but her foot was very tender. So I brought her inside and cleaned her foot up the best I could. I thought it might be bumblefoot but as I examined it I didn't find any cheesy plug. She had something protruding from the wound and I couldn't really tell what it was but I cut around it and I think I got it all out. She was bleeding pretty heavily (not squirting) so I finished up and cleaned it with peroxide and then iodine and pressed a thick pad of gauze on the wound to stop the bleeding. I put a gob of antibiotic ointment in there and wrapped it up with vetwrap and put duct tape over that so she couldn't get the bandages off. Once she was back on the ground she wasn't limping as hard as before so hopefully I won't have to do anything else to it.
Ah the perils and trials of chicken ownership! Sheesh! It's been a long day and I'm tired. Maybe tomorrow I can get to those two roosters.
Repairs made: one of my hens had a big gash in her side from where the rooster's foot slipped off her back and his toenails ripped her open. The gash was probably about 3" long. I'm not sure when it happened because she had some scabbing and a lot of yuk in it but it wasn't infected. I cleaned her up real good, got all the yuk out and off, plucked the feathers around the wound, treated it with peroxide and then with iodine and then I took a needle and thread and sewed her up. There are some gaps between the stitches as well as a bigger one at the bottom, but I wanted it that way so the wound could drain. I'll be checking on her several times a day for a while to make sure it stays clean and she heals up nicely from the inside rather than from the outside and sealing in some problems. I got her put out in a cage by herself til I can get to the roosters. Then as I was putting her in, I felt a big scab on her other side and looked. What I found was another gash. This one was only about 1.5" long and didn't look too bad. It was kind of healed up but I knew I'd have to open it to get whatever might be caught inside out. Well, there were feathers caught in the scab and once I got that off I found about 3 feathers under her skin. They were all coated with mucus but I got them all out and cleaned up that wound and sewed her up some more. She's a really good girl. She has all this going on and she has continued to lay right through it! I like her a lot.
Once I got her back into her little cage, I noticed one of the other hens was limping pretty hard as she tried to get away from me. So I snatched her up for an inspection. No side wounds but her foot was very tender. So I brought her inside and cleaned her foot up the best I could. I thought it might be bumblefoot but as I examined it I didn't find any cheesy plug. She had something protruding from the wound and I couldn't really tell what it was but I cut around it and I think I got it all out. She was bleeding pretty heavily (not squirting) so I finished up and cleaned it with peroxide and then iodine and pressed a thick pad of gauze on the wound to stop the bleeding. I put a gob of antibiotic ointment in there and wrapped it up with vetwrap and put duct tape over that so she couldn't get the bandages off. Once she was back on the ground she wasn't limping as hard as before so hopefully I won't have to do anything else to it.
Ah the perils and trials of chicken ownership! Sheesh! It's been a long day and I'm tired. Maybe tomorrow I can get to those two roosters.
