Flesh ripped off back of chickens neck

[SuzanneShane]

My Buff Orp was just attacked by a wild duck. The duck ripped off a 1 1/2 inch long by 3/4 inch wide strip of flesh and feathers off the back of her neck. You can see the neck. Can she heal from this wound? Is there something I can do for her? Please help.

 

[PrplHartJarHead]

Check out you tube, there are some decent chicken medical videos on there. I had a similar wound on a young, just about to start laying pullet. Unfortunately, we did not discover her in time as an artery was opened and the poor thing died. We were never sure what did the damage, only suspicions.

 

[boskelli1571]

How awful for you both! Yes she can heal, it will take time though. She will need to be confined away from other hens/fowl, probably until the feathers regrow. Using a gentle soap and water, keep the area clean, moist but not wet. You can apply a thin coating of neosporin or similar - make sure it does not have any numbing medicine (novocane/lido/xylo) in it tho' - this is toxic to chickens. Do the treatment 2x day morning & evening. Your biggest problem will be keeping infection at bay. The area will likely be red and sore for a couple of days, but this should gradually disappear. If you notice any swelling, discharge, foul smell from the wound, either get her to a vet or use an avian antibiotic on her - there is info. on this in the emergency care section of the learning center. Keep her quiet for a few days, make sure she eats/drinks ok. You can put vitamin supp. in her water and give her extra protien in the way of mealworms, a little cat food etc. A slurry made of oatmeal, water/milk and probiotic yoghurt will also help her fight.
Of course, she will be spoiled rotten by the time she gets out of 'solitary' ..........good luck and don't hesitate to keep on asking folks for advice,

 

[SuzanneShane]

Thanks for your help. She's doing okay so far with the treatments you recommended. Fingers crossed!!

 

[boskelli1571]

Good to hear she's doing well! It's amazing how resilient chickens are.........

 

[boskelli1571]

How's your girl doing?? Improvement continuing I hope......

 

[Michael Apple]

I don't like repeating myself, but I'll say it again, just as I have in other threads where this incessant desire to diversify flocks with different species has proved to be problematic :

When your hens get injured by the drake, or they get sick from drinking fouled water, just post in the Emergencies section of the forum, and the common preventative recommendation of separating ducks from chickens will be echoed. Chickens can contract diseases ducks may be immune to. Consider that waterfowl have more immunity to Fowl Cholera, whereas chickens do not. That can be quite an involved subject when you consider that cross viral mutations can occur, and are only perpetuated by housing different species together. They also have different nutritional needs, different housing needs, etc. Ducks prefer a moist environment where chickens require drier environments to maintain health. Ask any professors of poultry science departments from any university about keeping chickens and waterfowl, turkeys, or game birds together.

SuzanneShane, I'm not picking on you, and you likely were unaware, but it has long been a practice to keep chickens separate from waterfowl, turkeys, and game birds for very good reasons. There are some on this forum who will argue against common sense at every turn, and make all sorts of claims contrary to common sense. I hope your hen recovers to full health, and you can work out separate, beneficial environments for your ducks and chickens.

 

[Pyxis]

I don't like repeating myself, but I'll say it again, just as I have in other threads where this incessant desire to diversify flocks with different species has proved to be problematic :

When your hens get injured by the drake, or they get sick from drinking fouled water, just post in the Emergencies section of the forum, and the common preventative recommendation of separating ducks from chickens will be echoed. Chickens can contract diseases ducks may be immune to.  Consider that waterfowl have more immunity to Fowl Cholera, whereas chickens do not. That can be quite an involved subject when you consider that cross viral mutations can occur, and are only perpetuated by housing different species together. They also have different nutritional needs, different housing needs, etc.  Ducks prefer a moist environment where chickens require drier environments to maintain health. Ask any professors of poultry science departments from any university about keeping chickens and waterfowl, turkeys, or game birds together.

SuzanneShane, I'm not picking on you, and you likely were unaware, but it has long been a practice to keep chickens separate from waterfowl, turkeys, and game birds for very good reasons. There are some on this forum who will argue against common sense at every turn, and make all sorts of claims contrary to common sense. I hope your hen recovers to full health, and you can work out separate, beneficial environments for your ducks and chickens.

In her first post she said it was a wild duck, not her own ducks. Incidentally, I keep chickens and ducks together with no problems. I don't think this is a black and white, all or nothing issue. If problems arise, yes, most definitely separate, and that's what I tell everyone. However, many many people keep them together with no problems at all. I've done it for seven years now and I've never once had illnesses related to keeping them together, nor have I ever had a duck injure a chicken or vice versa. At the first sign of trouble they'll be separated but until then, I'll leave them be because it works. I also keep geese and guineas with the chicken flock, and that's never caused a problem either. I think as long as you're smart about it, it works just fine. Of course, this is just my experience and everyone I know who keeps both keeps them together and they don't have problems either. I think this is a case of, if you have problems you talk about it and ask about it, and if you don't, you don't, so I think the problems seem much more common than they are because you're gonna hear about the situations that aren't working way more often than you'll hear about those that are. Although I guess you may think this is me "arguing against common sense" but hey, if it works, it works, right? As I said, at first sign of trouble, they'll be separated. I think that's common sense

Anyway, about the hen! If you can, see if you can get some stuff from a vet called DermaCleanse to put on the wound. I had a vet give it to me once for a drake that had been attacked by a weasel and was pretty much scalped. It stimulates the regrowth of skin.

 

[Michael Apple]

If problems arise, yes, most definitely separate, and that's what I tell everyone. However, many many people keep them together with no problems at all. I've done it for seven years now and I've never once had illnesses related to keeping them together, nor have I ever had a duck injure a chicken or vice versa. At the first sign of trouble they'll be separated but until then, I'll leave them be because it works.

I saw the problems/injuries which occurred when the intermingling of species took place on my folk's property. So what I've observed over that time, in addition to education from poultry science department publications brings me to the conclusions and responsibility of assisting with accurate information to others new to/ or curious to own poultry, predominantly chickens. I don't think any of us stop learning. Even some breeds of chickens are better left separate. Crested breeds with non crested breeds is not a good idea, raising Bantam Wyandottes with LF Rhode Island Reds is not a good idea, keeping roosters housed together is generally not a good idea, a large breed rooster with a flock of smaller breed hens is not a good idea, and there have been enough posts displayed on this forum about injured birds due to these sorts of instances which demonstrate this.

So what does being smart about it entail if they have access to each others pens, coops, and feeding stations during the day when nobody can monitor behavior?

I think this is a case of, if you have problems you talk about it and ask about it, and if you don't, you don't, so I think the problems seem much more common than they are because you're gonna hear about the situations that aren't working way more often than you'll hear about those that are. Although I guess you may think this is me "arguing against common sense" but hey, if it works, it works, right? As I said, at first sign of trouble, they'll be separated. I think that's common sense

By and large, it does not work. There is no egalitarianism among the avian species. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

[Pyxis]

I don't want to argue about this, really. All I'm trying to say is that it can be done if someone wants to make a go of it. I'm not "creating problems" - there are no problems for me. Yes, I do have vacant housing available should something happen to move birds into. Many people who homestead don't have the space to separate, and many people who want to free range don't want to make a chore of it - I can only let the chickens out this day, then the ducks this day, then the geese this day, etc. People have been doing it for years and years. I'm sure the people who had farms back in the days when you farmed for a living and that's what you did weren't being overly cautious. In some cases yes, separate, like with turkeys and chickens because of blackhead if you have blackhead in your area. But that doesn't mean you should never mix birds under any circumstances, that it will never work out, that it's always going to end badly. That's not true. And just as I said in my first post, I know it doesn't work for everyone. I said that. I said there are cases where you should separate. But sometimes it works just fine. Even housing multiple roosters together can be fine. I have five living together right now, one father, one son, two from this year that are unrelated, and yes, a bantam cochin rooster, all living with my main flock. No one fights. There are no injuries. So yes, if you want to start with everyone separated, and you have the resources, money, land, and time to do it that's fine. But for many people, it's too much money, they don't have enough land, they don't have enough time to take care of multiple pens of birds every day, etc. Certainly there is a risk. I accept that risk. If something happens, well, I knew it could happen and I accept responsibility. But so far, after seven years of doing things this way, I've had no trouble. So I think we should agree to disagree here. I just think that people should have access to both sides of the argument and can make up their own minds. As I said before, I think this is case where you hear about the problems much more than you hear about the successes, because people are far more likely to post when they're having problems than they are to say that everything is going perfectly. But I don't want to derail this thread so if you want to continue talking go ahead and pm me