Fox attacked chicken

[Jrose]

Stitching isn't mandatory, it'll just speed the healing up a ton with a rip that gigantic. That also means less spain and less time for bad bacterias to colonize. The body will still slowly but surely bring the skin back together and scar over and heal up, as long as her system is in good health.

It might be too late to stitch this point, it would just depend on how soft and loose the torn skin still is. Once it gets thick and crusty around the torn edges, the skin's not gonna wanna move.

Stitching is pretty easy. You can literally sew her up like fabric- as long as you take all the thread out when the wound is closed. I've never had a chicken react with acute pain responses during stitching, they amaze me. Pain is also natural, and in most cases necessary for the body to moderate how much activity is appropriate.

She'll be hurting and moving slow for awhile. But this too shall pass! Just keep it clean and prevent infection from setting in.

IMO

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I was also thinking of stitching her wound up but I have no idea how to do it or would it be healed up nicely itself?

I wouldn't stitch it. Leave it open to heal over.

Hopefully her mobility will improve as she heals.

 

[Cocohennypenny]

UPDATE: Today I let the hen out she stayed close to the house and I kept an eye out . I cleaned her and used antiseptic cream and also Vetericyn as replacement for the purple spray, as it was recommended by one of you. I also covered the wound up using children clothing not tight just over the wound as today I noticed she’s scratching the vaseline off and had purple spray stained in her mouth. She doesn’t seem to bothered about being wrapped. She is walking completely fine and even jumping up to places. I do believe she’s getting better slowly.
She isn’t really eating her regular mix and even kitchen scraps like cucumber tomatoes , she wasn’t bothered with the egg today either , should I be worried but she is a very picky hen as it is.
Thank you all so much for helping.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad she was able to get out for a bit and move about. It's good she's walking normally now.
The wound will take weeks to heal, so continue to tend to it daily.
As for food, I wouldn't worry a lot for a day or so, sometimes they can be picky. Make food available and check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We also had a hen injured by a dog that had an open wound similar to this (in the US). We did not stitch it and it healed just fine. I did not want to handle it much as I did not want to hurt her, so we put saline solution in a spray bottle and flushed the wound thoroughly twice daily. Then we dabbed triple antibiotic on it gently to cover the wound, and finally sprayed it with Veterycin gel. In about three weeks it was almost completely healed. Good luck with your girl!

 

[Cocohennypenny]

Hi everyone update on the hen I been cleaning the wound and used antiseptic and vaseline , then using vetericyn spray .
I cover it up lightly because she pecks around it, but I am starting to think it’s not healing well . I’m not sure if I’m correct , it doesn’t look right to me see below

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Is it smaller than it once was, closing from the edges? I would just be sure to spray it thoroughly with saline twice a day, getting it as clean as possible. It looks nice and pink along the left edge, that's nice healthy tissue. The dark stuff along the right looks like dirt to me? See if you can spray that away. And at the bottom margin, that could be dried blood. If that won't spray away, I don't think I would worry about that too much. How does it smell, and how is the bird acting generally? I would not scrub it as that may traumatize it more.

Let's see if the others agree.

 

[Cocohennypenny]

The hen is acting perfectly normal she jumps up to places and down , she pecks around it which worries me but I have covered it up
This is before and other is recent picture.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like it's healing to me, it's only been 13 days since your initial post, it takes time for a large wound like that to heal.
You don't notice any bad odors do you? If there's no odors (you would notice!) then I wouldn't worry and continue to care for the wound like you have been doing.
You report she's active and eating.
If she's picking in the wound, then I would loosely cover her with a saddle or lightweight toddler's t-shirt. Ideally a wound should be left uncovered when possible.

 

[Cocohennypenny]

There is no odours coming only thing I can smell is vaseline . When I clean it with cotton wool she seems really hurt and doesn’t really let me . She would let me clean it before but recent past days she seems hurt so I just dap the wound. I still use the cloth onto it , but I noticed she has her hair coming back and growing back into the area.