(Graphic pic) Something took a chunk out of my black star

[rooster-red]

This a.m. one of my black stars was being particularly mean to my smallest EE, so I pulled the black star out of the run so she could hang out with 2 hens that regularly fly over my 6' fence when they want.

I went into the house for like 10 minutes then came back out to do a little work. the 3 girls were right outside the run exactly where they were when I left them, all doing their regular chicken things.

I picked up the black star and ran my hand down her head to her back ond noticed a little blood on my hand so I started checking her over and found a huge chunck of skin missing from the back of her neck!
she wasn't bleeding very much at all, and whats really weird is that hardly any feathers looked out of place when I picked her up.

I searched inside and out of the coop & run, no feathers, no trace of blood, and for the 10 minutes that I was inside there was no noise from the chickens at all and they are very easy to hear from my house when the alarm is raised as they are only 50 ft away.

She is not in shock, eating and drinking well, acting perfectly normal like nothing is wrong, doesn't seem to be in pain at all.

I washed her wound with saline and tried to sew it up, but there is not enough skin to close the wound.

Will this skin grow back on its own?

I would hate to have to cull her, but if it won't grow back I guess I won't have a choice.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I hope the skin grows back. I am so sorry she had that happen to her.

 

[scgamecock]

Sorry about your hen.It may grow back, I have a bantam hen that had the entire meat ripped off the back of her head by another hen.It was nothing but her skull and it took a while but it grew back and now some feathers are starting to grow on it.

 

[rooster-red]

I'll put some neosporin on her and keep an eye on her.

 

[speckledhen]

Ouch! Hope she heals up okay, Lee.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Yes it will grow back, but it will take time for sure. If I were you I'd keep her separate and keep polysporin on it. Close it as much as you can, and just keep the rest clean. Leave the most bottom part open to drain any infection that may come. I would not start her on antibiotics unless you see infection. This wound will not heal right away so you need to leave the antibiotics for when you need them, you can't keep her healthy by having her on them for a long time.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I would wash daily with sterile saline and you will need to keep that wound moist for a time...I suggest you try this product:
GRANULEX V:
http://www.ronsvetsupply.com/granulexv.html

...you can look at your tSC or such in the horse section...it is often sold for horse wounds but otherwise do a google search to compare prices and buy online. regardless of how well she seems you will need to keep her separated and out of the coop...keep in a clean environment until healed.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

It has a really good chance of coming back. Just keep her seperate and pampered for a while. The other chickens will be attracted to the wound, so let her stay by herself until it heals.

Neosporin, BlueKot, or any other similar creams would help. For now, just keep her somewhere safe and somewhere clean.

She should be okay. I had a chicken survive getting her wing ripped off through a privacy fence, and she lived for years afterward. I think we gave her an injectable antibiotic(provided by a vet friend), don't know what it was, all I remember(I was little) was having to give her a shot at least once a day for a week. (LOL.. I cried because my dad made me give the shot.. I was so scared to hurt "my" chicken, so I remember giving that old bird some kind of shot, can't imagine it anything other than an antibiotic)

I would think giving an antibiotic, Tylan 50(Cattle antibiotic found at TSC) would help ward off any infection.

Keep her warm, unstressed, and well fed on chick starter.

-Kim

 

[rooster-red]

Quote:
It must have been bad karma from picking on Hazel.

 

[rooster-red]

Thanks for the great responses everyone.