Healing a bad chicken wound.

[priscillaJ]

I'd like to relate my healing story for my 4 month old hen. I went out to close the coop and saw she was standing outside of the fence. I picked her up and saw she couldn't walk so I took her in the house. She looked a little mangled and matted. She had an inch long rip in her skin and I could see her leg joint. (I couldn't see in between her body so that was all I could tell was hurt. )There was NO way to join that skin! All I had at the time was some French green clay so I made a paste and put it on the wound. I thought I would protect or 'sanitize', bc French green clay is supposed to have healing properties. Well, next day after a night in a coop---with FLIES--- I took her in the house and put her in a dog crate. I used many methods on the poor girl and her treatment had to evolve! That wound was about 1/2 inch across now and kind of deep. I tried dabbing it to clean it. I couldn't bandage it. I was too light on the antibiotic ointment at first. I poured hydrogen peroxide on/in it. THAT BY THE WAY IS PROBABLY ONLY GOOD FOR THE FIRST GO AROUND ON CLEANING A WOUND. After that, it destroys any 'angiogenesis-blood vessel repairing/healing. Read up online about that. And especially since this was a gaping wound. My opinion on that. The next day I was noticing an unpleasant smell and I didn't think that was a good thing. In the meantime I had bought some more first aid supplies. That night I poured the 'non-stinging' iodine in/on it and maggots ? (tiny worms) started crawling out. I poured a little more iodine on it then!! And I read online about using a big squirt of antibiotic ointment so I put it on thick and in the hole! I filled it up! ugh. I figured the next day I was going to buy a sharp ax and end it. BUT, instead, I filled a deep tub and soaked her for a while and saw that no bugs or worms came floating up. She seemed just a little more alert. She still had an appetite, and she groomed herself some. So the routine became to soak her in the mornings and antibiotic 2x a day. I would put her on our covered deck with a fan. I tried taking her outside (early a.m. when cool outside) and placing her loose on the grass, but the other chickens weren't good with her....pecking at her and her wound. We had a cool day today so I put the whole dog crate out. AND I HAD SOME TULLE CLOTH LIKE FOR WEDDING VEILS, and I covered the crate all the time so flies wouldn't get to her. I had that for gardening and it's cheap! 40 yards for $10. So gradually, instead of hobbling, then hopping, then carefully little limping steps, she has made some progress. When she has the company of the others, she eats better. I think the socialization was important for her. It's pretty bad to stay closed up so long and I just was no substitute for her chicken friends! This whole thing was an evolution in chicken wound care for me. I was very reluctant to have to do it because I had no idea what I was doing. I had to go online and get snippets of info to see if it would fit in with what I was facing and I got some good hints. And a vet told me that triple antibiotic was the best thing to do for her. And I forgot, I gave her fresh bedding each day---a dog pee pad, some cedar chips, a clean towel to sit on, rather than right on the cedar. The 'kill or cure' treatment was the iodine and big blob of antibiotic. If she didn't make it through that, it would have been over! Today she stayed outside a few hours, then got her bath, dressing, and back on the deck in front of the fan. She was standing there with her head down, drying off. I think she had a big day! Hopefully things will continue to go well. She always could move her leg, so I don't think there was anything broken. That darn tulle cloth isn't wide enough and I have to be diligent on keeping the crate covered. I did read that chickens are very resilient, BUT I don't think she would have done this good without clean wound care and antibiotic. In the past I have had unexplained death of a chicken and some stuff we just can't figure out! I really hope hope hope I don't have anymore experiences like this. I think it's only been about 4-5 days since she was hurt.

 

[pozees2]

It sounds like you are doing a very good job caring for this wound and the subsequent fly strike! I would suggest leaving out the cedar chips and using pine shavings or straw instead if possible - there has been conflicting information about cedar chips, suggesting they can off-gas fumes that might be toxic to birds, so perhaps err on the side of caution there. You will need to continue protecting her from flies until the wound has healed up, so there is no second occurrence of fly strike. She may heal a bit faster with some supplemental protein, which you can provide by offering her some cooked egg or some mealworms. Great job, thank you for sharing!

 

[priscillaJ]

Duh, it was pine shavings! I ended up putting a doggie absorbent pad over the shavings, too. That was only so she would have something soft to rest on. Early on, I did give her scrambled egg but tried to not over do it. Her poop was loose and yellow one time so I backed off. She will end up with a hole a little bigger than a pencil eraser and about that deep. She limps still. It appears to be 'closed up' and I have still put in antibiotics. I've been bringing her in at night still because the coop is really full of flies! Good news to me is that I got rid of my 2 roosters! Without the roosters no one picks on her so much when she shows up outside in the mornings. I also have a scissor beaked chicken. I wish I had put her down when she was very, very young. This chicken is more than I want to deal with.....keeping the beak trimmed, making sure she has food to eat and goodies for variety. I'll try the eggs with her.