Help for Attacked Chicken w/ ***pics***

[LovinMyHensInNC!]

My 1.5 year old black australorp seems to have been attacked. She has an open wound on her back which makes me think a hawk may have tried to get her...??? She has been looking bad lately (acting fine!) but I thought she was just going through a molt. My hens often fly over their fence and free range and this evening, she was just sitting on the outside of their run... not enough energy to fly back over. I have her separated and I am monitoring her but she is acting very listless. The first two pics (sorry one is sideways!): does this look like a normal molt?? The third pic: her open wound on her back. Could the MANY missing feathers and the open wound be related or is this just a coincidence?... we have a problem with coyotes and hawks.

Should I put something on her open wound? I just have household first aid items. Thanks for any help!

 

[fatboys farm]

luvmyhen hi from GA, the wound is serious but a hawk would not give up that easy. hope she will be okay. im new to chickens but im convinced that guinees (if spelled right) are the best protection. i have 4 and dogs or hawks ars detured by their loud screams. hope this helps.

 

[BarkerChickens]

She's definitely molting. As for the wound, clean it well with dilute peroxide or dilute iodine (I prefer the iodine since isn't as harsh on healthy cells). Then cover it with neosporin. Where exactly is the wound? I know you said on the back, but where? Is it under her wing? Do you have a rooster? I would expect her to be dead if it was a coyote, but a hawk is possible if it got chased off or something. If you have a roo, sometimes the nails or spurs cut the hen open pretty good and are usually on the back/side area under the wing. If you have her in the house and make sure flies don't get to the wound, etc, she should be fine with neosporin (if the wound is cleaned well initially). Check her periodically for any funky smell, pus, etc. since that will be a sign of infection. I have had a hen recently cut by the roo and this method worked well...no infection and she is now completely healed. Just some useful advice (from experience), if your hen is molting and she is injured, you may want to give her some Poly-vi-Sol (WITHOUT iron). It's a liquid baby vitamin and it might help give her an added boost since she is probably already weaker from the molt.

Good luck!!

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

I had a huge red-bro hen that had her whole side ripped OFF down to the muscle. Didnt notice for a few days, they are all free range. It was nasty and filled with maggots. I felt like a terrible Mom, but she never acted weird and stays out in the field most of the time.
I gave her a bath, cleaned out the wound, injected peroxide in the deep places and sprayed some of my horse's purple Wound Kote all over it every day and kept her in deep shavings. She's perfectly fine now with a featherless side.
You could probably use Iodine...

 

[LovinMyHensInNC!]

Thanks all for the encouragement!

I just cleaned the wound with watered down peroxide and coated the wound with neosporin and she is in the laundry room so nasty flies can get to her.

The wound doesn't look too deep but it is almost in a line on her back from under one wing all the way up and then to under her other wing.

 

[Wild Chicken]

We had a very similiar wound on our hen....she was being attacked by a hawk and

we were just looking out the window as it was happening so we were able to scare the hawk away.

I'd do what others have advised...she'll be just fine

 

[k2chickens]

well it's not as bad as i thought it was going to be. Neosporin is what i use...but make sure its the original kind and not the pain reliever/extra strength kind.