Help hen badly wounded I mean really bad!!! UPDATE!!

[ACraZyLittLeChiCkenGirl]

I am really scared for her... she is doing good but I just worry that the skin wont unroll and that i wont be able to sew her up. if I have to wait a couple of days she might not make it. that wound is really dry!!!

 

[GreenGables]

Just watch her. I had to stitch my chicken and she ended up undoing some of the stitches. She opened up about 1 inch of the area which became crusty and hard. As the area healed around this crusted over hard area, it eventually pushed the hard area out and closed completely with new pink skin. Just keep an eye on her. Chickens are quite resilient as I have found out by experience with this one chicken. Careful using so much Penicillin. If a child gets 250mg, a chicken, because of it's weight, would get alot less. I sprinkled some garlic powder in the water for a few days after the incident with my chicken. A triple antibiotic ointment is good for the site while it heals. It sounds like you have done a great job so far. She is eating well and that's huge. Keep up the good work.

 

[onafixedincome]

Some things I have done/seen done:

First, once you are past the first 24 hours, sewing up a wound is not a good idea. It's contaminated and the loose tissue, if any, is dead--which means it will harbor and protect bacterial infection in the wound if you use it to cover.

That means you are stuck with letting the wound heal 'by second intention', which means that the wound will heal from the edges inward, slowly. And it can be VERY slow!, so be patient.

If you have a vet in the area who is willing to work with chickens, I'd recommend a visit. They're unexpectedly tough birds, but sometimes a little help is needed for optimal healing to happen. Dead tissue really should be removed by a professional, but can be snipped away CAREFULLY to expose healthy pink tissue with good blood supply if you are SURE you know what you are doing. If you aren't sure, don't try it. As the wound heals, the dead tissue will become clear, and generally will come off fairly easily.

Keep encouraging her to eat--soft boiled/chopped, scrambled, hardboiled and crumbled, and mixed with a good quality chicken feed. Plenty of water--and you can put electrolytes/vitamins in that to help her along as well, just don't overdo it.

As for antibiotics...if the wound is dry and clean, or pink and moist without pus, I would not give them.

There are a couple of different ways to deal with large skinned wound areas--dry and moist healing/bandaging techniques. Twice-daily hot packing can be helpful (you use a warm moist washcloth on the area, which does two things--it softens crusts and scabs for careful removal, and it encourages circulation to the area). Something like the wound you describe is not something I would like to try dry-healing, so you'll need an ointment like neosporin, bacitracin, or similar which is safe for use in laying chickens. Slather on a reasonable amount, lay Telfa non-stick pads over it, then use a baby T shirt or similar to hold it all in place. Change every day to two days according to how it looks, and gradually, as the tissue heals, reduce the bandaging and ointment until healing is complete.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Carrie Lynn]

Yes, please do not sew her up.

 

[ACraZyLittLeChiCkenGirl]

Great!! I was really worrying about sewing her up... she is standing up and eating still which is a good sign... I am going to get some ointment tomorrow but if I am using bluein cant I just use vasiline??? also as it heals slowly i can remove the tissue by just pealing it away... will the wash cloth make it easier for her to heal??? tahnks so much for th help guys I am keeping you updated and might actually post pics tomorrow so that yall can see. btw some of her feathers are laying in the wound, should I cut the feathers around the wound off? please keep helping me...

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

Just have to add my 2 cents here. My hen had an open wound on her back the size of my hand. There was nothing to suture. Kept it covered w/neosporin for 3+ days then let it go on it's own w/just a visual check each day. At the end of about 10 days THE WHOLE SCAB LIFTED RIGHT OFF!!! Plenty of healthy, pink skin under it. I never would have believed it as she was torn down to bone and fat. Weird. What I'm saying is that if it's been several days, leave it be and just keep checking for pus, serum (the clear stuff that leaks from cuts) and blood. DON'T PICK THE SCAB. It is protecting the new skin that is forming. If nothing is going on, let her rest under a heat lamp in a dark room. Feed her all the yummies she will eat, being careful to remove leftovers before they spoil. Yogurt, scrambled eggs, cooked meat bits, fresh greens, bits of chopped banannas & apples. Warmth, rest and good nutrition work wonders.

 

[StephanieD]

Here's a picture of what a neighbor's dog did to my chicken a little over two weeks ago. I was so mad at my neighbor's darn dog for doing this

I gave her extra treats like eggs, yogurt, fruits and flax seed. I applied neosporin to it every other day and kept her confined to a dog crate for 9 days. She was miserable but .....it had to be done. Now, 16 days later it is scabbing up nicely (she even added a little dirt to her boo-boo which I bathed her twice & then gave up) and her feathers are starting to grow back!!!

 

[ChickenCrazed]

I had a Brahma hen that was ripped wide open (baseball size gash) from our rooster...I thought for sure she was a gonner...I was it with peroxide the first day flushing the wound well...Then I packed the wound with Neosporin and put her on cage rest on towels that I replaced daily with clean ones and applied more Neosporin daily...No bandage, no sutures...She continued to eat, drink and after a couple of days even laid an egg...LOL...It took a couple of weeks and the wound slowly shrank smaller and smaller...You would never know she had such a large wound now!

Good luck!...Hope she feels better soon!

 

[ACraZyLittLeChiCkenGirl]

Ok yall are making me feel so much better!!! it seems like I should jus go get the neosporian!!! she is in a box... my brooder... but I havent put lamp on her. should i be placing towels under her and them replacing them daily??? its a little smelly in the box but i dont see any puss or anything... but there is like a pocket where a foot went like I can stick my 4 fingers in it... im still keeping it covered and ima replace the bandages tomorrow... also should I turn on my lamp. we have been having 40 degree nights here and 80 during the day... also im keep givin her goodies... should I remove the scab or will it fall off on its own??

 

[ScotianChick]

I had two REALLY bad wounds just a little while ago and I learned that chickens are tough!! Don't sew her up and don't use peroxide. Use a bit of iodine to disinfect the wounds but don't do it for too long because it dries them out. If you feel it needs to be cleaned, mix the iodine with water. I use a little polysporin on the girls and kept the wounds uncovered. Air helps them heal. Once they both had scabbed over, I put saddles on them and put them back out with the flock. I check on them nightly. One of them has completely lost their scab and there is brand new pink skin underneath

I left the saddle on her so she doesn't hurt the new skin while free ranging. The other is still healing because her wound was basically gaping open. It's all scabbed over but I'm sure it will do the same as her sister's.

Don't panic and give her lots of yummy foods like scrambled eggs! Keep her warm, comfy, clean and happy!