My hens normally stay in the run. Today I was cleaning the run/coop so I let them out while I was cleaning it. I noticed one of the girls wasn’t roaming with the others so I went looking for her. I didn’t see her and then a few minutes later she was back in run run and that’s when I notice a large injury under her wing. I didn’t hear her squawk or run to the coop so I have no idea what happened. I searched the yard and found no signs of blood. The wound was definitely fresh. No roos. Dog was in the house so he didn’t harm her. No sign of blood in coop or on other hens. Any idea if this was another hen pecking or a predator attack? No vets near me will treat a chicken. Right now I cleaned her wound with hydrogen peroxide and sprayed Vetericyn on it. It is not actively bleeding. I put her in a dog kennel on the garage with food & water. She’s eating and sleeping but stands up when I walk in the garage to check on her. What else should I do?
Hello LakeGirlHens.
Welcome to BYC.
Don't use Hydrogen Peroxide. It cauterizes the tiny blood vessels that help wounds to heal.
From the picture it looks like the wound isn't properly clean and has some necrotic tissue around it.
Buy some Chlorhexedine, a spray if you can find one and spray the wound so it's soaked and leave it for a few hours.
If you are in a location where you can buy triple anti biotic ointment then get some of that and after the next cleaning, pack some of the ointment into the wound.
She wll heal quickly provided no infection sets in.
I realize it seems sensible to isolate the hen, but often it turns out to be counter productive. Stress from being seperated from the group can do more damage to a chickens health than the original problem. As soon as the wound looks like it's drying on top, I would let her out to join the others.
You will need to check and clean her daily. A medical grade gauze pad or cloth soaked in warm water is fine as a wash.
I would add, given you don't know what caused the wound you should make sure the other hens aren't the cause of the problem. It's an odd place to get a wound of that sort. Usually under wing wounds are caused by a males inside toe nails or spurs during mating.
