Help! Severe injury!

[azygous]

Eggcessive, I'm sorry to contradict you, but Blu-kote alone will only dry out the wounds. It's okay to use the Blue-kote, and it will help keep the other chickens from bothering her wounds, but the wounds need to be kept moist and not left to dry out. It also invites bacteria when the wound isn't kept moist.

I have three Legbars and this is just wrecking my emotions, seeing this poor hen.

I had a baby chick get scalped six years ago, and I didn't think she was going to live. I cleaned her wound twice a day for six weeks, applying Blue-kote, letting it dry, then smoothing on Silvadene burn ointment. Her wound closed up, slowly, growing from the outside in towards the center. But no infection ever started because I cleaned her wound every single day and kept it moist. No feathers grew in that new skin, but her other feathers grew in and covered the bald area. Today, she looks as normal as all the other hens and still lays eggs, too.

This hen is young and healthy and looks to be on her way to be healing completely. But, keeping the wounds clean and moist is crucial so infection doesn't set in, even at this point.

Could a hawk have done the damage to this hen? A few days ago I almost lost one of my Legbars to a hawk as the flock was out free-ranging. The hawk strafed her, snatching what looked like a half pound of feathers from her back, but miraculously leaving not so much as a scratch on her skin. Not to say that another chicken couldn't do that kind of damage, but I would think it would be an outside chance of that being the cause.

 

[Eggcessive]

I posted in an earlier post about using plain neosporin/triple AB ointment for wound care. Plain old saline can be really good to clean it if needed, and then use the ointment. It is probably too soon to stop that yet. But I would place her in the coop inside a dog crate with her own food and water. The wire ones would be best to really allow them to interact without getting her hurt. She needs to be seen by the other chickens for awhile before she is out with them-- this will make her integration back into the flock easier. If she was attacked by a flock member, she could be attacked again, so I would take it slow. The BluKote is good only when she is back out with the flock. I prefer the antibiotic ointment, but the BluKote will hide her scar or bare spot once they are in contact with her. Just take it slow, and you have been getting good advice from everyone.

 

[waba8chicks]

Oh I never thought about that! I will put her out in the crate today. Thanks!

 

[waba8chicks]

I forgot to mention, I will continue on with the antibiotic, and put her in a dog crate in the run. After she heals more, I will add the BluKote. thank you to everybody for so much help. Based on where we found her, my dad seems to think it was a raccoon, we have a few HUGE ones that hang around the house, but we are also in a rural area with lots of predators. There is sometimes a large pack of coyotes that get close enough to the house to scare, but they leave quickly. About a week ago we found a hen (not one of ours, oddly enough, because the closest neighbor with chickens is quite a distance away!) on the side of the road...no blood, no feathers scattered, just the upper half of her body GONE. She was tail up on the grass, feet still attached. By the end of the day, that half was gone as well. I no longer suspect this to be caused by another of my girls, but they are certainly not being kind to her now.

 

[Wavechickens]

I forgot to mention, I will continue on with the antibiotic, and put her in a dog crate in the run. After she heals more, I will add the BluKote. thank you to everybody for so much help. Based on where we found her, my dad seems to think it was a raccoon, we have a few HUGE ones that hang around the house, but we are also in a rural area with lots of predators. There is sometimes a large pack of coyotes that get close enough to the house to scare, but they leave quickly. About a week ago we found a hen (not one of ours, oddly enough, because the closest neighbor with chickens is quite a distance away!) on the side of the road...no blood, no feathers scattered, just the upper half of her body GONE. She was tail up on the grass, feet still attached. By the end of the day, that half was gone as well. I no longer suspect this to be caused by another of my girls, but they are certainly not being kind to her now.

Sorry to hear about your lady. It's always tough when one gets injured. Especially when it comes time to put her back in with the others after being gone for awhile. We had to remove three of ours for a little while for health concerns and after a week when we put them back with the remaining four in the coop they were fine, but to be safe I did keep a close eye on them for awhile when I put them back into the coop at first.