Help!!! Unknown injuries/wounds! How to treat?

[loralei]

A week or so ago my husband bought his cousins flock and before I could stop him added them to our coop. The new birds had been somewhat neglected but from what I heard over the months prior to them being "rescued" were relatively healthy. The only losses that I heard of were from coons; none from illness. All has gone rather well though... a few rooster scuffles but nothing major. I expected much worse.

One of the gals however has a bare back with bright red skin. It looks terribly painful, like a sunburn, and it looks like she has some ingrown feathers (is that even possible?).

There is some loose flesh in her rump area. Should this be cut off?

She also has a wound to her wing that looks infected. Sorry. The flash obscures the injury. I will try to get a better pic tomorrow. It looks like maybe there is bone protruding though.

I am not sure how to treat since I don't know what happened. My husband's cousin doesn't know/care and has been little help. She's alert and doesn't seem to be in any pain until I go poking around on her.

I don't know much about her other than he had her about 6 months and she was full grown when he bought her at a flea market.

She has been isolated for 3 days now and has given me a nice big peachish egg every day! Whatever is wrong with her it doesn't seem to be too bad presently but I want to ward off infection and get her healthy/healthy looking. There is that unmistakable smell of infection. What do I need to do that I'm not doing? I've tried to provide as much information as possible. If I've neglected to mention something please ask. Thank you in advance for any advice/assistance you can offer!

Laura

1) What type of bird , age and weight. Red Star... I think. Age unknown but is laying. Weight seems healthy.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. She's alert and doesn't seem to be in pain.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? We've had her for a week or so. She was like this when we got her.
4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. See pics.
5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. We've had her for a week or so. She was like this when we got her.
6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. She's eating and drinking fine. I have her isolated currently. She's getting warm water with antibiotic added and a warm mash of cream of wheat, chick starter, and apple sauce.
7) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Poo looks normal.
8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? I have her isolated and am giving antibiotics via water. Have been applying antibiotic ointment.
9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Treat ourselves.
10) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
11) Describe the housing/bedding in use. Pine shavings.

 

[theFox]

Was there a roo where you got her from?

The red looks like sun exposure on chicken skin (which if the feathers are missing and she has been in the sun is normal).

The red however can act as an inducement to peck for the other birds, a thin coat of blue kote can take care of that. It may have to be re applied from time to time.

It is also possible that she is molting, it would be nice to know her age.

A little preventive dusting for mites/lice wouldn't hurt in case she has mites etc... that you haven't seen.

The cause of the feather loss could also be diet related.

It is common for birds that are struggling to get protein to remove and eat their feathers and those of their coop mates. The high egg production sex linked birds are basically egg laying machines and really need more protein than a lot of feed contains. I currently have a production red and golden comet in hospital because of protein scavenging by another of my golden comets. If they are given other goodies it will make matters even worse.

I've switched my feed and removed all treats. That seems to have restored order in the coop.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Poor thing...looks like it might be infected. I wold start by taking some warm water and cleaning her off real good, then dry her and put on some peroxide to get rid of the affected areas, next add some neosporin or scarlet oil from the southern states or your farmer's supply store. and keep at it each day. I hope she is better. Please keep me up dated on her progress. I am going out of town tomorrow and will not be back until sunday.

 

[OhMyItsAndyy]

One of my hens had an identical looking thing her whole life, however she was ripping her feathers out herself. I kept it clean.
Try spraying iodine over it, and maybe tea tree oil. Give her a bath prior to it though and see how it goes. Watch her and see if she is doing it to herself as mine did. If thats the case, tehny ou will need to find out why.
My hen was broody and no mater what we did, she never stopped, so i couldn;t do alot.
However, if there is something that can be fixed, you should do it.
Hope this helped x

 

[PandoraTaylor]

I would add extra protein to her diet while you have her isolated to help her heal & produce more feathers.

you seem to be doing fine with the ointments and antibotics....

 

[purpletree23]

I agree about giving her a bath. This way you can use a very mild soap and wash the infected area and if needed gently open up the infection if there is a pus pocket and then you can gently rinse it out and see what is going on. It's hard to diagnose a chicken with all of those fluffy feathers.

Treat the wound as you would any other. I recommend a diluted betadine solution (looks like tea) or peroxide. After the peroxide dry the wound well and apply neosporine (with out the pain reliever ingredient) and if it is ooozing put a non stick gauze pad on it and wrap very loosley. I would kep her inside for a few days to recover from the ordeal. Check the wound daily and reapply the neosporin. The peroxide can be repeated one more time but thats all because it will kill new skin cells that are trying to grow.

It looks like she has a mite infestation or has been given too much attention by a rooster and the bath should help. The lack of new feathers coming in tells me that she is not molting. A lot of TLC and she should be good as new.

If the infection does not look better in 2 days she will need injections of penicillan. BYC members can help or your feed store or your vet.

Good luck and I'm sure she is in great hands.