Hen badly injured

[Sommano]

Hi y’all,
I’m new to raising my own chickens without my fathers help.
Yesterday one of my hens (she’s about a year old) was attacked by my puppy who is 11 weeks old. He’s a playful little fella so I don’t think he meant to almost kill her.
Anyways she’s really hurt, the skin on the back of her neck is completely gone and I can see her neck bones.
She’s still alive and can occasionally lift up her neck. I feed her water and just fed her some mushed chicken feed. She still spews mucus-like stuff from her mouth.
So far, I’ve cleaned her wounds every 1-2 hours and lathered on hen heal, the blue ointment. I saw other posts about using neosporin, would that be better option for her?
Her neck skin is slightly hanging off of her. She’s not bleeding until I put the blue ointment on her.
I can post pictures of her neck the next time I change the gauze.
Please any advice how to save her is greatly appreciated.
I love her and I don’t want her to die.

 

[azygous]

She's not going to die, especially with the excellent care you're giving her. Here's a tip I discovered a couple years ago when my rooster scalped a hen who was resisting his advances. Leave that flap of skin in place.

It will act as a skin graft and the wound will heal much faster. Keep up what you're doing to keep the wound clean. You really only need to do it twice a day for this first week. Then once a day from the second week until the wound completely heals. Never, never, never let the wound dry out. Keep Neosporin on it at all times.

Then use the Neosporin to "glue" that hanging flap of skin over as much of the wound as it can cover. I first squirt the ointment on the wound, then lay the flap down, and then squirt more Neosporin over the top of the flap and the rest of the wound. Do this each time you clean the wound.

Before long, the flap will stay firmly in place. That indicates it's grafting itself to the wound, and from then on, new skin will grow outward from the graft and inward from the edges of the wound.

 

[ChickNanny13]

You done good & got good advice to follow.

 

[Sequel]

You are doing so well and you have a very experienced educator helping you! I’m so sorry your hen is hurt, my fingers are crossed!!! Wishing you the best!

 

[Sommano]

She's not going to die, especially with the excellent care you're giving her. Here's a tip I discovered a couple years ago when my rooster scalped a hen who was resisting his advances. Leave that flap of skin in place.

It will act as a skin graft and the wound will heal much faster. Keep up what you're doing to keep the wound clean. You really only need to do it twice a day for this first week. Then once a day from the second week until the wound completely heals. Never, never, never let the wound dry out. Keep Neosporin on it at all times.

Then use the Neosporin to "glue" that hanging flap of skin over as much of the wound as it can cover. I first squirt the ointment on the wound, then lay the flap down, and then squirt more Neosporin over the top of the flap and the rest of the wound. Do this each time you clean the wound.

Before long, the flap will stay firmly in place. That indicates it's grafting itself to the wound, and from then on, new skin will grow outward from the graft and inward from the edges of the wound.

Thank you for your advice.
I forgot to take pictures of her wounds.
I will when I change it again.
And we noticed she started to smell like rotten meat, is that normal?

 

[micstrachan]

Thank you for your advice.
I forgot to take pictures of her wounds.
I will when I change it again.
And we noticed she started to smell like rotten meat, is that normal?

No, that’s not good. I think you need to administer antibiotics. @azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[Sommano]

No, that’s not good. I think you need to administer antibiotics. @azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

Where can I find antibiotics for hens?
The vet said the animal hospital that can help me with her is an hour away.

 

[micstrachan]

sent you a pm

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

She's not going to die, especially with the excellent care you're giving her. Here's a tip I discovered a couple years ago when my rooster scalped a hen who was resisting his advances. Leave that flap of skin in place.

It will act as a skin graft and the wound will heal much faster. Keep up what you're doing to keep the wound clean. You really only need to do it twice a day for this first week. Then once a day from the second week until the wound completely heals. Never, never, never let the wound dry out. Keep Neosporin on it at all times.

Then use the Neosporin to "glue" that hanging flap of skin over as much of the wound as it can cover. I first squirt the ointment on the wound, then lay the flap down, and then squirt more Neosporin over the top of the flap and the rest of the wound. Do this each time you clean the wound.

Before long, the flap will stay firmly in place. That indicates it's grafting itself to the wound, and from then on, new skin will grow outward from the graft and inward from the edges of the wound.

I highly agree about the wound not to dry out. you need to dress the wounds as well, so it won't be infected, that's a lesson learned from me the hard way.

 

[Sommano]

I highly agree about the wound not to dry out. you need to dress the wounds as well, so it won't be infected, that's a lesson learned from me the hard way.

I wrapped her neck all the way around in the gauze wrap and taped it at the end so it’ll stay in place.