hen with deep wound, how often to change dressing?

[tiki244]

I think her wound was 4 inch diameter (before I stated 2 inch but on thinking about it was much larger) could have even been ;arger than that. about 4 weeks for the wound to close and new good skin to grow. Then 8 weeks for the feathers to regrow. But you could see feather sprouts shortly after the skin regrew.

 

[jjthink]

With deep wounds, oral or injectible antibiotic may be necessary. They can heal amazingly from some pretty scary looking things. If her appetite is good and she's drinking normally her pain level may be very tolerable. If not, she may need some pain relief for a little while - this will help her appetite. Vet might suggest Metacam. At home remedy can be one baby aspirin (81mg) crushed into one cup drinking water, ideally changed twice daily to fresh batch.
Hope she'll be okay.
JJ

 

[ChicksOnBikes]

Thanks everyone.
Had Rachel to the vet's today just to calm myself down. Vet washed and inspected the wound well and reassured me that there doesn't appear to be infection. I was concerned about a dark patch of skin and what to do.
Vet recommended SSD cream (silver sulfa-diazine) in addition to the neosporin. They don't deal with a lot of birds, but she said they have access to some kind of super vet database and she pulled up info on puncture wounds in birds. She also gave me baytril to crush and put in the water.
I've been having problems with keeping a bandage on b/c of where it's located, and the vet suggested the main thing is to keep her from picking at it. I'm working on a chicken apron for her based on some patterns i've seen. Right now, we've got her wrapped in part of a t-shirt secured with duct tape. it's kind of comical. It's good that she's feeling alright, but it makes it hard to keep the bandage on. I've got her in a dog crate right now, and in a few days I'm going to put her in a wire dog crate in the coop so she can be closer to her friends and also the bottom is wire so she can be right in the bedding.

Thanks to everyone for posting. I"m so glad this forum is here and there has been so much good info available.

 

[jjthink]

So glad to hear Rachel is doing okay. You are so good, caring for her so well. She can feel it

JJ