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Two of our hens were badly injured and completely recovered with special care. One hen was scalped after refusing to leave the nest when a dominant hen wanted in. Another had a small wound that quickly got a horrible case of "fly strike" where maggots were eating a huge sore in her. After doing a lot of internet searching, here's the treatment we came up with, which was successful in both cases:
1. irrigate with warm saline water to clean wound (make solution with epsom salt and squirt it from an old dish soap bottle), 2. dry with paper towels and hair dryer on low, 3. apply iodine/water solution or antibiotic ointment (no pain killer in ointment, nothing ending in “-cane” or “-cain”), 4. spray with screw worm repellent, 5. spray/daub with Blue Kote wound dressing, 6. keep warm with heat lamp and feed yogurt with pellets and keep hydrated, 7. keep isolated until healed, 8. reintroduce in separate cage first
Continue treatments 2-3 times per day until the wound completely heals, though you can reduce it to one time per day when the wound is almost healed. Our hen who was pecked on the head was scalped so badly I could see her skull, yet the skin eventually grew over the spot, feathers and all!
If one of your hens ever develops fly strike (gets maggots in the wound), follow these steps the first time you treat the wound:
First treatment only:
1. irrigate with peroxide several times to bubble out germs and maggots (remove remaining maggots with tweezers), 2. dry with paper towels and hair dryer on low, 3. apply honey, filling holes with it, to smother and draw out remaining maggots (remove with tweezers if necessary) and to kill germs, 4. spray with screw worm repellent, 5. spray/daub with Blue Kote wound dressing (do not bandage wound)
You may not be able to find Blue Kote in spray form -- we couldn't. We bought a bottle of it and applied it with Q-tips. Wear gloves or it will dye your skin a dark bluish-purple. If you can't find Blue Kote, you can simply pack the wound with honey, which has great germ-killing and healing properties.
Best wishes for you and your hen. Sorry this is so long!
1. irrigate with warm saline water to clean wound (make solution with epsom salt and squirt it from an old dish soap bottle), 2. dry with paper towels and hair dryer on low, 3. apply iodine/water solution or antibiotic ointment (no pain killer in ointment, nothing ending in “-cane” or “-cain”), 4. spray with screw worm repellent, 5. spray/daub with Blue Kote wound dressing, 6. keep warm with heat lamp and feed yogurt with pellets and keep hydrated, 7. keep isolated until healed, 8. reintroduce in separate cage first
Continue treatments 2-3 times per day until the wound completely heals, though you can reduce it to one time per day when the wound is almost healed. Our hen who was pecked on the head was scalped so badly I could see her skull, yet the skin eventually grew over the spot, feathers and all!
If one of your hens ever develops fly strike (gets maggots in the wound), follow these steps the first time you treat the wound:
First treatment only:
1. irrigate with peroxide several times to bubble out germs and maggots (remove remaining maggots with tweezers), 2. dry with paper towels and hair dryer on low, 3. apply honey, filling holes with it, to smother and draw out remaining maggots (remove with tweezers if necessary) and to kill germs, 4. spray with screw worm repellent, 5. spray/daub with Blue Kote wound dressing (do not bandage wound)
You may not be able to find Blue Kote in spray form -- we couldn't. We bought a bottle of it and applied it with Q-tips. Wear gloves or it will dye your skin a dark bluish-purple. If you can't find Blue Kote, you can simply pack the wound with honey, which has great germ-killing and healing properties.
Best wishes for you and your hen. Sorry this is so long!
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