The other day I saw 3 of my orpington roosters being very rough with one of my hens. I watched them and she ran into the coop. Her sister was pestered by the boys but she told them to stop. They overwhelm the other girl and she was just not as assertive as the other girl. I didn't like the aggression level of the roosters and decided to separate them. I took her sister out first. Some back feathers were gone like I figured. Got her sister and her side felt rough. I pulled up her feathers and she had a huge gash on her right side and a smaller one on her left. I couldn't believe it! I have NEVER had a rooster injure a hen this severely. The worst I have seen from rambunctious roosters were back feathers missing and some small red scratches that didn't even bleed. Those were the worst cases too. The two roosters that I know did the damage are being sent off to a friend to be in the stew pot. I don't want to sell or keep roosters that are so aggressive that they nearly kill a hen. We will see about the other boy he is much more calm. So there is the back story now on to the treatment.
I took her inside and my mom and I checked her over. The big cut was definitely infected. My mom said it would be best to cull her because of the damage. I had agreed and thought about it all night. I was really torn between culling to put her out of her misery or trying to help. We this morning I looked her over. She had good weight to her and fought me tooth and nail. So I decided to try to help her even if it was a long shot. She obviously still had a lot of fight in her. I took her into my walk in shower so I would have an easily cleaned space. I put a rag over her head to calm her but she was having none of that! Surprisingly enough she stood there the whole time I was removing dead tissue and scabs from her. She only tried to flee once when I was almost done. I give her credit for staying still so long. I was cleaning her wound out for an hour to hour and half strait. The wound was really deep on the right side and I took out a lot of nasty scabs. Now there is just pink and red tissue. The wound went down at least 4 inches inside with the gash being 2-3 inches. I had a light strapped to my head so I could see all the way down. The other side was not as bad by far. I cut all the feathers around the wounds and flushed them out with saline. Afterwards I put antibiotic cream on the wounds along with an anti-bacterial/ fungal substance I got from the feed store for animals. Put gauze on then wrapped her in vet wrap. I swear thank god for hydrogen peroxide and tweezers! Without those I would have been doomed. She seems much happier and grateful. When I was wrapping her up she snuggled up against my leg and quietly sat there watching me wrap her up. Though she still despises being picked up. I also put antibiotics in her water and a sprinkle of antibiotic feed in her food. I also have electrolytes on hand. So that is what has happened so far in the process. I thought I would share in case someone else is having a similar case or in case I need help. I only have a few photos. I wish I had taken a before and after but forgot. The before was just a giant black scab with feathers in it and yellow spots. Here are the pictures during the process.
I'll be sure to update on her progress.
This was half way though the process. We were taking a short break. You can see where the feathers were cut and were I exposed the wound.
Close up of the wound half way through cleaning. The red part is 4 inches tall. To the bottom left is were the deep gash is. About to start getting the deep dead tissue out.
Can see a little more of the deep laceration. If I wanted I could fit 3 fingers into the wound up to my knuckles.
The feathers I cut off and they very gross scabs and dead tissue I removed. This is only half of what I removed too....
This was right after her one freak out moment. I put the rag on her head to calm her but it was only there long enough to take the picture. She would watch me pick up tools through the whole process. I even left her alone in the bathroom 5 times and she didn't move an inch.
Her all wrapped up with a much needed resting time. She was tired from me poking around in her wounds. She is definitely a trooper for being so calm. I know there were times when it had to have hurt and she stayed still but loudly let me know when it hurt.
I took her inside and my mom and I checked her over. The big cut was definitely infected. My mom said it would be best to cull her because of the damage. I had agreed and thought about it all night. I was really torn between culling to put her out of her misery or trying to help. We this morning I looked her over. She had good weight to her and fought me tooth and nail. So I decided to try to help her even if it was a long shot. She obviously still had a lot of fight in her. I took her into my walk in shower so I would have an easily cleaned space. I put a rag over her head to calm her but she was having none of that! Surprisingly enough she stood there the whole time I was removing dead tissue and scabs from her. She only tried to flee once when I was almost done. I give her credit for staying still so long. I was cleaning her wound out for an hour to hour and half strait. The wound was really deep on the right side and I took out a lot of nasty scabs. Now there is just pink and red tissue. The wound went down at least 4 inches inside with the gash being 2-3 inches. I had a light strapped to my head so I could see all the way down. The other side was not as bad by far. I cut all the feathers around the wounds and flushed them out with saline. Afterwards I put antibiotic cream on the wounds along with an anti-bacterial/ fungal substance I got from the feed store for animals. Put gauze on then wrapped her in vet wrap. I swear thank god for hydrogen peroxide and tweezers! Without those I would have been doomed. She seems much happier and grateful. When I was wrapping her up she snuggled up against my leg and quietly sat there watching me wrap her up. Though she still despises being picked up. I also put antibiotics in her water and a sprinkle of antibiotic feed in her food. I also have electrolytes on hand. So that is what has happened so far in the process. I thought I would share in case someone else is having a similar case or in case I need help. I only have a few photos. I wish I had taken a before and after but forgot. The before was just a giant black scab with feathers in it and yellow spots. Here are the pictures during the process.
I'll be sure to update on her progress.
This was half way though the process. We were taking a short break. You can see where the feathers were cut and were I exposed the wound.
Close up of the wound half way through cleaning. The red part is 4 inches tall. To the bottom left is were the deep gash is. About to start getting the deep dead tissue out.
Can see a little more of the deep laceration. If I wanted I could fit 3 fingers into the wound up to my knuckles.
The feathers I cut off and they very gross scabs and dead tissue I removed. This is only half of what I removed too....
This was right after her one freak out moment. I put the rag on her head to calm her but it was only there long enough to take the picture. She would watch me pick up tools through the whole process. I even left her alone in the bathroom 5 times and she didn't move an inch.
Her all wrapped up with a much needed resting time. She was tired from me poking around in her wounds. She is definitely a trooper for being so calm. I know there were times when it had to have hurt and she stayed still but loudly let me know when it hurt.
