Hens skin on neck sliced wide open on fence

[Birdielee]

I don't know red turmeric. The mix has lime the mineral, or lime the citrus fruit in it? And would make the skin tough

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

In no way do I consider myself an expert I have just picked up random knowledge over the years and there are way more knowledgeable folks on BYC. So much to learn and I am still learning. St. Johnswort is great stuff. On the plantain I have always just used that fresh when I have used it on myself, so I would probably put it in the blender and apply blended leaves directly or press the blended leaves in cloth to get juice to apply. GT was for Green Tea. Yes they use lime the mineral with turmeric which is something I have not done... and brew all three up the lime additives once heated turns the Turmeric color red... this is what helps gives the game fowl the red bodies and it toughens their skin... which is not a goal I have, they bathe them over a period of time increasing the heat of the bathes gradually which also toughens the birds... in no way do I condone why they want to toughen up roosters... but the formula is clearly medical when looking at the properties of the herbs involved and it’s use before and after matches has a preventative disease control element on top of healing wounds. I use green tea as a wash alone or with mugwort when I want to bathe a bird... I tend to use turmeric as needed for wounds. If I bathe a bird I want them comfortable, warm but not too cold or hot wash.

The below picture is what these Vietnamese birds look like as a result of conditioning and grooming practices not just genetics...

I hope this little bit of gleaned traditional herb use is helpful.

 

[Shezadandy]

Man, your stitching looks really good. Good job. It's actually closed. What did you use to clean up inside the black bird?

I'll have to see if i can figure out what the bandaid product is. Where do you get sutures? Are they available without a prescription? What size needle/what kind do you get? Did you debride the edges of the cut before you stitched?

Thanks! Before this hen I had done a couple of crop surgeries and to prepare and practice (a luxury when you're the one performing the incision as opposed to a true emergency like yours!!!!!!!!!!) … I used about to be dinner - i.e. cut into a raw thigh or breast, then worked on stitching the deeper tissues followed by a skin closure and the knots.

I started with one of those silicone pad things but what could be better than an actual chicken cadaver? Much more realistic for judging resistance to the suturing needle etc. My favorite suture for practicing is the nylon monofilament (4/0 suture, 19mm 3/8") because it's very forgiving and you can just cut your knot, pull it through and use it again without too much fuss, especially if it's going in the oven next.

Of course the chromic will handle more like the silk ones. That and watching some terrific instructional videos on youtube. Computer. Raw chicken. Sutures. What's not to love?

Specifically I used Chromic Gut 4-0 19mm 3/8 reverse cutting, 28" long. I was able to find them on Amazon, but they are sold out- however there are multiple medical supply sites that have them. The important elements are (IMHO) the 4-0, 3/8" reverse cutting suture needle - and pay attention to the length of the suture, I like the 24"+ myself. There are many variations available, so it pays to read all the fine detail.

I used betadine scrub (soap version) to clean the overall area, then frequent sprays with Vetricyn as I went, then as stitching became too painful for her, I switched over to the Band-aid Hurt Free - Walmart carries it (best price usually), Kroger carries it, willing to bet Walgreens/CVS etc. have it too - usually pretty close to the band-aids, blue bottle around 6" tall, white cap I think.

With my little surgical kit I removed anything questionable first - ragged edges, injured looking tissue that didn't look to have good blood supply- cutting margins of the wound didn't bother her that much, happily. Then stitched up the under layers with one set of Chromic sutures and the skin with a separate set. Pretty sure I used the Chromic on the skin layer too - the Chromic Gut ones are made to last longer than the average EDITED TO ADD: **absorbable** suture. The wound itself didn't need much done to it after that, just a couple sprays with Vetricyn. I didn't take an after picture though. =(

 

[Shezadandy]

She ate a lot of her food and drank some water.

Chickens are amazing at healing themselves.

Vetricyn hydrogel helps a lot with these kinds of wounds - I'm all for the natural solutions too- just putting it out there, especially with some of the tissues that are exposed (neck muscle). One of my girls prolapsed her vent, ran around the yard, got it ripped up by her friends- and it took me about a month- while she continued to lay eggs even left in a darkened cage etc - she kept pushing out extra large eggs, prolapse and all. It was a disgusting mess due to all the scabbing- but the hydrogel kept things that aren't supposed to be in the air healthy enough that when all the rips were healed, everything went back inside (after a month outside the vent) … and is back laying still more eggs with the flock. No pictures of that one though. =(

 

[Birdielee]

My amoxicillin is w clavulanate.
One pill of 500/125mg
And 5 pills of 875/125
All tablet form.
Acceptable with the clavulanate?

 

[Birdielee]

She's still alert and active! And alive

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Shazadaddy Thank you for sharing about the suturing and your use of Vetricyn hydrogel. Just amazing what birds can recover from from. I agree 100% on using what ever is necessary to get the job done in healing ones‘ birds. Getting them well is the important factor.

I did a quick search on clavulanate it is used on poultry, I found some studies... so I think it’s fine, no worries.

Birdielee your doing a real good job in caring for your bird.

 

[Birdielee]

So I've decided to use the 875 mg augmentin pill. Amox/clav

Wait my math is all wrong.. 125mg per kg of bird ? Or per bird?

Twice daily, for 5 days, right?

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/amoxicillin

The link has dosage info on this... how much does your bird weigh?

If she weighs 3kg then the dosage per the poultry DVM is 3*16 to 20mg which is 48-60 mg orally... per the poultry DVM site

 

[Birdielee]

I've got quite the tea here. Mugwort, plantain, comfrey, green tea, oregano, dock, turmeric. That ought to do something good. I'm going to add some salt. I was going to do iodine separately, but maybe ill just throw it in there, too. Does povidone iodine get messed up by heat?