Hens skin on neck sliced wide open on fence

[Lauravonsmurf]

The book I am trying to pull useful old info out of is the 1705 The Royal Pastime Of Cockfighting... I do not agree with fighting chickens, however it is a glimpse into old chicken keeping practices, which is interesting to me. Natural Chicken Keeping is were I have posted a couple remedies from it.

 

[Shezadandy]

Yeah! Sounds like she's marching along through the process. If you're looking to put some weight on her, how about some scrambled eggs? My perpetual crop problem bird gets her condition back faster - I hate being able to feel that sharp keel bone. Also - at some point you may want to consider adding probiotics to the mix (in the scrambled eggs or other much loved treat) because antibiotics can throw their bacteria levels off. And of course keep access to grit available.

I'm so happy to see the regular updates, these kinds of threads are invaluable to people who are faced with extensive flesh wounds that take time to heal, whether it's today or years from now!

 

[Birdielee]

Ok. I'll try to do better keeping up with photos. I only changed her bandage once yesterday, and felt negligent about it.
But i remembered that when my little dog got attacked years ago, the vet wanted me to change the first bandage in 4 days, or a week... i was horrified at how long. I didn't follow his instructions.
Ellis's wound isn't draining, bleeding, or seeming infected. I expect once a day should be all right. Except for her loving dirt.

 

[Birdielee]

This photo round is a little old. It's from the first.
I backed off on the antibiotic. Not deliberately, just because I was sick. I believe she got only 1 dose for the past 2 days. Since I'm dosing her preventatively, I'm not too worried about it. She still seems fine. Im going out to change her bandage and give her the antibiotic now.

 

[Birdielee]

This afternoon will be one full week since the injury. Photos will come.

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

She seems to be doing well! Great job!

 

[Birdielee]

Good afternoon! I did a bandage change today. Everything looks mostly the same, but there's a little bit of redness in about 3 spots and a little spot of swelling. All in all still looks great. A little thin flap of black something is loose on her neck and it's red underneath. I sprayed under it with vetericyn. I didn't cut it off yet. I think it's feathers, not skin.

She took her antibiotic. The frozen coconut oil method is GREAT.

 

[Birdielee]

So this time i skipped the iodine. I used vetericyn , then triple antibiotic, then bluekote. My bluekote can went crazy on me. Leaked all over from the cap

Veterycin seems to basically be a mild bleach solution. True?

 

[Birdielee]

I didn't have the next dose of antibiotic prepared, and when it was ready she was too sleepy to eat it. So i believe that's the third day with only one dose each. Tomorrow i want to give her 2 doses, since she has the red areas on her wound.
Today the health inspector (or something) from my town came because of my noisy rooster. Now the county's going to come. Hope they don't have a problem with her.

I feel weird feeding ellis her own egg. I'm going to give her some tomorrow, though. She's not eating enough.

 

[Shezadandy]

I didn't have the next dose of antibiotic prepared, and when it was ready she was too sleepy to eat it. So i believe that's the third day with only one dose each. Tomorrow i want to give her 2 doses, since she has the red areas on her wound.
Today the health inspector (or something) from my town came because of my noisy rooster. Now the county's going to come. Hope they don't have a problem with her.

I feel weird feeding ellis her own egg. I'm going to give her some tomorrow, though. She's not eating enough.

It is funny watching a chicken eat her own (cooked!!!) egg. Not so funny when they eat them in the nest box though … It's easy to digest, usually they gobble them right up, and it's packed with calories to get her condition back. Actually the very first thing any chick does before hatching is eat their own egg … by absorbing the yolk sac into their abdomen to sustain their first couple days of life.

To me the red is tissues rebuilding - it's hard to see for sure with the bluekote (love that picture of your hands … table … and other items LOL), but my interpretation from afar is with the amount of skin lost with the injury, the tissues are repairing themselves under the scab to start bridging the gap with scar tissue, that's where letting the scabs do their job part comes in.

If there's a feather that's becoming something of an ingrown (poking into the wound)- trim it as closely as possible so it doesn't cause a secondary issue. As long as there's no sign of infection (and with your treatment regime I can't imagine there would be), the red is the ugly part of healing and creating a scar. Which will be totally hidden when she grows her feathers back.

If the county says anything about Ellis, this is where documenting her care comes in very handy. I think they're more concerned about noise, rodent prevention (having food contained and all that) etc. I don't think I could do regular city life again!! Not sure if roosters are specifically prohibited where you are.