Hens skin on neck sliced wide open on fence

[Birdielee]

2 in the morning and almost nobody knows how awesomely fast ellis healed. Oh, well. Good night, all you helpful peeples.

 

[Shezadandy]

I'm so excited for you all to see!
How long before feathers come in? Next molt or soon?

That's fantastic! I bet she's enjoying not being wrapped.

Feather wise- it will depend. Feathers that have been pulled generally grow back before the next molt. Feathers that have been trimmed back are usually stuck like that until the next molt. I've had birds that were in the process of regrowth get blood feathers plucked out, and they all grew back in immediately. Once the wound is done healing hopefully her surrounding feathers can cover the featherless spots between now and her next molt. It's also hard to know whether the damaged areas will get the feathers back- but when she molts next even if not a single one comes back, the rest of her feathers will give her a good "comb-over" hairdo.
I can only imagine how gratifying it was to watch the new skin and tissue appear after dealing with the gore of the injury and its aftermath.

 

[Shezadandy]

2 in the morning and almost nobody knows how awesomely fast ellis healed. Oh, well. Good night, all you helpful peeples.

Or merely 11:40pm …

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Just had to check back in to see the updates. Great outcome. Congrats!

 

[Birdielee]

Just had to check back in to see the updates. Great outcome. Congrats!

Yeah, she's doing great. I didn't scrub her yet. I decided to let her new skin get a little tougher! The dark area on the left that was never cut, but that got hard, is peeling off a top layer. Good skin underneath. More scab is up top, i sprayed the cut with vetericyn, and put on triple antibiotic and lanolin cream. I checked to see if the skin is adhered to the neck muscle that was exposed, but i think it all seems to slide around fine.
After it warms up outside, I'll try to take some photos. I don't want her to get cold from being wet.

 

[Birdielee]

I think i wouldn't want to stress her tissues any more, but if i were to pluck a feather or 2, you think they'd grow back in sooner?

 

[Birdielee]

I'd like to have the other 2 hens together with her by winter. The two coop thing is kind of a drag.

 

[Birdielee]

This is Ellis's wound currently, before getting it wet. It formed a new scab, down below. I'm not sure why. The scab up higher is detached, just held on by stitches. The dry skin patch is still peeling off. And she's a lively one! She's all over the place.

After a little vetericyn and a photo shoot, i bluekoted her. maybe the other hens won't be interested in pecking

 

[waytomanychickens]

Sewing. Cut feathers off. Arnica for pain and topical 1% lidoaine (injectable).
Drinking lots of nutridrench with arnica and rescue remedy in it. Using alcohol, betadine, and bluekote for degerming.
Salt water solution (like tears) for irrigating wound, trying to unstick feathers that are inside.
Alert and doing well. Not lookin pretty.

once your initial degerming is done, let it scab naturally. it will look horrible, but chickens have amazing natural "glue" in their skin and need the thick scab to help it heal. as long as it is a dry scab it is doing fine

 

[waytomanychickens]

This is Ellis's wound currently, before getting it wet. It formed a new scab, down below. I'm not sure why. The scab up higher is detached, just held on by stitches. The dry skin patch is still peeling off. And she's a lively one! She's all over the place.

After a little vetericyn and a photo shoot, i bluekoted her. maybe the other hens won't be interested in pecking

you can trim the part of the scab that's no longer attached to keep it from snagging on things. looking good! the lower scab might be drainage from the upper one