How can I get this turkey to STOP picking her wound???

[aleksgill]

Okay, so I have a turkey that got a wound on the side of her neck-shoulder awhile ago, but she has been obsessively picking at it and I can't get it to heal all the way. I'll get one part to heal and she'll dig at another spot.

Of course now she's molting and it appears to be making her itchy and grumpy on top of that.

I've tried to keep it covered so she couldn't touch it and she scratches at the skin around the bandage until its scabbed. I've tried leaving it open to the air and it gets nice and dry, but she won't. stop. picking. I've tried Blue-kote and different ointments and a course of penicillin and it'll start looking good, then she'll pick at it again. I had it looking great and it appeared about healed and she went and ripped the outer layer off. I saw pin feathers so I assumed it was itchy so I left her and then she ripped those out and now it looks like the picture I've attached.

Also, we have no poultry vets around here. I've even checked with poultry people I know in neighboring counties and they're in the same boat. The only vet that is willing to see her is an emergency vet, but it's $200 to walk in the door.

I really like this turkey, but she's driving me up the wall. This wound has migrated all around that region due to her constant fiddling. It doesn't stink or ooze, although it does have a clearish discharge when she rips the outer layer off. Her skin doesn't feel hot and the area is a thickened, hard spot that you can wiggle around, like it a thick scabbed spot. I am hopeful that there isn't some hidden infection? It doesn't feel deep and the muscling and skin around/under it feels normal.

So what the heck can I do??? Has my messing with it just been slowing the healing process? Should I just leave her alone for awhile and see what happens? Should I ramp up the cleaning and ointments? Do a longer course of penicillin? Feed her some sort of supplement? Aspirin? I'm at a loss.

 

[Bird_Lover_17]

Hi. I am not a turkey expert, but I saw this was unanswered, so here's my reply:

Did you wash the wound? If you are home all day, then I would quarantine her (not referencing COVID) and make sure she is not picking it. If you are not home all day, is it possible to get a small dog cone and put on her? Nothing heavy.

The clearish discharge is pus.

-Lauren

 

[EggSighted4Life]

So what the heck can I do??? Has my messing with it just been slowing the healing process? Should I just leave her alone for awhile and see what happens? Should I ramp up the cleaning and ointments? Do a longer course of penicillin? Feed her some sort of supplement? Aspirin?

Aspirin is for pain and might not help at all.

Antibiotics only work on infections.. which a functional body with good nutritional support will also make it's own antibodies but additionally they won't be killing indiscriminately bacteria that are considered beneficial.

What are you feeding including treats and supplements, how many flock mates, in how much space? Age of turkey hen?

Yes, sometimes excess cleaning of wounds can damage good tissue and delay healing.. especially if using products like betadine or hydrogen peroxide as they are extremely drying. I'm not sure if something like vetrycin would be useful in this instance or not and even then I just do it for initial treatment.

I MIGHT consider doing a dog cone of shame.. but backward around the body instead of facing the head.. the soft comfy cone ones are nice, but efficacy and safety of the pet will depend on YOUR situation. Please use your best judgement and realize these are just my thoughts and brainstorming ideas that *MAY* or may not be helpful. Some things are very trial and error.. but that's why we are here to share! With a bird.. crop and stuff.. please be very careful and use supervision while assessing placement etc of anything around the neck. Maybe do it only at night in a kennel where it can;t get caught on anything or consider confinement in general if deemed needed to HELP the bird.

Or maybe a T shirt tied on into a wrap like an infant's onesie but for a turkey. I have seen at the vets office what looks like tie on hospital gowns for pets after surgery. Following link is to show the general ideas I'm mentioning..
https://www.chewy.com/b/recovery-cones-collars-apparel-2664

Sounds like you've worked hard already and I'm SURE you will get there!

Clearish discharge/drainage is NOT puss.. and is completely normal!

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/how-wounds-heal

https://www.verywellhealth.com/types-of-drainage-from-a-surgical-wound-3156837

 

[aleksgill]

Hi. I am not a turkey expert, but I saw this was unanswered, so here's my reply:

Did you wash the wound? If you are home all day, then I would quarantine her (not referencing COVID) and make sure she is not picking it. If you are not home all day, is it possible to get a small dog cone and put on her? Nothing heavy.

The clearish discharge is pus.

-Lauren

Thanks Lauren! I did wash it. When it was first healing I had used diluted betadine, the same as a vet had instructed me for another turkey that was injured (she was wearing a jacket, but the inexperienced tom slipped FORWARD and sliced her in front of the jacket.) That turkey is totally recovered now!

I had also used sterile saline wound wash spray, blue-kote, and vetricyn at different times. I haven't used betadine or blu-kote in awhile. I haven't used vetricyn in a few days thinking maybe messing with it was making her neurotic.

She's so obsessive the only way to stop her it to cover the area, but she just switches to an uninjured spot and start picking. I'm about to put her in a full body suit.

 

[aleksgill]

Aspirin is for pain and might not help at all.

Antibiotics only work on infections.. which a functional body with good nutritional support will also make it's own antibodies but additionally they won't be killing indiscriminately bacteria that are considered beneficial.

What are you feeding including treats and supplements, how many flock mates, in how much space? Age of turkey hen?

Yes, sometimes excess cleaning of wounds can damage good tissue and delay healing.. especially if using products like betadine or hydrogen peroxide as they are extremely drying. I'm not sure if something like vetrycin would be useful in this instance or not and even then I just do it for initial treatment.

I MIGHT consider doing a dog cone of shame.. but backward around the body instead of facing the head.. the soft comfy cone ones are nice, but efficacy and safety of the pet will depend on YOUR situation. Please use your best judgement and realize these are just my thoughts and brainstorming ideas that *MAY* or may not be helpful. Some things are very trial and error.. but that's why we are here to share! With a bird.. crop and stuff.. please be very careful and use supervision while assessing placement etc of anything around the neck. Maybe do it only at night in a kennel where it can;t get caught on anything or consider confinement in general if deemed needed to HELP the bird.

Or maybe a T shirt tied on into a wrap like an infant's onesie but for a turkey. I have seen at the vets office what looks like tie on hospital gowns for pets after surgery. Following link is to show the general ideas I'm mentioning..
https://www.chewy.com/b/recovery-cones-collars-apparel-2664

Sounds like you've worked hard already and I'm SURE you will get there!

Clearish discharge/drainage is NOT puss.. and is completely normal!

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/how-wounds-heal

https://www.verywellhealth.com/types-of-drainage-from-a-surgical-wound-3156837

I'm glad to hear the clearish stuff is normal. Honestly, it's totally dry 99% of the time. Only when she rips off the scab and exposes the pinkish skin underneath it gets a little moist.

I had only considered Aspirin because I have a bucket of the stuff you mix in poultry water and I was thinking making she was uncomfortable?

I totally appreciate any brainstorming you can send my way! I'm baffled by this one. So far I my most recent method was cleaning the wound with vetricyn and patting dry, then coating with furazone (i've tried plain triple antibiotic ointment previously as well as the rest of the silvadene cream I had via prescription from a vet for another turkey.) After coating it I put a sterile wound pad on it and wrapped with vet wrap like a vest. The wound looked great, so I stopped the ointment and kept it wrapped so she couldn't touch it. This worked well to keep her from picking it, but she starts picking at the healthy skin she can reach (some of the scabbing in the picture is on a previous uninjured, exposed area.) It also uses a metric ton of vet wrap. I did try a toddler shirt, but the heat here in NC was brutal so I was trying not to roast her in her own juices.

Some additional background info:

She's a little over 1 year old and is living with a tom, 3 other same-aged hens, and then 5 of their poults that are a few months old. Also, they're with a handful of chickens (I know!) because all of my plans for 2020 got ruined and I won't be able to build their new mega-coop like I had planned.

They have a LOT of space though - the turkey coop/run is about 16'x16' with a covered roosting zone and that is open during the day to a dry run that is roughly 30' x 20.' That run also connects now to the chicken coop since I removed all the dividers, so the turkeys go in there to lay their eggs. Because why not I guess. Weird birds. THAT run is also connected to the garden, which I didn't do this year because of everything going on and just seeded with poultry pasture mix. The garden is about 75' x 45.'

They appear to have lots and lots of room, grass, sunshine, and sand! They are currently eating a Purina all-flock raiser with 20% protein (everyone is molting) with access to oyster shell. They occasionally get some scratch grains thrown around to hunt for, mealworms, and poultry-safe leftovers from cooking/dinner, but that's not super often.

They have three waterers to chose from that are refreshed at least daily with spring water (we got lucky, our well was made from a spring) - one is a 5 gallon bucket with the nipples, one is a standard chicken waterer, and the other is a low, broad bowl because turkeys seem to love bowls of water. I did have some turkey starter out for the babies in their zone, but they've outgrown it.

She's a tough one. The original would was tiny and I can't believe she keeps messing with it. I wonder if I could make something for her to pick at and stick that to another part of her body to distract her.

So yeah, let me know if you see any mistakes or something I should change or anything.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I had only considered Aspirin because I have a bucket of the stuff you mix in poultry water and I was thinking making she was uncomfortable?

If she isn't in enough discomfort to forgo eating, drinking, foraging, and normal activity then I would NOT use aspirin and contrary to popular belief think pain is a great tool! Pain is the body's signal to the brain that something is off. It is the body's way of protecting itself and slowing things down a bit.. swelling to an injury limits motion and stabilized (to a degree) the compromised.. ligament, bone, tendon, etc for example.

When we look at pain in this light we can understand that it is okay to be uncomfortable and that there are different degrees of pain. If one cannot eat or sleep because the pain is too intense.. treatment would definitely be advised as rest is literally required to achieve healing.

The way you describe the wound sounds exactly how most scrapes and such heal.. cracking and oozing.
And sometimes they definitely itch!

Anything you can do enrichment wise to shift the focus may be a great idea.. maybe she will set pecking order with a mirror?!

Have you already checked if blackhead has been an issue in your area? Or heard of it since you keep both turkey and chicken fowl? Nothing to fear monger, but awareness is key to control.. so checking in just on case since there's ton more backstory I haven't been privy to. Sounds like ya got decent grasp on stuff, but better safe than sorry.