How to take care of a chicken with an open wound?

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have a rooster? Where is the rest of the flock?

You may want to catch her up and cage or pen her. Place her somewhere where she may feel safer.
This way she's got access to her own food/water and you can see what her droppings are looking like too.
Carefully inspect her all over for more wounds, for lice/mites, make sure her crop is emptying and feel her abdomen for any bloat/fluid.

I have to wonder if more is going on with her.

 

[MaeM]

Do you have a rooster? Where is the rest of the flock?

You may want to catch her up and cage or pen her. Place her somewhere where she may feel safer.
This way she's got access to her own food/water and you can see what her droppings are looking like too.
Carefully inspect her all over for more wounds, for lice/mites, make sure her crop is emptying and feel her abdomen for any bloat/fluid.

I have to wonder if more is going on with her.

Yes, I have a rooster and I think she's afraid of him. He was probably the one who hurt her in the first place. He doesn't have his spurs, but he has a balance problem and maybe he hurt her with his toenails when trying to mount her. I believe it was an accident because he is not the kind of rooster that brutally rapes his hens. He is very sweet.

She has her own coop/run with her own feeder and waterer. I separated her when I noticed she had this wound. But she's used to free-range and only goes there to sleep. She eats a bit from that feeder in the morning. But in the morning she literally SCREAMS at the top of her lungs until I let her go outside. Then she hides in the bushes for the rest of the day (?). I don't understand her behavior...

I grab her every day to check her wound and she doesn't have lice/mites (these are visible, right?). Her poop is normal as far as I've seen in the secondary coop she's in. I will check her crop and her abdomen in the morning. I normally don't feel anything weird in her abdomen when I grab her, though.

I think she might be molting because she is getting bald on her 'healthy' side. Can molting cause these weird behaviors?

 

[Banana01]

Give her time. This is exactly what my hen is doing that had a very deep wound. Long after the wound heals and she could walk again, she is not acting 'normal' as she was before the wound.

Depending on her age, she may never act normal again. I put her in her own bed to sleep, and I sometimes isolate her in a cage to let her rest from roosters. But when she is free, she does the same as yours, just chills under the shade and stares, but i see her personailty returning slowly day by day, even though the wound was over a month ago.

As for medicine and healing, i kept the wound clean initially, then after a while put coconut oil on it every couple of days. Coconut oil is a natural antibacterial protection. No stitching or any special treatment necessary. I don't recommend touching the scab either, just needs lots of time to heal.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, I have a rooster and I think she's afraid of him. He was probably the one who hurt her in the first place. He doesn't have his spurs, but he has a balance problem and maybe he hurt her with his toenails when trying to mount her.

I think she might be molting because she is getting bald on her 'healthy' side. Can molting cause these weird behaviors?

Can you get photos of all of her?
She may be molting depending on how old she is. Sometimes stress can induce a molt as well.

She may just be hanging out on her own and liking it. I have a hen that spends a lot of time by herself, she sleeps with a flock, but as soon as I open up in the mornings, she's going one way and the rest go the other.

 

[MaeM]

The bald zones extend under the wings. I thought it was normal because she is wounded there but the other side looks the same way even if there is no wound there.

I don't know her exact age since she is a rescued bird but she is not even 1 year old. Probably 9-10 months old?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Feathers under the wings can be a bit sparse.
To me, it looks like it's from treading/mating. I know she has a wound, but the pattern of loss is what I've seen when a rooster is mating hens.
Some hens have softer feathers or feathers that are more easily broken and the loss is more obvious.

If the feather follicles are still intact in the skin, then she will re-feather back in when she does molt.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Feathers under the wings can be a bit sparse.
To me, it looks like it's from treading/mating. I know she has a wound, but the pattern of loss is what I've seen when a rooster is mating hens.
Some hens have softer feathers or feathers that are more easily broken and the loss is more obvious.

If the feather follicles are still intact in the skin, then she will re-feather back in when she does molt.

Have to agree. And a few years ago had to start a new flock of chickens. Last year finally found a rooster to incorporate. Where he’s not aggressive he is still young and I guess you could say or mono and he has his favorites. And I have recently noticed the lavender Orphington feathers looking a little rough and not from molting. It looks like might be what you’re dealing with.
I can also agree that it’s a good possibility the different types of feathers have something to do with it. Because the lavender Orphington definitely has a different (texture) feather than my others
And I actually never thought of that till I read this that makes perfect sense

 

[Penguinsofty55]

Guys, thanks a lot for the advice. Her wound is slowly healing with no sign of infection. But she is kind of traumatized. She still spends her days hiding in the bushes. She barely comes out to eat and drink.

I didn't expect her to lay eggs any time soon but since she hasn't done so I think she may still be stressed. Or malnourished from hiding and hiding without eating. I mean, she doesn't forage anymore, she only feeds on what I give her but I have to literally find her hideout and leave a plate with food as nearest as possible to it because she won't come out.

I feel so bad for her. Is there anything I can do?

You can try Rescue Remedie . Works almost same day on my girls. And its natural.