Injured Chicken - Raccoon Attack

[Apen]

Hi, so last night I forgot to close up the coop and a raccoon killed two of my chickens and injured one. I don't know if the injury will heal or what to do with the chicken. This is the first time I forgot to lock them in. Thanks for any advice...

 

[azygous]

It's not clear in your photo how extensive the wound is. A closeup photo would help and when you post it select "Full Size Image".

A wound should heal if kept clean and moist. This requires cleaning at minimum once each day, twice a day would be better. Then keep an antibiotic ointment on the wound to keep it from drying out. If it's just the leg and not on the main part of the body, you can wrap it with Vet wrap to keep dirt out.

 

[Apen]

Shes making it difficult to get a good photo. The best way I can describe it is a piece of meat/skin that go ripped off that's hanging down.

 

[2 many chickens]

I would trim away the feathers at the wound and near it. clean it and then apply blu-kote. It's good stuff.

 

[azygous]

Thanks for reposting the photo. It appears to be a large area affected. Although I love Blu-kote and use it for small wounds, sometimes Blu-kote doesn't work too well on large wounds where a lot of tissue is missing for the reason it dries out a wound. Large areas of missing skin need to be kept moist with an antibiotic ointment in order to promote the growth of new tissue. New tissue stops growing when the wound is allowed to dry out.

 

[redranger209]

One of my birds had a similar thing on her neck. They cut the hanging skin, bandaged it with gause, and I put stuff called... Crap I forgot. I’ll update soon as I remember. She’s a happy and healthy girl now, three months later, although she hasn’t regrown a patch of feathers.

 

[redranger209]

Pic of her right after.

 

[Apen]

Do you think the chicken needs to be put down? That chunk of meat is making her trip when she walks. I'm alone so first aid is going to be hard to administer for me.

 

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

Sorry that this is too late (you can use it for future reference). This has happened to many of my chickens. The only time I've ever had to put one down was for a broken pelvis. I will include a list of all supplies used at the end.

The first thing to do is separate your hen from the flock. Put her in a crate in a garage if you can.

In the crate provide food, water, and yogurt. I put them in teacups, the perfect size for one chicken. The yogurt is antibacterial, and will reduce the risk of infection.

Wound care: First things first, examine the wound and trim away feathers that are stuck to the blood. Check the rest of the hen for more wounds.
Cut off the dangling piece of skin, the quicker the better. Sterilize the scissors you use with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. The easiest way to do this will be if you sit down and place the chicken upside down n your lap so her head reaches down between your knees (this step is pretty necessary, but one of my hens vomits when upside down, so just be warned). Pulling a sock over her head helps calm her down.

It's best to wear disposable gloves when handling wounds, but if you don't want to buy those, at least wash your hands very well.

Clean the wound. - Do not use pure Hydrogen Peroxide or alcohol on the wound, HP will burn the skin and alcohol will hurt immensely. I use Povidone-Iodine. Povidone-Iodine is an antiseptic, and rinsing the wound with it daily will reduce risk of infection. If you do not want to buy P-I, use 3 parts water one part alcohol.

Medicate. - Olive oil has extreme medicinal properties. I find that it encourages healing faster than triple-antibiotic-ointment. Use a sterilized paintbrush to coat the wound in olive oil.

Dress the wound. - In summer this step is pretty important. If you do not cover the wound, it will get dirty, and flies will lay their eggs in the wound. This will result in maggots, which are every caretaker's worst nightmare. They are horrible, and the only way to get rid of them is to remove and kill every single maggot by hand.
Back to dressing the wound. Cover the wound with a non-stick wound pad. Use vetwrap (an elastic bandage) to wrap around the wound and chicken's body in a way so that the pad does not fall off. This prevents dirt and flies and their eggs from getting into the wound and it prevents the chicken herself from pecking at the wound.

Change the bandage every day, and apply new Povidone Iodine and Olive Oil.

In a few weeks you will notice a large, very thick, hard scab forms over the entire wound. It may appear dark. This is necessary. do NOT peel it off. At this point, you can stop medication, cleaning, and bandaging. Under the huge scab, new skin is growing. After the skin is all the way grown, the scab will fall of on it's own. Once the scab has fallen off, you may return the chicken to the coop, fully healed.

Supplies:

• dog crate, straw, food, water, containers for food and water
• yogurt
• Povidone-Iodine (walmart, tractor supply or similar) or 3 parts water 1 part alcohol mixture
• olive oil
• sterilized paintbrush
• elastic bandages (walmart, CVS, tractor supply or similar)
• non-stick wound pads (walmart, CVS, tractor supply or similar)
• sock
• sterilized scissors
• disposable gloves

I hope this helps, if not now, but at some point!

 

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

Thanks for reposting the photo. It appears to be a large area affected. Although I love Blu-kote and use it for small wounds, sometimes Blu-kote doesn't work too well on large wounds where a lot of tissue is missing for the reason it dries out a wound. Large areas of missing skin need to be kept moist with an antibiotic ointment in order to promote the growth of new tissue. New tissue stops growing when the wound is allowed to dry out.

I agree. Blu-Kote is a germ-killing, fungicidal wound dressing and healing aid that works to protect animals against common infections and pus-producing bacteria. It is sometimes used to keep chickens from pecking at blood, as it has a very dark indigo color. I would say definitely bandage rather than Blu-Kote.