Injured hen

[kklowell]

We were looking at the girls tonight and my wife noticed that one had an injury. I picked her up and looked and it is kind of gross. We rinsed it with peroxide and put some antibiotic cream on it. Then I built her an isolation cage to get her away from the others. I don't know what else to do.

 

[staceyj]

Is that the wing? Or the back or the butt?
It’s a good photo, very clear of the wound itself but I’m spatially challenged sometimes.

And is that picture before or after cleaning it up?

Are you suspecting predator attack or mystery injury?
I’m suspecting predator since it looks like flight feathers stripped.

Regardless, you’re going to want to really scrub that wound well of all funk and dead or dying tissue and be sure to hunt for any signs of maggots in the wound in case it’s fly strike.
A disgusting smell usually goes along with maggots.
Soaking repeatedly will help get them out plus diligence with tweezers. Because if there are maggots, the ones in the 1-3rd larvae stages are the wigglers that you can see, but the eggs the flies have laid hatch in batches so getting rid of them is a multi day affair I’m afraid.

Good job on getting her cleaned up and settled in a hospital cage for the night.

Make sure to keep her warm, if your house is cool.
Put her in a bathroom with the a/c vent covered and you can put a light blanket over her box/crate.

Hydration is key with these sick and injured birds and tempting them with protein in scrambled eggs or whatever you can get her to eat in the morning is a big priority.
Maybe you could post some follow up pictures in the AM as well so you can get as many hands on deck to help you assess this situation as you can.

 

[kklowell]

It's on her right side. If she had 4 legs it would be on the hip. so it's near her back, but still on the side.
We are leaving for an event very early in the morning so I'm not going to have much time to do anything for her beyond making sure that she has food and water. When I get home in the late afternoon or evening I will be able to take much more time to do some treating of the injury. I will try the scrambled eggs.
I do not expect a predator attack as they are all inside a run that has electric wire on it and no other birds have any injury.
The isolation cage is built inside the regular run by adding walls to a corner. She'll be able to stay in there until she's healed up.
At this point, there are no signs of maggots. Thinking about it I realized that I've seen very few flies in the coop and run ever. That makes me feel like I've done ok with the ventilation.

 

[staceyj]

Great!
Listen especially if she’ll be outdoors you’ll have to be vigilant about flies.
This is a terrible time of year for an open wound.

 

[coach723]

If you have to clean the wound again, don't use peroxide as it can inhibit healing. If you have some veterycin skin and wound spray (for all species- often in the dog/cat supplies) use that, or just plain water. You can use plain neosporin on it or plain triple anitibiotic ointment (no pain killer). You can also use Manuka honey, it's antibacterial and also helps healing. I would trim back some of the feathers that are getting in the wound to help keep it clean, just use some small scissors to snip them back. As long as there is no infection it should heal up and will likely be fine, it will just take some time. I would keep her separate until there is no risk of the wound being pecked, and I would be very careful to watch for flystrike, it can happen quickly and unexpectedly, and can make things much, much worse. It really only takes one fly to find her.

 

[kklowell]

I just got home and my wife informed me that another of the chickens has the same kind of injury on her back. I'm thinking that one of my two Plymouth Rocks is the cause as I've seen her peck other birds before. How do I stop her? I'm thinking of filing back a little of her beak...is that advisable?

 

[kklowell]

I checked both birds this morning. The first one is by far the most serious injury, but she seems to be doing just fine. There is no sign of maggots or infection. Her wound is dry. The second one is missing feathers and her skin is rough in that area, but there are no holes actually through her skin. There is a third bird who looks like she has been pecked in the same general area as the other two, but only had ruffled looking feathers there as yet.
This afternoon I made a mount and moved the game camera inside the coop, aimed for now at the nest boxes. I'm trying to determine which of the bords is being excessively aggressive, but I'm also hoping to figure out who is actually laying eggs at this point. If I don't see the aggression with the current camera orientation, I will move it every couple of days until I do.

 

[kklowell]

Aimed the camera differently today and also used food coloring to mark my two suspects. Hopefully, I'll see who my meanie is this way.