Injured orpington *Graphic warning!!!*

[Silkie2]

One of my buff orpingtons got a deep nasty cut on its back and i have absolutely no idea where it came from. I let the hens out of the coop one morning (as I usually do) and noticed a deep cut on banty's back (she's really small so i named her banty. short for bantam). I couldn’t find any feather remains anywhere in the barnyard and coop??? I sprayed some vetericyn on the wound then some blue kote (I don’t think using the blue kote was a good idea though...) I isolated her in the stall. A couple days have past and i noticed it doesn’t look that good (pictures below) she is eating and drinking fine. Still her normal feisty self (she will peck you for no apparent reason..) she pretty much acts like she doesn’t have a huge gash in her back. I think it might possibly be infected.. there is a green spot and some weird “hairs” growing out of her skin (almost like whiskers) you can kinda see them in the pictures. What should i do???

 

[Silkie2]

anybody know what i should do?

 

[coach723]

The 'hairs' look like bits of feather to me, and the green looks like bruising. It actually looks like it's healing OK to me, no obvious signs of infection showing in your pictures, and the fact that she is acting fine says a lot. So I think you've done OK and she will likely be fine given some time to heal up. May take a while to feather out there.
Do you have a rooster? Where she is injured is a common area for rooster damage from mounting from spurs or claws. If you don't have a rooster, then possibly a dominant hen, or she could have been getting feather picked which became pecking once a wound was opened up on her.
Once she is completely healed you could use a hen saddle to protect that area until the feathers fill in, but I would not put one on her until she's completely healed.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would use the Vetericyn twice a day on the wound, or put plain neosporin/triple antibiotic ointment on it. Keep flies away from her to prevent fly strike. Many times after a wound, there is green skin from bruising. I would keep her near the other chickens in a wire dog crate, so she has company, and they don’t forget her. It can be hard to bring one back into a flock after a long absence. Do you have any hawks around? If you don’t have a rooster, it could have been hawk or other predator. Keep us posted on her recovery.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

The 'hairs' look like bits of feather to me, and the green looks like bruising. It actually looks like it's healing OK to me, no obvious signs of infection showing in your pictures, and the fact that she is acting fine says a lot. So I think you've done OK and she will likely be fine given some time to heal up. May take a while to feather out there.
Do you have a rooster? Where she is injured is a common area for rooster damage from mounting from spurs or claws. If you don't have a rooster, then possibly a dominant hen, or she could have been getting feather picked which became pecking once a wound was opened up on her.
Once she is completely healed you could use a hen saddle to protect that area until the feathers fill in, but I would not put one on her until she's completely healed.

x2

 

[aart]

Is all that dark stuff dried blood or blukote?

 

[Silkie2]

The 'hairs' look like bits of feather to me, and the green looks like bruising. It actually looks like it's healing OK to me, no obvious signs of infection showing in your pictures, and the fact that she is acting fine says a lot. So I think you've done OK and she will likely be fine given some time to heal up. May take a while to feather out there.
Do you have a rooster? Where she is injured is a common area for rooster damage from mounting from spurs or claws. If you don't have a rooster, then possibly a dominant hen, or she could have been getting feather picked which became pecking once a wound was opened up on her.
Once she is completely healed you could use a hen saddle to protect that area until the feathers fill in, but I would not put one on her until she's completely healed.

ok thanks (that's a relief lol) no roosters except for two silkie bantam roosters in a separate run. It could be a dominant hen (we have a few bossy RIRs) but i find it weird how it could happen overnight?? When they are all running out of the coop into the run I like to watch each one as they run out to look for signs of injuries or sickness. The day before i noticed the cut on banty's back was 100% fine, no signs of feathers being pulled out by the other hens, then the next day this deep gash shows up?

I would use the Vetericyn twice a day on the wound, or put plain neosporin/triple antibiotic ointment on it. Keep flies away from her to prevent fly strike. Many times after a wound, there is green skin from bruising. I would keep her near the other chickens in a wire dog crate, so she has company, and they don’t forget her. It can be hard to bring one back into a flock after a long absence. Do you have any hawks around? If you don’t have a rooster, it could have been hawk or other predator. Keep us posted on her recovery.

thaks, will do. i have this to prevent flies. but actually haven't noticed many flies in the barn this year.. (haven't noticed many flys in the coop either, i'm not complaining! lol)

Is all that dark stuff dried blood or blukote?

blue kote