Injury or tumour? Lump on back

[Fllight]

Okey doke...job done, I think.

I'm not going to post a photo - I didn't take any, holding her was hard enough for the poor old girl, I had to just get on with it.

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever had to do.

Basically, it was like a hollow lump - there was pus around it, the 'shell' was sort of a mixture of dried stuff and earth. I cut the feathers around it but parts just pulled off...the flesh was really rotting.

I managed to get a lot of the crusted bit off, there was a lot of yukky stuff inside, I sprayed it with the violet antiseptic spray we bought this morning - thought I was doing ok and then she kind of yelped, and I realised it was full of maggots.

So she was being eaten. I've flicked most of them out, there were a lot, some flesh came off - so a little blood. But I tried to be gentle as possible.

I sprayed everything with the violet, it's now a patch, no feathers around it, well not very many left - I've cut them, and there's no little hideaway for flies to get inside of. I think I got off most of the wrigglies.

Poor, poor chicky. She has gone back in the big run with her friends and looks a bit ticked off, but otherwise okay.

What should I do next? Apart from concentrate on trying not to vomit. The smell was awful

Thankyou for all your help by the way.

 

[CMV]

I think I would keep her separate for a while to make sure she doesn't get picked on by the other birds. Did you clean out the hole that's left? The purple spray will help, but you really need to hose that wound out.

Good job, by the way.

 

[Fllight]

Thankyou,

I didn't know what to use really. I took off as much yukky flesh as I could, but I didn't dig too deeply as she was getting quite distressed...I don't have a hose, couldn't think what to use as I wasn't expecting the degree of damage iyswim.

I've been watching her, she is not being bothered at all by the other birds - they're good to her. The flies are still buzing around and she is trying to head them off, also I saw another maggot on the wound from a distance and she pecked it off. I guess she can reach the wound now which is good?

I'm waiting for our farmer to call me back, he was talking about using Stockholm tar? To protect it, he says he uses this on the badly pecked birds.

I've also made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon with our vet who apparently does know something about poultry, but isn't in on a Monday. So it's looking like I'll have some more help.

If you would be happy to talk me through how to clean it out better I will have another go, but I wasn't sure what I was doing. I was working on her for about 15 minutes all in, so got a lot of it off I think.

 

[LeezyBeezy]

I would bring her in, hold her in the sink or tub, and flulsh flush flush with water. You need to get the dead tissue out and off. Then a good coating of bacitracin or Swat (antibiotic anti-fly ointment you can get at Agway type stores) should help. Feed her extra calories too. And good job!!

 

[Melissa Rose]

 

[Fllight]

Thanks guys, I will see what I can do.

Earlier I thought if I kept going, there would be no chicken left

and it was hard to see what was Ok and what wasn't. I'm hoping that the purple spray (antibac?) might sort it out slightly, so I could look again in a few hours and get a better idea of what's going on.

But I might just bring her in and put her in the tub.

The farmer still hasn't called so he might call round here, or phone me - either way I shan't just leave her, now, I'll do whatever I can.

Not feeling too much like lunch!

 

[CMV]

I would hold off on using pine tar in the wound until you have more of an idea what's going on exactly. Pine tar is a disaster to work with and makes a huge mess. Since you are going to be seeing a vet tomorrow I think you would be better off just using the Swat that LeezyBeezy recommended. It will not obscure the wound as much as pine tar does. Normally I would start her on an antibiotic, but the vet is likely to start her on a course anyway, so she'll probably be OK until then.

 

[Fllight]

Okay...he just called, said it is messy! So I will get some in case and hold off until tomorrow.

She seems to be having a dust bath now, it[s covered in dry earth, can't see any more movement inside the wound so I guess that's good.

I will look in our agricultural store again and see if they have the anti fly stuff, we are in the UK so it's not quite the same I guess, but I really appreciate all your help and suggestions. You have been brilliant.

I'll let you know how she gets on. Not sure if I ought to clean off the dirt from the dust bath, think if it dries it out that's good.

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

You could also irrigate it with salt water. I swear by salt water for just about everything infected. If she's dust bathing where there are chicken droppings, you'd probably want to clean the dust out of the wound. I'm thinking bring her in and put her in the tub - and maybe keep her there till you see the vet tomorrow, because I wouldn't trust the others not to start bothering her about it at some point.
As for the flies, in the US we have hanging air fresheners for our cars, and the vanilla scented one is supposed to be a great fly deterrent (I read about this on BYC!). Actually, anything vanilla scented is supposed to keep them away. Here's the thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4472629
You did great. And you didn't vomit, so even better! Nicely done -