Large wound under wing - cause?

[Nicky S]

So I came back from a week’s vacation to find one of my girls with a large nasty looking wound under her wing. We only saw it as she lifted her wing to preen. It’s obviously not fresh, but I’m going to take her in tomorrow to get her checked out….I’m just wondering what on earth caused it? The run is very secure, and they are locked in their coops at night. We definitely have raccoons that come by, but also our younger rooster (1 yr) still hasn’t learned to court the ladies properly, and I’m worried he got too rough in our absence. We had an experienced chicken sitter, but obviously she only came twice a day to set them up and put them to bed and wouldn’t have noticed anything wrong. Thoughts? And how old does the wound look? I’m wondering if she already had it when we left.

 

[nuthatched]

That looks like a mating injury, she might have had it for awhile.

 

[Nicky S]

That looks like a mating injury, she might have had it for awhile.

Ugh. If it is a mating injury, does that mean I should separate the offending rooster? I’m assuming g he’s just too rough? He’s a bit clueless, a while back I saw him on top of one of the girls just as they were going to bed as it was getting dark and he was backwards.

 

[nuthatched]

Ugh. If it is a mating injury, does that mean I should separate the offending rooster? I’m assuming g he’s just too rough? He’s a bit clueless, a while back I saw him on top of one of the girls just as they were going to bed as it was getting dark and he was backwards.

You could file down hos spurs though if he's mating without permission, he might not be a good rooster.

 

[Nicky S]

You could file down hos spurs though if he's mating without permission, he might not be a good rooster.

Ok thanks - I’m hoping he’ll settle down a little, which he does seem to be doing some days. The vet today said if it is a mating injury he’s never seen one as bad as that, so it’s a bit of a mystery.

 

[Eggcessive]

You will find similar deep cuts under wings from spur injuries In pictures on BYC. It is not that the rooster was rough, but that his spurs are too sharp. They can be trimmed with dog nail clippers and dulled with a file or Dremel. I would treat the wound with applying Vetericyn or saline, and a coat of plain antibiotic ointment twice a day. If it smells bad or seems infected, a few applications of chlorhexidene then, rinsed with water will help.

 

[Nicky S]

You will find similar deep cuts under wings from spur injuries In pictures on BYC. It is not that the rooster was rough, but that his spurs are too sharp. They can be trimmed with dog nail clippers and dulled with a file or Dremel. I would treat the wound with applying Vetericyn or saline, and a coat of plain antibiotic ointment twice a day. If it smells bad or seems infected, a few applications of chlorhexidene then, rinsed with water will help.

Thank you. I took her in today and I’m very relieved I did - while it looked like everything was healing, when they washed it all off (she’d been dust bathing) they found a hole that went 5 inches deep, almost to her leg! They think she must have somehow impaled herself….they said possibly a smaller mating wound became infected and travelled down over time, but thought impaled was more likely. I have no idea on what. She’s on atb and I take her back in a couple of days so they can put a drain in….it’s all full of soil and wood chips and there’s nowhere for it to go (entry hole, no exit). We’ll definitely take care of those spurs as well. For the moment my younger guy will be kept separate unless I’m there to observe - he’s also huge (Brahma/Wyandotte mix) which doesn’t help.