Leg Injury From Pecking

[Davian]

One of my pullets was bullied by a few of the other birds and she now has a really bad wound on her foot. Its literally down to the bone and she's having trouble walking on it. She's also lost a lot of blood (her comb is very pale now). I rinsed it with water, dried it and then pute 3-1 ointment (generic Neosporin) on it with a cloth bandage but she keeps pulling it off. I also brought her into the house and have her in my dining room in a baby playpen with some hay in it. She's drinking and eating but she can't move around all that much. She's also pulled out a bunch of her own feathers as she bled all over them.

Questions:

Can the skin/flesh grow back on a wound like that (like I said, you can see her bone on one of her toes)?

What else can I do to save her?

 

[Judy]

What happens is not that the skin grows back as such, but rather scar tissue forms, which will serve the same purpose. I expect she will do fine if you keep her indoors (away from flies) and keep the same ointment on it. You could tape a dressing on with duct tape or vet wrap, but it should also do fine left open.

Good luck!

 

[Davian]

Thanks. So, should I reflush it with peroxide or diluted iodine at this point or will that do more damage than good? I found the injury last night when I was in the coop around 9pm and cleaned it shortly after with just running well water and then the ointment when I brought her in. She seemed okay this morning. Her eyes were clear and she's been eating drinking but the bandage had come off. I'm keeping her inside until its fully healed. I hope she doesn't mind being stuffed up in playpen like that for a week or two.

She's always been the smallest of the bunch but they never bothered her before. I feel so bad for the poor girl as it must hurt really bad.

 

[Miss Lydia]

you might want to try spraying with blue-kote when you begin to reintroduce her back with the flock, that was whats left of the wound will be covered. she probably doesn't need to be separated from them for a long time because it will make it worse for her when she goes back, after the wound scabs over and you've sprayed it real good. let her out with them some during the day when you can supervise, so they will remember her.

 

[Davian]

Can I use blue-kote on the wound when its deep to the bone or do I have to wait until it starts healing? It says "for surface wounds and minor abrasions only" but can I just spray it on the wound as is?

 

[Miss Lydia]

since it says surface wounds you might want to give it a few days before spraying, when my frizzle got scalped by my big roo, I knew nothing else would stick to the wound so i just went ahead and sprayed her. she didn't have any kind of adverse reaction to it. but if infection was to start it wouldn't be as noticeable with the wound sprayed purple.

 

[Davian]

Thank you for all your help!