Mating Injury Under Wing

[Avie02]

Hi all,

So, one of my lovely hens has just suffered a mating injury/gash under her wing, I only found it today and at a guess I think the wound was a day or so old, no new bleeding or anything (I'd never seen this before but google and this website totally came to the rescue) and as infection was my number 1 worry, I promptly treated the wound with Betadine.

I think it will heal up but my question is what do I do now? do I continue putting Betadine on her or just use it as a one-time disinfectant sort of thing? I'm reluctant to keep using the Betadine as I have heard that it's good for the initial cleaning of the wound but too harsh to keep using? But if that's the case, how do I keep looking after her wound and preventing infection?

Many people have mentioned other ointments and products for post care but none of them seem to be available to me in my country...everytime I think I'm onto something I find I just can't get the product! So I'm not sure what to do - any post-care wound advice would be so appreciated! Thank you!

...Oh and I should add in that I have isolated her and she is happily drinking and eating...I just need advice on how to keep her healthy with this wound

 

[DobieLover]

What antibiotic over the counter ointments are available to you?

You will also need to blunt the rooster's spurs to prevent injury to other hens or reinjury to his girl.

 

[Avie02]

What antibiotic over the counter ointments are available to you?

You will also need to blunt the rooster's spurs to prevent injury to other hens or reinjury to his girl.

Hi, thank you!

We live in a very remote location so many things are hard to get out here but I have asked our closest neighbour for help and she has savlon, crystaderm and Betadine (in antibacterial/antiseptic cream form)

 

[Ladyknz]

Hi Avie02,
How are you getting on with your hen?

I’m in the same boat as you - I live in New Zealand and just about every product talked about on websites isn’t available here - it’s had to be ordered.

One if my girls has the same type of wound and I’ve been treating it with sterile saline (googled how make this this) to irrigate and clean the wound, dab on some crystaderm then applied a gauze smeared with some Manuka honey (normal honey works too) to help healing. The gauze falls off once the honey is absorbed. She’s doing well with no signs of infection so am only going seek out antibiotics if the wound deteriorates. I trimmed the sharp ends off my roo’s spurs using dog nail clippers - there are loads of really helpful sites that explain how to do this but definitely have some cornflour (cornstarch) or a bar of soap handy to clot any bleeding as the quick is usually quiet long if they haven’t been trimmed before.

 

[Avie02]

Hi Avie02,
How are you getting on with your hen?

I’m in the same boat as you - I live in New Zealand and just about every product talked about on websites isn’t available here - it’s had to be ordered.

One if my girls has the same type of wound and I’ve been treating it with sterile saline (googled how make this this) to irrigate and clean the wound, dab on some crystaderm then applied a gauze smeared with some Manuka honey (normal honey works too) to help healing. The gauze falls off once the honey is absorbed. She’s doing well with no signs of infection so am only going seek out antibiotics if the wound deteriorates. I trimmed the sharp ends off my roo’s spurs using dog nail clippers - there are loads of really helpful sites that explain how to do this but definitely have some cornflour (cornstarch) or a bar of soap handy to clot any bleeding as the quick is usually quiet long if they haven’t been trimmed before.

Hi Ladyknz! Thank you so much for this reply!

Yes, I too am in New Zealand and you are right about how hard it is to find 'common' products. It is so frustrating as it feels like so many things are just unavailable to us...or need some sort of special prescription that can only be obtained with an expensive (and often unnecessary) doctor/vet bill first... It kind of makes our good old 'Kiwi DIY' psyche seem a tad laughable, doesn't it!

Anyway, I managed to find an equine shop not too far from me and they had a product called Electromicyn Wound Spray. I have been using this rather sparingly on my girl as she has actually been doing really well on her own. The first day when I noticed the wound I did give it a little cleanout and then put the Betadine on it. I checked on it for the next couple of days and the wound was looking really nice and clean and looked to be on the right track for healing (without further intervention) so, I bought the spray really just to have on hand and I have since been letting nature do its thing...apart from every two days or so where I will just give the wound a light spritz with the Electromicin to stop it from drying out too much.

I must say though, even though the wound was a nasty gash, it is probably in a good spot, right under the wing with nothing showing on the outside so I'm sure flies find it hard to access and she's a fussy hen that tends to keep herself very clean, unlike some of my other hens...so while my method is working so far with my girl, I don't say I would have the same luck with a hen with a different disposition. Plus, the weather here has been terribly cold despite it being summer but I think that this too has been in my favour and helped reduce the chances of infection.

Obviously, though, it is still early days and I'm not out of the woods yet! So, I'm continuing to just keep an eye on her and I'm ready to step in with saline or the Electromicin spray if/when I feel the need. And now that you mention that honey works well too, I will pick some up on my next grocery shop and have that on hand too.

I am also really keen to try your method out on our roo's spurs! I currently have him separated from our girls but I have been unsure/worried about reintroducing him to the flock while our girl is still healing...We were even thinking about rehoming him as we don't really need a roo - but he is a lovely boy so if trimming the spurs could be a successful option it would really make my day! Although, I think our main issue has been overmating...which I was a bit oblivious to. We have a pretty good hen:roo ratio, however, come spring/summer many of our hens went broody leaving only three hens that didn't. After this injury, I suddenly realised that the three non-broody hens have been 'taking it for the team' and getting all the attention from the roo, while the other girls stay on their nests. I feel terrible for not noticing this earlier, as there was feather damage on the three girls but I'd just put it down to looking scruffy after their recent moult - I'm still new to raising chickens and I guess these things are all part of the learning experience and, on the positive side, I'm more prepared and aware now so I think I'm in a better position to try to never let this happen again!

I really hope it all goes well with your hen. It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job with her and I'm sure she will be back to normal in no time - I'm actually surprised at how quickly chickens start healing!

Best of luck to you, and do keep me updated if you find a spare moment

P.S - Awesome to see a fellow Kiwi on here too

 

[Ladyknz]

Yay! I thought you sounded like a kiwi

Yeah, lack of easy availability sucks but that’s kinda how we became #8 wire thinkers, we had to use what we had! I’ve only been keeping hens for two years (feels like forever!) and have found the Lifestyle Block magazines (especially their How to Care for your Poultry editions) really, really useful for local products and relevant to backyard chickening in NZ. What part of the country are you? Im in Dunedin and its our usual Christmas weather of four seasons in one day.

Your chooks sounds amazingly well looked after and you obviously know them very well. Glad to hear all is going well with your girl. We took a backwards step today - through a series of overly optimistic decisions we ended up with a wound full of dirt after she rubbed her bandage off having a dust bath. I had her isolated but her pathetic pleas to enjoy the sunshine overcame my good judgment and as a result we ended up having to give the wound a soak and a reasonably intense clean out. Fortunately she likes having a bath and a blow dry (she’s a nearly four kg black Orpington) so it wasn’t a complete ordeal but it would have hurt and she’s been very quite since, so I’m back to REST recovery steps again. Part of me thinks she knows I’ll give her scrambled egg, a hottie and mealworms and she’s playing me!

We’re in a similar situation with flock ratio, although he does escape through to our neighbours flock most weekends so he blows off a bit of steam with them. We only have four hens and three of them are light breeds, even with Barry’s (yes, Barry - we didn’t name him) spurs cut, we may have this happen again. Considering putting wee aprons on the girls - they help protect their backs and give him something to grab onto to help from slipping. Plus, it’s a reason to kinda dress them up without it being totally weird! Yet to enlighten my husband of this plan lol.

We’ve had nearly half a dozen chook care events this year () and I’ve totally learnt the value of having an emergency first aid box by the door and back up supplies on hand. It’s better to have stuff and not need it than need it and not have it. Most of what I use is just household stuff although I am going to order a 3-in-1 antiseptic spray like you bought - spray on application would be much less traumatic for all concerned. The Lifestyle Block specials are really useful for putting together a kit, or at least as a reference for what to use, given what’s available to us Antipodeans

Hope your girl continues to recover and you have a great Christmas!

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Good luck from New Orleans, ladies. Sounds like y'all are doing great jobs, your chickens are very lucky.