My dear BO has a huge skin tear on her left side.

[gertsgal]

Hello, I check my chickens every night but went out of town for 3 days and left my chickens in the care of my DH. When I checked on my chickens I realized that one of my BO has a huge skin tear under her wing. I'm sure its from our rooster being too rough. The skin tear is through the thickness of her skin and was packed with dirt. I have spent 4 days cleaning and packing it with wet to dry dressings with betadyne and triple antibiotic. the wound was too old to suture and way too dirty. The dressing I put on it prevents any further harm but i do not know how it will heal. She is very active and is eating and acting normal (Her wing covers the dressing). Can anyone give me some direction on how to take care of this? Much appreciated!

 

[JakRat]

Have you tried BluKote? Can you get a pic for us?

I have only ever had one injured pullet (2 month old). She got pecked in the back of her head and had a hole! So I cleaned it up and put some BluKote on it and it seemed to work great! She had no more bleeding or pus or leaking or anything.

Hopefully someone who has used it more will pip in.

But couldnt hurt to try?

Oh and wear gloves... it stains skin for a while

 

[ladybug99]

I had this happen with one of my girls this summer and I cleaned the wound and try to seperate her from the flock... but she became so stressed I had to put her back with the rest of the girls... I was surprised on how quickly she healed....I kept checking her with a flash light in the evening, because of where the wound was she was not pecked or picked on. it healed beautfiully. I can't even tell her apart from the rest now.

 

[speckledhen]

You did fine. I had to do this with two different hens, which is why I created a saddle with side flank flaps for my big Orp ladies. If you clean it out and pack with antibiotic ointment and keep her separated till it heals up most of the way, she should be okay.

 

[gertsgal]

Yhank you for the information. Going out right now to find blu-coate!