My sweet Turkey Girl got and I'm in a PANIC!!!!! Not a normal injury!!!

[Kandace Edgar]

Ok so my hen thought she would try and bully food away from the dog and he got ahold of her right on her upper chest....feathers ripped out and she's ripped open at the top of her chest....she still has some feathers hanging down so it covers it unless u look for it there's no bleeding anywhere but her skin is torn open and there's basically a big hole about the size of a baseball and I can see her muscles and part of her esophagus maybe? She's walking around fine when she does move but she's being very still. This just happened within the hour so I figure she won't eat or drink yet so I'm watching her closely but should I take her to a vet to be stitched up? Nothing is hanging or bleeding and doesnt seem like much was done other than the gazillion feathers snatched out and her skin being torn open but I'm a new turkey mom and honestly just have no clue what to do other than monitor her for now ??? Any and all suggestions and advice is much appreciated please y'all!!??!!
Thanks-Kandace (the panic maniac turkey mom)

 

[Kandace Edgar]

If you have access to an avian vet and are willing to pay the money to get her fixed, I would do that first personally. I am a bit extreme when it comes to making sure my birds are okay though and understand most people wouldn't. You might try to see if you can get ahold of something for flushing wounds (maybe like Veterycin or something) to at least try and keep the wound clean until you can get help either from a vet or someone far more experienced in bad wounds on here. Good luck, I hope your hen pulls through!

Just

How is your bird, @Kandace Edgar ?

Hey there here's the update...and thanks for asking!! She's awesome....got her to the Vet and she was given penicillin-G? And rh bet look and her over and decided no stiches necessary due to my sweet girl being spoiled rotten and having her nest box in my bedroom right now lol...apparently since she got hurt n her box and basically smushed her wounds together the way she was sitting overnite helped her wounds/holes kinda of tack themself together and started to heal the vet said it was actually great how it happened cuz it did exactly what nature wud hoped it would lol. She's recovering GREAT and she's still naked a little in th front but at a glance I can't tell she even got hurt. Her attitude is sassy and normal lol and she's eating and drinking and acting perfectly normal and I'm so grateful for the advice and tips and help frok my local vet who's only ever seen 1 other turkey! She was awesome and my baby bird has a new vet because of the attention and care she received. I'm so thabkful an my hen is a lucky girl, thanks y'all so very much!!!

 

[Bantambird]

Thanks so much and I'm right there with you on the extreme measures for my birds so I'm going to monitor her thru the nite and try and get her to the vet tomorrow who's over 2 hours away but the only one I trust for my birds. Nobody local deals with many chickens, turkeys, etc. And I love my feathered babies and they deserve all the life I can give them for sure!

if you cant get her in very fast, keep the wound moist with a wound balm, like blu kote, or neosporin without the pain reliever or gold mountain wound balm. Good luck! watch out for maggots.

 

[Kandace Edgar]

if you cant get her in very fast, keep the wound moist with a wound balm, like blu kote, or neosporin without the pain reliever or gold mountain wound balm. Good luck! watch out for maggots.

Tjank you so much!! I've got Neosporin without pain relief for the edges of the tears, and am monitoring her trying to get her to eat and drink. So far she's stable and moving around in her nest and fidgeting and tending to her loose feathers etc at the moment so she seems to be in her normal routine for the most part she just hasn't eatn or drank anything yet. We're about 10 hours I'm so far and I figure shell get up. N middle of nite she's in my bedroom in a big nestbox in he corner. All of our birds kinda cone an go thru the house some since werr out In the he country lol so shes seems comfy and safe and ok for the time being. But im still getting her to vet 2mar ASAP. my sweet baby girl is gonna get all tj help I can give her right now

 

[Bantambird]

Ok so my hen thought she would try and bully food away from the dog and he got ahold of her right on her upper chest....feathers ripped out and she's ripped open at the top of her chest....she still has some feathers hanging down so it covers it unless u look for it there's no bleeding anywhere but her skin is torn open and there's basically a big hole about the size of a baseball and I can see her muscles and part of her esophagus maybe? She's walking around fine when she does move but she's being very still. This just happened within the hour so I figure she won't eat or drink yet so I'm watching her closely but should I take her to a vet to be stitched up? Nothing is hanging or bleeding and doesnt seem like much was done other than the gazillion feathers snatched out and her skin being torn open but I'm a new turkey mom and honestly just have no clue what to do other than monitor her for now ??? Any and all suggestions and advice is much appreciated please y'all!!??!!
Thanks-Kandace (the panic maniac turkey mom)

If it needs stiches you should take her in sooner rather than later.... once the wound is open for a while and the skin and tissue starts going necrotic you run the risk of further infection with no way to cover the necessary insides. Even a regular vet should be able to give her stiches or gauge wounds. Call around and ask first, many corporate vet hospitals and city vets won't see turkeys. Such a large wound will need a lot of watching, especially with the insides showing.

 

[Blue Raptor]

How is your bird, @Kandace Edgar ?

 

[R2elk]

Ok so my hen thought she would try and bully food away from the dog and he got ahold of her right on her upper chest....feathers ripped out and she's ripped open at the top of her chest....she still has some feathers hanging down so it covers it unless u look for it there's no bleeding anywhere but her skin is torn open and there's basically a big hole about the size of a baseball and I can see her muscles and part of her esophagus maybe? She's walking around fine when she does move but she's being very still. This just happened within the hour so I figure she won't eat or drink yet so I'm watching her closely but should I take her to a vet to be stitched up? Nothing is hanging or bleeding and doesnt seem like much was done other than the gazillion feathers snatched out and her skin being torn open but I'm a new turkey mom and honestly just have no clue what to do other than monitor her for now ??? Any and all suggestions and advice is much appreciated please y'all!!??!!
Thanks-Kandace (the panic maniac turkey mom)

@Bantambird

 

[yesterDAYNE]

If you have access to an avian vet and are willing to pay the money to get her fixed, I would do that first personally. I am a bit extreme when it comes to making sure my birds are okay though and understand most people wouldn't. You might try to see if you can get ahold of something for flushing wounds (maybe like Veterycin or something) to at least try and keep the wound clean until you can get help either from a vet or someone far more experienced in bad wounds on here. Good luck, I hope your hen pulls through!

 

[Blue Raptor]

I've got 2 Turkeys, and down to 6 chickens at the moment. We had a hawk tear through our net over the big pen and got 4 of my little hens within a week. So I'm a really new bird mom lol and I'm obsessed and maybe a little, okay, way over the top with my feathered babies. This is all new to me and I'm learning as I go with teh help of this awesome forum and Google. I never knew just how smart and sweet and funny and entertaining chickens are, and turkeys! And this little funny farm started when somebody gave me some eggs last year to incubate and only 1 hatched and ended up being a rooster and he was my BABY. I took him every where and he was small town famous around here cuz he was the sweetest Roo and would talk and let everybody love on him lol. He was rotten, and I fell in love so I got more eggs to hatch and here we are lol.

I'm glad you could find help on this website! If you ever need help with your birds of with navigating, just ask- heh that's what we're here for!

 

[Kandace Edgar]

Ok so my hen thought she would try and bully food away from the dog and he got ahold of her right on her upper chest....feathers ripped out and she's ripped open at the top of her chest....she still has some feathers hanging down so it covers it unless u look for it there's no bleeding anywhere but her skin is torn open and there's basically a big hole about the size of a baseball and I can see her muscles and part of her esophagus maybe? She's walking around fine when she does move but she's being very still. This just happened within the hour so I figure she won't eat or drink yet so I'm watching her closely but should I take her to a vet to be stitched up? Nothing is hanging or bleeding and doesnt seem like much was done other than the gazillion feathers snatched out and her skin being torn open but I'm a new turkey mom and honestly just have no clue what to do other than monitor her for now ??? Any and all suggestions and advice is much appreciated please y'all!!??!!
Thanks-Kandace (the panic maniac turkey mom)

Also I do have some TerraVet200....should I give her a small dose of it over the next few days or weeks maybe just to help it from getting infected and maybe make her helping time faster or easier?