Neck skin gone

[City Chicken]

One of my nine week old australoprp pullets was found with the front of her neck skin torn off. i cleaned it and tried to bandage it to keep the skin on it, BUT the bandage came off and it dried out, which is not good for wound healing. (although i put antibiotic ointment in it).
So, she basically has neck muscle showing, a whole area of just open neck muscle with no skin coverage.

How will this heal? It is not infected and she seems fine otherwise.

I dont know how it happened, but i suspect it was a run in with the cat....

My concern is that it will not heal, that he neck muscle will dry out and it will eventually put her down.
I have considered trying to pull the skin together from both sides and suturing as best i can.... Which would be a difficult thing to do for sure since she is missing an inch (basically the whole underside of her neck....).

Any hope for healing?
I will try to post some photos later if i can.

 

[Judy]

Yes, there is hope. You'd be surrised what they will heal from. I'd just keep putting Neisporin or BluKote on it oce or twice a day -- clean if needed.

Don't try to bandage it, and most certainly don't try to suture it. You would only be suturing germs inside. Let it heal by secondary intention, that is, from the edges inward. You will probably have to keep her inside or maybe your barn for a week or a few weeks, to keep it cleaner, to prevent the others attacking the wound, and to keep germs and bugs out of it..If whe is outdoors, I would look for some fly preventive stuff, sold for horses in feed stores, intended to prevent flies from laying eggs in the wound.

 

[City Chicken]

Since its quite cold there are no flies. The others dont seem to be bothering her, probably because its on the underside of her neck. Im glad hear there is hope because otherwise i wasnt sure what to do with her. I dont want to cull.

 

[Judy]

I'd watch her closely for signs of others pecking her. BluKote is often good for this; the color seems to make wounds invisible, or less visible. It's also an antseptic. I've had good luck with it.

 

[City Chicken]

Just to update, she healed quikly and completely! I think i applied antibiotic ointment a couple times, but now i cant even tell which one she is!