Neck skin missing on young chicken after attack

[Paladin]

I'm new to this forum, but you guys have great advice so I'm looking for help with one of our young (maybe 3 or 4 month old) chickens. It is probably a famale black astrolorp cross.
A creature(s), likely foxes, got into our chick pen night before last and killed or carried off several but we found this gal running around outside with about a third of her neck skin simply missing. I'm guessing someone had a bite of skin and she got away, leaving them with the skin. I've pulled skin back together before, after hawk attacks, but this is just missing and there isn't enough left to pull and cover the muscle tissue showing on the back of her neck. About a third to half the skin is gone in a patch from the back of her comb to her shoulders (maybe 1 1/2" wide and 3" long). The muscle tissue is intact and there doesn't appear to have been much bleeding.
Initially, I applied good old 'wound powder' to the area, not being sure how to clean something like that. Later, after it was obvious she was not otherwise damaged, she felt well, and she was not in shock I tried to look at it more closely. The wound looked clean, so I clipped away the feathers that were sticking to the open area, applied a liberal coating of vitamin E oil, figuring something needed to keep the tissue from drying out, and took a non-stick gauze pad and smeared it with triple antibiotic ointment and used it to cover most of the open area, trying to pull the skin up as much as possible using masking tape (which I've found works well on chickens and comes off readily when you want it to). She's not very keen on the bandaging arrangement, but she's not pulling it off, either.
I don't know whether to use some sort of anitibiotic in her food or water. Is there any hope for some kind of healing, since there's no skin there? I don't know how it can possibly heal - skin doesn't spontaneously regenerate over that large an area, does it? I considered trying to stitch it, but there just isn't enough to bring to even an inch apart. She does not, and has not, shown any sign of discomfort and she'd like to be outside with her siblings.
Naturally, we're keeping her in the house in a box with paper we can change often to keep anything from getting dirty. She's eating and drinking fine and is perky and chatty.
Sorry for the length, but I wanted to give helpful people as much information as I could. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. She's such a plucky gal I would love to see her pull through somehow.

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

We have a OEG hen that was attacked by a hawk when she was about 8 weeks old and it ripped the skin off her neck just about like you are discribing. She was eating and drinking fine so we left her aone. Today she is perfectly healthy and if you didn't know you would never guess that she was ever attacked. There is only a slight ruffle to her feathers in one place on her neck.

 

[enola]

Slathering on neosporin ointment allowed a large area of skin to reginerate on one of my Maran pullets recently. I love neosporin ointment! She had muscle missing clear to the bone, healed up slowly but surely.

 

[Paladin]

Missing skin and she survived! Wow, you give me hope. I don't know that I have neosporin, but I think the triple antibiotic is about the same thing. Did you bandage it at all? I am so nervous about the infection possibility with it just open to the air, but since she's alone, maybe it won't be as much of an issue. I know the other chickens would peck, so I can't let her go back to them, even though she's made it quite clear that's where she'd like to be.
Do you remember if the missing skin grew in from the sides or if she got some kind of odd scar tissue that covered the muscle. If this was a human they would definitely need a major skin graft!
Thanks for your encouragement.

 

[innof8happinesses]

Just to be safe I would definitely add some antibiotics to the water... we also add colloidial silver to our chickens water when they get a severe injury or stress. Animal bites can carry a lot of bacteria. Best of luck... I am going through the same thing right now with a chick who is not able to be stitched on the chest...

 

[threehorses]

Rather than adding an antibiotic to the water (because most of them are inappropriate to the type of injury) I'd consider injecting her with penicillin. Procaine G Penicillin is the one that most feedstores carry in their refrigerators. 3 cc syringes with 22 gauge one inch needles are also available at most feedstores.

Unlike the old combiotics and other penicillin, Procaine G Pen (Pen-g) is more concentrated and doesn't have to be given but every other day. It's a lot less work. The dosage depends on the solution strength and size/weight of the bird.

Giving Terramycin for an injury is about worthless, and that's all most feedstores sell. Baytril is nearly unavaiable to the layman, so that's out. Penicillin is the drug of choice for wounds.

On the neck skin, sounds like you did great. Believe it or not, they can live like that as the others have told you.

I had a flock of geese attacked by dogs this spring. I almost put to sleep my alpha-male-goose, Knothead (so named because he has a slight crest knot on his head.) He was so brave, but when I picked him up the entire front of his neck was missing skin. Well, the skin was still there - attached at the top hanging down like a giant tongue. Horrible. I was able to stitch most of the skin back (after packing with antibiotics and a very thorough cleaning) but a very large patch of skin was missing. So he went skinless there.

The healing isn't pretty, but he lived. In that case I used Pen-G. I'm very glad I did!

I hope this helps, and you definitely have my prayers and well-wishes that all goes well! (I'll be subscribing to your post to watch.)

 

[Paladin]

Thank you both for the comments. As for the antibiotics, some time ago the vet gave me something for the chicken that had been attacked by the hawk, and I thought it was amoxicillin, but I can't find the dosing and strength information - though I have lots of it around.
My current thought is to smear the area with the antibiotic ointment (gently) and keep her in for a day more to see how she is feeling, then let her out during the day in her own enclosure for some fresh air and sunshine (if we ever get any - we're in PA and it's been quite overcast for days) since I'm assuming they can create their own D like we can and there's not much better for healing. I'm also going to make sure she has additional protein in her diet to help the healing along. How about adding vitamin or mineral supplements?

If she shows any signs of not feeling well, I'll hasten to find some kind of antibiotic to give her, but otherwise, I'll let nature take the lead, with a little help from the tube of ointment, of course.

Amazing how much these guys can survive, isn't it?

 

[threehorses]

Amoxicillin is great for wounds, yes! Just make sure it's in date.

Fresh air and sunshine are wonderful meds.

You could add additional vitamin minerals, but I wouldn't worry about it really. I usually like to throw them a boiled egg yolk and that takes care of a lot of nutrition. Or baby crumbles.

Yeah isn't it crazy how these guys are so resilient! I really wish I had photographed my geese when they were attacked, the ones that lived enough to even try to keep. I thought certainly my torn-necked goose would die. My boyfriend actually was the one to convince me not to euthanize him. He said "he's so proud, you just can't". When I was treating him, I kept stopping and crying (it was such a long day - 7 birds to treat, 9 dead or that i had to euthanize) and saying "i can't... I just can't do this and let him live". But then we decided to patch him up and let him at least die with his flock as he was the alpha.

We were just out in the barnyard and he was strutting around, proud as he's ever been. The dark feathered line at the back of his neck is crooked (like a crooked seam in a old-fashioned stocking lol), and he had some keloids where his skin grew back to the muscle - adhesions, but he's alive. I teasingly call him my frankengoose.

He's a true testament to their heart.

I've had several other hens that I either rescued from dogs in the neighborhood, or had attacked here unfortunately who were also missing big patches of not only skin but also muscle. One had a piece missing on her back that went all the way to the silver lining of her spine. She lived - I only didn't put her down because she ate and drank when I offered her a mercy-last-supper. I thought as long as they try, I will.

I hope to hear good news. You should take a picture now so you can remind yourself what miraculous creatures they are when she makes it through.

 

[ChasSquirrel]

Don't give up on the little girl. Last year I had a young CA White Leghorn get mauled by my Lab puppies. I was sure she would die. She had a huge hole in her neck. I was surprised she didn't bleed to death before I found her. I cleaned it the best I could and covered it with triple-antibiotic. I originially bandaged it but that didn't last long. I kept her in the house only a couple days because she was stir crazy in the cage I had her in. However, I did have some Penicillin pills available at the time. They had been perscribed for a sick goat or something. I don't remember what strenght they were. I would just give one a day for maybe 5 days. Sweet Pea did great and I still have her.

 

[Judy]

Triple antibiotic ointment and Neosporin are very nearly the same or just the same, I forget, but either is fine.

Wounds like that heal by granulating in. New tissue is generated which looks very red and a little moist when it is healthy. Over time, it turns into scar tissue. She may never grow feathers there. It is the best way for a "dirty" wound to heal because infection is not trapped inside, as suturing can sometimes do. If the skin was there but pulled loose, I would suggest either not suturing, or suturing loosely so there was opportunity for pus to seep out rather than stay trapped inside. Chickens seem to be very good about healing wounds like this.

Good luck.