NEED HELP - BROKEN WING

[cluckydog]

Hey this is clucky dog here.
recently one of my chooks (a rode Island red) escaped the run and got chased by my dog, got trapped in the metal fence of my dog's closed off area and my dog chewed the shoulder part of her wing.

When this happened I immediently told off the dog, put her back, got he chicken out and cleaned the wound with warm salted water using cotton buds. She's now in the laundry, we've supplied her with a perch, a hay bed, chicken feed with grit, some grass and grain bread, water with garlic in it and the floor is covered in paper for when she makes a mess.

The flesh wound isn't too bad, I think a bit of bone is punchtured but mostly she's lost feathers and she's bleeding.

My parents don't want to take her to the vet and spend heaps of money to get her fixed because honestly they don't see that a chook is worth it (a bit old fashioned I know) and at the moment we really don't have to money. I really do want her to go to the vet but unless it gets serious I don't see that happening although I'll try my best to sway my parents.

The chicken didn't go into much shock, she's tough alright, and she is still eating, drinking and even laying, she walks around and tries to prune her wing and we've kept her seperate from the rest of the flock. When I cleaned the wound there was no complaint, the only sign that she wasn't enjoying it was dilated pupils, the only time she did 'cry' was when my dog was chewing at her wing and then again when she tried to chase her again, otherwise she remained quiet.

I'd really like some advice on aiding her recovery. I'm keeping the room dim and I want to keep her warmer but I don't really know how. We don't have one of those old lightbulbs that heat up so is there anything else we can do to keep her warm? A hot water bottler? Also what else should I do for the wound? Are there any herbs or foods that I could give her to help her recovery? We have corriander, basil and parsely growing in the garden but I'll go buy other herbs if they would do some help. Do you suggest I bandage the wound up? She doesn't pick at it much but it's one of my major concerns.

Please help, any advice will be greatly appreciated. I'll do my best to look after her and take her to the vet if I can.

Thanks

 

[AmberRex]

Hi! OK if you can upload a picture of the wound it would be good because then I could see how bad it is.. If it is just a puncture wound then she might be o.k if it is inflamed than a very old fashioned but inexpensive way to ease it would be a porridge poultice but I'm not sure if you apply it to broken skin. If she is cold then wrap her in an old towel for a hour or so but not tightly. Rescue remedy wouldn't go amiss in her water ( make sure she has plenty of water) and keep the light in the room dim but with enough light so that she can see if that makes sense. I wouldn't be too worried of her getting cold because she will more than probably have temperature but leave the afore mentioned towel in with her maybe with her on it or something to ensure that she doesn't get cold. To be honest unless you have a specialised vet or one that knows you then it might be hard to get him/her to treat her because chickens that aren't worth a lot of money often times aren't worth the value of the treatment but that hasn't stopped me before because I keep chickens for sentimental reasons too. Umm I often get this general antibiotic from the vet which I can find out the name of tomorrow for you but I don't know if you can get it over there. If you have any more questions please do ask and I shall try to answer them...

 

[AmberRex]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that by the sounds of it she is doing really well! Try not to worry about her too much; she needs quiet, rest and TLC. Make sure that she is drinking and that she has a little bit of food if she wants it but not too much.

 

[cluckydog]

Hi AmberRex, thanks for your replies.
I took a few shots of the wound and it might be a bit hard to tell what's what but these are the best pictures I've got.


WARNING: GRAPHIC








so yeah i hope this helps. Apart from a bit of a runny nose she's fine. I've given her a towel to keep her warm at night.

Thanks again

 

[AmberRex]

You are welcome. Is it still bleeding or has it stemmed? It doesn't look really bad but if it is really big it may need stitching. From looking at the photo I would suggest washing it in dilute Savlon or MILD antiseptic to clean it and then wrap it in a bandage or something just to kind of keep it clean. If it isn't deep and she's doing well at the moment she should be just fine and it should heal nicely. Right now you need to try and prevent infection... Keep it clean and covered if you can but try not to cut off circulation too much I would suggest bathing it at least once a day if you can... I'll have a think if there is anything else you can do but right now that's all I've got. Good Luck!

 

[cluckydog]

Thanks again Ill make sure I keep it clean and I've allready considered stopping infection although the best I've done so far is clean it with salted water since I'm not that experienced in first aid. I'll see if I can get my hands on the dilute savlon or mild antiseptic but that's determined by if my parents are willing to spend the money on it - otherwise I'll see if I can make that poultice you mentioned before - I researched and there are some I could make to help sooth the wound.

I'm not entirely sure how to bandage a wound but should I do it the same way you would on a person? We have bandages in a first aid kit but do I need padding on the inside or can I put it straight on? Should I also remove some of the feathers around the wound? (As in cut most of it off not pull them out, around the wound are a few smaller feathers that seem to get i the way but I've hesitated to remove them since I'm worried I could hurt her more) I'm a bit wary about putting a covering on since in my experience flesh wounds tend to get infected when I put a bandaid on it (well at least in my case they always do - it gets pussy and yellow stuff gets stuck to the bandaid, yuck).

 

[cluckydog]

Oh and I forgot to mention - It barely bled when I found her, but afterwards when she tried to run out the fenced area again it bled a bit, but shortly after stopped and it hasn't since

 

[AmberRex]

O.k so Savlon- you have to dilute it yourself but salt water is probably just fine. The feathers that are in the way I would leave unless they are really a problem in which case you might try to cut them down a tiny bit just to keep them out of the way but not too short in case it becomes like an ingrown hair if you know what I mean. The bandaging... I dunno if it isn't bleeding and appears to be healing you could probably get away without it - it looks like an awkward place to wrap but if you were to do it, then I would instead of you know, a bandage, bandage I would just take a pad or cotton wool maybe and tape it around with the bandage tape ( the stuff that is sticky but not really sticky but more like masking tape) or masking tape. If you were to put it on then you could apply some antiseptic or something but you would have to check if you could use it on chickens as they are so much smaller. If I'm not very clear then I can upload a photo of what i'm trying to explain if you like. It's good that she is doing o.k