Need neck cover for severely wounded hen

[Paknbaset]

Protective neck cover needed for a wound..

my dog wanted to play with my hen. she was seriously hurt. I don't think she will have any feathers grow on the back of her neck again. Her back, under her neck and head will be ok for feathers and were not damaged.

She had the main layer of skin removed. Her muscles are intact and never broke her neck. she was able to lift her head immediately after it happened.

She got hurt 48 hours ago is still with us and drinking water. I have the wound spray and taking care of her every few hours. she is slightly balking at me when I get her out of her current kennel/carrier....so that is a good sign.

I am new to this and want to make sure we take care of her the best now and later.

Does anyone know some kind of neck cover I can make for her? or something that would be good to help her going forward. I live in Texas so probably not something too thick as it gets to be over 100 for months on end.

side note: I like crocheting and thought I might be able to help her out.

 

[ChicNmom]

I'd put antibiotic ointment on it so the muscle doesn't dry out while healing. How high up on her neck is the injury?

I'm thinking you could use some light fabric and make a neck sleeve that then widens out over her shoulders and then secures under her behind her wings.

I can't think of any other way to keep something like that in place..

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Better to leave it open. Use triple antibiotic ointment with no pain reliever. Flush it good with sterile saline solution twice a day, coat it with original Neosporin or similar and keep her safe from the other chickens (and the dog!), and from flies and in a few weeks she should do okay. She'll may just make things worse trying to get a bandage off. Good luck!

 

[Paknbaset]

The wound goes from the the top of her head to her chest...but only the neck.

I covered it when it first happened bc it was completely open to anything touching it. The tip 2/3 was wide open and just barely stopped bleeding

The tip of my fingerprint is where her wing meets her body

Better to leave it open. Use triple antibiotic ointment with no pain reliever. Flush it good with sterile saline solution twice a day, coat it with original Neosporin or similar and keep her safe from the other chickens (and the dog!), and from flies and in a few weeks she should do okay. She'll may just make things worse trying to get a bandage off. Good luck!

Yeah a lot of the "bandage" that I put on is coming off without any issues since it attached to feathers. But any of the parts that are stuck, which isn't much, I am not pulling off because I don't want to hurt her more.

I just didn't realize I shouldn't have covered it that way when I did it. This was the first time it's ever happened to me.

I plan to keep her inside (large dog kennel) so she has a good place to heal and destress.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I know, it looks awful. Let's ask some of the Educators, they'll know.
@azygous
@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

That bandage may come off okay with saline if you put some in a spray bottle and saturate it. We had a hen get attacked by a neighbor's dog and had a pretty large, deep wound on her back. It looked so bad I thought we should just put her down. But she did recover and hopefully yours will too.

 

[Eggcessive]

Using some slightly warmed saline sprayed or dabbed on the dressing may loosen it over a little time. Trim back any feathers in the wound. Saline or Vetericyn spray on wounds twice a day followed by Neosporin twice daily should help her to heal.

 

[Paknbaset]

Thanks

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I don't think she will have any feathers grow on the back of her neck again.

Good suggestions/advice from everyone.

You mentioned you don't think she will grow feathers back on the neck...time will tell. I've had some skinned and scalped birds, once healed, you never would have known it. But, again, time will tell. This will take a while to heal though.

 

[Paknbaset]

Once it is basically healed but feathers have not done the final peaking....should I get her a 'collar' to protect her skin. Bing in tx, the sun gets hot and bright