Oh no, another chicken.... Black Wound?!

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello folks,

Not again... after having one chicken die a week and a half ago from a serious infection (bumble foot thread), I now have another injured chicken, this time one of my 6 month olds... I am starting to feel like a bad chicken keeper!

I noticed her being sleepy most of the day a while ago, I figured it might have been because of the lice issue I had, thankfully I have dealt with the lice issue and have clean chickens now! (Thanks to the chicken that passed as she made me aware of that, RIP )

Now I did not want to wait around as she was still sleepy up to this day, and get her assessed by the Vet before it might be too late again, -so the wife took her in yesterday. She was eating and drinking OK in the coop but just slept in the corner all day.

The vet inspected her and did not find anything, heart rate was fine and breathing was okay as well.
The vet took another closer look at her and ended up finding a nasty wound under her left wing!

The vet was not sure if it is an infection or if it could be a tumor?! Anyways, we are giving her anti-biotics since yesterday orally and been cleaning her 'wound' with anti-septic water and been putting 3 anti-biotic ointment on it. She is still drinking water with vitamins, Gatorade and eating scrambled eggs and chick crumble not crazy amounts but atleast eating.

She is standing most of the day because i think her wound hurts, and only opens her eyes a little bit now and then, and goes back to sleep standing.

The vet told us to soak the 'scab' and try to remove it?! It is not working as it is rock hard and i don't want to cut it off as the vet did say not to perform surgery on her... i don't even know what it is?

It seems a bit better today with treatment than it did yesterday, and she is a little bit more perky and awake which is good. But still hurtn, not sure what to do? Please any suggestions?
If it is an infection wouldn't we have to cut the scab off so the ointment would be getting to the wound? It hurts her alot so I don't know if that we can do?

I would follow the advice of the vet. Yes, debriding the wound would be good. You can use hibiclens or betadine to flush it out. Trim away feathers that may also be helpful.
Apply triple antibiotic ointment to the wound.

Since the wound was hard to find, I would check her all over to make sure she has no other hidden wounds - maybe under the other wing too(?)

Do you have a rooster? Does he have long spurs? If you have no rooster that could have damaged her under the wing, then it would be a good idea to monitor predator activity.

Curious what antibiotic and dosage he prescribed?

I would check her crop to make sure it's emptying completely overnight. Encourage her to eat. If you feel she is in a lot of pain, then you can give 81mg of aspirin up to 2 times a day. Your vet can also prescribe something like Meloxicam.

Hope she recovers quickly.

 

[Bossmode]

That is the only wound we could find.

antibiotics she is getting is a broad spectrum - enrofloxacin baytril. .4ml every 24 hrs.

I have a few roosters, tho most are young and the older one has not gone after my younger hens yet.

I have not had issues with predators yet and she has never left the coop, so i don't think the wound is predator related.

I checked her crop this morning and it seemed empty.

 

[Bossmode]

Update:

Monday will be day 7 with oral antibiotics and then we were suppose to stop giving her them.

The wound under her wing looks already much better, throughout the week from cleaning several times a day and putting 3 antibiotic ointment on it, the scab soften up quite a bit and nearly almost came all off.

The chickie herself is still sleeping 99% of the day, standing... we wake her up to get her to eat crumble/baby food/scrambled egg, she falls back asleep during each bite so we have to wake her up again each time. Same goes with watering her, still with vitamins in it.

Why is she so tired? By now I would think she would be getting much perkier than she has been, especially since the wound is starting to look much better. What else can I do for her?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Update:

Monday will be day 7 with oral antibiotics and then we were suppose to stop giving her them.

The wound under her wing looks already much better, throughout the week from cleaning several times a day and putting 3 antibiotic ointment on it, the scab soften up quite a bit and nearly almost came all off.

The chickie herself is still sleeping 99% of the day, standing... we wake her up to get her to eat crumble/baby food/scrambled egg, she falls back asleep during each bite so we have to wake her up again each time. Same goes with watering her, still with vitamins in it.

Why is she so tired? By now I would think she would be getting much perkier than she has been, especially since the wound is starting to look much better. What else can I do for her?

Sorry that she is not recovering.
Is her crop empty first thing in the morning before she eats/drinks?
If possible, get a fecal float to make sure there's no parasites that may be contributing to the lethargy.

 

[Bossmode]

Yes her crop is empty, it's going through her system just fine by the looks of it. No blood in her stool either.

The wound is starting to look much better, not as swollen anymore and much softer. The skin is still very white around the wound itself but it seems to heal alright, her lack of eating and sleeping all day I am more concearned now.

I started yesterday putting crushed garlic into her water and she loves it, made her somewhat perkier.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, I understand the sleeping all day is the most concerning - hard to know what's causing that. You are giving a good antibiotic. Usually it's given 2X a day for 3-5 days, but since your vet gave you the instructions, then I would assume that you need to follow up with him/her and tell them that she is not getting any better - see if they can do some testing.

With parasites, most of the time you will not see them. Blood in the stool is not something you may see with parasites either. Ruling out parasites is always a good idea when you have a lethargic chicken. She's 6 months old, has she started laying eggs yet? Any bloat/swelling or fluid in the abdomen?

 

[Bossmode]

No she has not laid yet. I have a bunch of 6-8 month olds and none of them have started laying yet.

Nothing unusual from what I can see/feel. She did get checked out by the vet almost a week ago and never got it mentioned then either.

With parasites do you mean worms? I do have Ivermectin Ivermec Inj. From my previous chicken, would it be worth a try giving her a couple of drops on her skin?

The vet clinic will not be open for another 2 days as it is long weekend here, so I am trying to find some different remedies I can try.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No she has not laid yet. I have a bunch of 6-8 month olds and none of them have started laying yet.

Nothing unusual from what I can see/feel. She did get checked out by the vet almost a week ago and never got it mentioned then either.

With parasites do you mean worms? I do have Ivermectin Ivermec Inj. From my previous chicken, would it be worth a try giving her a couple of drops on her skin?

The vet clinic will not be open for another 2 days as it is long weekend here, so I am trying to find some different remedies I can try.

Yes, I mean worms. No, I would not use Ivermectin for worms.
Fenbendazole or Valbazen would be better to use.

The lethargy is most concerning, have you considered tube feeding her to see if that makes a difference? Hydration first, then add a slurry of feed. Being lethargic like that make me think she may have suffered some type of internal damage? Since you are not sure how the wound got there to begin with, if predator, possibly she was squeezed(?)

 

[Bossmode]

Okay I am unsure if I would be able to get those dewormers in Canada, will have to talk to the vet and see hopefully Tuesday.

I did not tube feed her yet, as she has been eating a little bit here and there and still seems to have a little bit of solids in her stool.

I remember her being tired for atleast 3 weeks, probably longer I just never got around to inspect her closer as I was dealing with a dying chicken at the time for over a week.

This little one never left the coop, just like her other 6 month old siblings they voluntarily stay in the coop all day, tho I did find her outside 'laying' on her side maybe 10 days ago, just before I took her in to care for her, by that point the wound was already very infected so I don't think any predator would have gotten ahold of her.

 

[Bossmode]

She literally just stands there all day/night with droopy wings.

If I try to get her to move she stumbles, she does not like walking, also she does not sit.

She takes a bite of food, falls a sleep, try to wake her up, she takes another small bite, back to sleep and so on.

It's been getting harder and harder to wake her up just to get her to drink or eat in between bites.