open wound on my chicken's back

[seatweaver]

Tonight I found a hole in my chicken's back that looks like it goes through the skin all the way to the ribs. It's just under where her wing rests on her back. It's easily an inch long and gapes open. There is no drainage, and so I'm sure that it's not an abscess. She seems to be acting and eating fine. Does anyone have any suggestions on care? There's no vet anywhere nearby that treats chickens.

 

[Arya28]

The biggest thing will be making sure it doesn't get infected while it's healing up. Does it look fresh? Blu Kote, or Betadine can help to keep it disinfected.

If it is really deep, and you are worried of bacteria getting in, honey can actually be used! It is anti-bacterial and anti-microbial. If you put some on the wound it should keep it from getting infected, and help it to heal up faster. Some people have had amazing results with chickens and honey!

 

[micstrachan]

I would flush it with sterile saline and put antibiotic ointment on it. It will also be important to determine the cause. If her flock mates are picking at it, you need to isolate her, or they may kill her. Do your chickens free range where a hawk or other predator could have gotten to her?

 

[chickenthyme]

I just new to raising chickens but this thread seemed to apply to me too. I have one chicken who has an open sore on her back right where her tail feathers start. I have been putting vetericyn on it but the other chickens keep picking at her sore. I have 6 chickens. Not sure what to do with her. They have been in their coop plenty but try and put them out most days when it isn't freezing cold out.

 

[micstrachan]

Same goes to you... tvey could kill her. You need to separate her right away. Best if you can do this while keeping her near the flock. Treat the wound. I highly recommend an apron/saddle so she can heal without them picking at it. Once she has healed a bit and is in the saddle, she can probably go back with the flock.

 

[seatweaver]

Thank you so much for everyone's response to my post. While checking over all of the chickens we found another hen with a less serious injury on her back. Both appeared to have been made by a bird of prey.

My wife used some of her paramedic skills to treat the first hen. She trimmed some of the feathers away from the immediate wound site. Then flushed the wound with hydrogen peroxide, because we couldn't find any sterile saline. We then treated the wound with Blu Kote then wrapped it with gauze, and gave her an injection of Tylan 50. We put a chicken saddle on her in an effort to keep the gauze in place.
Later in the evening I found the saddle the hen removed and feared the worst. Looking around I found her on the roost with the other birds. Today she's active and appears to be doing fine. None of the other chickens seem to be picking on her, the gauze does not appear to have been tampered with.
Today we plan on checking the wound again, change the bandages, and give her some more Tylan 50.

 

[chickenthyme]

Well my granddaughter came over tonight (these were her chickens) and she brought a large dog crate which we put inside the coop. I sprayed Vetericyn on her wound but either it's a longer wound or dried blood but it's running down the side from the wound on top. I understand separating her but do you leave her in the cage 24/7?? This is unchartered territory for me and her too for that matter. If I had a dog or cat with this issue, I would have been taking them to the vet so I am feeling totally unsure of how to proceed.

 

[rusty acres]

My chicken has a big neck wound and also one on her back that goes around under her wing. I'm not sure what got her, to be honest. We're in ruralish central Florida, so could've been hawk, owl, raccoon, possum, a cat (or my cat). I found her wounded last Tuesday. I've been treating with vetericyn spray and triple antibiotic ointment, but her back wound has started looking funky, so today I used hibiclens in the morning and betadine this afternoon, followed by antibiotic ointment. I also have her separated from the others chickens. I'll be following your post to see how your girl fares!

 

[oregonkat]

I have a hen that suffered slash wounds on both sides from my aggressive rooster (no longer on earth). The wounds went through the skin to her meat below. I cleaned the wounds as best I could with betadine and sprayed them with blue Kote and put a saddle on her and the wounds healed so well that you would never know anything ever happened. The skin, I guess heals very quickly.