pecked turken has hole in throat

[JHaller]

My 9-wk Turken got pecked rather badly. She has a wound on the back of her neck and hole in her throat that I think goes through her windpipe.

How should i attempt to close the wound? I'm afraid she may have to be put down, and I'm a total wuss/newbie at all this life & death chicken-reality stuff.

She's in my lap, breathing, not moving much.

Her brood mates are all 8 weeks old, various breeds; she is bigger than all except the marans roo.

Help!

Judith

 

[silkiechicken]

Clean the wounds, apply some neosporin, keep her quiet, isolated, hydrated, and warm. Is there air coming out the windpipe? Howe did she get the injuries? If you close the wound, make sure it can drain. Pics may help access the damage.

Good luck.

 

[JHaller]

GRAPHIC WOUND PHOTO warning....

silkiechicken, thank you for the quick reply. I swabbed the two wounds with hydrogen peroxide. I have the neosporin in hand, to apply when the photos get finished; she's in the house, quietly resting in a basket of hay.

When I went in to photograph her, she started to eat. She can swallow! I'm also no longer seeing anything that looks like the inside of her throat. Could a wound have closed on its own?

She was fine this morning; I discovered her injuries while visiting the pen this afternoon. She's in an enclosure with 15 other birds. I didn't see blood on any other birds.

I've seen no agression problems before now, except for a little Lakenvelder cockerel who was an ankle-biter at 2-5 days old. He had grabbed the turken by the neck on at least one occasion. He was very stressed out from being delivered through the mail. He nibbled everyone elses toenails for several days, but he quit pecking before he was a week old.

Here is one photo that may or may not be helpful. I'm not succeeding the others uploaded, will try again...

 

[redhen]

i dont know how to help...heres a bump...

 

[silkiechicken]

If you are using the BYC uploader, make sure the raw picture file isn't too large as it will choke on things more than a MB or so.

From the one pic I see so far, perhaps waht you thought was the trachea was really just the skin peeled away from the wound?

Don't use any more peroxide, as it is now known to not only kill baceteria, but to also damage new tissue. Make sure your neosporin doesn't contain pain relief stuff, as there are cases of pain relief stuff being highly toxic to birds and causing cardiac arrest. If you can, maybe bring the wound edges together, but not seal it, so it can still drain. Is that lump actually there or is it camera angle?

 

[OPIE]

Ill give you another bump, I know someone out there can help.
In my opinion, do as silkiechicken said and wait. Sounds like she might be coming out of it on her own now anyway. Good luck.

 

[BeardedChick]

I'm also no longer seeing anything that looks like the inside of her throat. Could a wound have closed on its own?

Throat wounds and and do close on their own if infection is prevented. MANY tracheotomy patients have their trach tube removed and their throat heals up on it's own without much ado. My mom has a trach, and my uncle had one after a surgery but it's closed itself up.​

 

[silkiechicken]

Remember the rules on bumping.

Try to let at least a few hours go by on emergency posts, and max 1x a day on BST/other threads.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

I would suggest getting that bird to an animal hospital fast. The wound may close on its own, but more serious is the absolute danger of infection.

 

[OPIE]

OOPs sorry about the bump.

I didnt know there were rules about bumping,

and I didnt see how close together we posted.