Please help! Something attacked my hen!

[ANiceKaren]

Friends help!y sweet Lilac was attacked by something today! Could this be my other hen mounting her or something bigger? I have a hen who has been mounting her! She has been hiding in coop past day or two but I didn’t notice anything. Today when I got home I saw blood on her back and then this!! See image! She seems fine.. eating.. drinking.. walking around. I have NO idea how to clean or take care of this! I poured peroxide on it and sprayed it with a lot of Vetericyn. I don’t have a vet.. can someone please help. I have a dog crate I can separate her… I’m at a loss and so worried about my girl. It feels swollen like blood has pooled.. do I wash it? Do I just keep spraying? All help appreciated

 

[ANiceKaren]

Hi everyone! I thought I’d give you a final update on Lilac! She is 100% healed and wow… gorgeous again! Thank you so very much! Now she is just showing off!

 

[azygous]

When you can, trim the feathers from around the wound. Then take a better photo of the wound with good lighting and a plain background behind your hen so your camera will focus on the wound.

Do you have any oral antibiotics on hand? You won't be able to buy them in Calif. without a vet prescription. But people antibiotics will work fine. Let us know what and the strength and we can calculate dosage.

Is the hen in a weak state? Or is she active and eating and drinking? If she's weak, give her sugar water, a teaspoon to a cup, and try to get her to drink it. It will elevate her glucose and stabilize her chemistry.

Here is my wound care protocol:

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite, tear or puncture marks indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. Bacteria from the predator’s mouth can be injected deep into tissue and can kill in as little as 24 to 48 hours. You can order this https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/250mg once a day for ten days. Or you may be able to find this or something similar at TSC or a pet store.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

In your photos you've posted, it appears some of the tissue around the wound is dying off, necrosis. You will need to gather your hormones and put your tough girl suit on because this is going to hurt. It may also be a little painful for your hen.

You need to debride the wound. Under the black stuff is bacteria. The black stuff has to be scrubbed off. Completely off. Use soap in warm water and a wash cloth. When all the black crust is gone, rinse with saline and proceed with step #4 and dress the wound.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks good. Give that wound a few more days and she should be as good as new. If you keep Mildred away from her, you don't need to worry about re-injury.

@Wyorp Rock, I believe, advised keeping the abuser separated from the flock for several days. This will allow your victim to develop confidence and the flock to establish a pecking order without the abuser. Then re-introduce the abuser. She should have had an attitude adjustment and not go back to her evil ways. If she bullies again, remove her for several days and repeat. I would think 3 to 5 days each time. Ideally, I think she should be in a situation where she can see the flock but not actually interact with them physically. Wr call this a "see-no-touch" setup. Of course be sure she has feed, water, oyster shell and grit. Good luck! You can do this. And of course if all your efforts fail she will make lovely dumplings.

Are you positive the hen did the damage?

It probably was not me advising a time out, maybe it was @azygous
I've never had a lot of success with removing an aggressive hen, then putting her back. She always returned to her ways. Same with a wicked rooster.
I learned my lesson a couple of times the hard way. I lean toward culling the ones who just can't keep any type of peace. Probably not what people want to hear.

 

[azygous]

If Mildred has spurs, it's entirely likely that the injuries are from her wicked behavior. You may need to make chicken pie out of her. Yum.

 

[ANiceKaren]

Hi Friends! Quick update on Lilac! Just like everyone said and reassured me of… Lilac is doing so well! Her wound is now nearly closed and she is regrowing feathers back from her molt! She is confident again although still a bit skiddish of me! (All the wound cleanings) Mildred has been a good girl and hasn’t mounted anyone as far as I know! Everyone is feeling happy again! Especially me! Thank you all again so much! Hoping I can help others as much as you’ve all helped me

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry this happened. Can you post a picture of the hen that you think did this? And don't use peroxide to clean the wound, use saline. Best to put it in a spray bottle, then you don't have to wipe or scrub. Cover it with triple antibiotic ointment (neosporin) that does not have pain reliever in it, and spray with Veterycin, do this twice daily. Protect her from flies. Trim feathers so you can see the injury clearly and check for maggots. Protect her from the other chickens so they can't peck her and she should heal just fine.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I am not 100% sure BUT Mildred has been mounting this girl often lately. The injury is very similar to other mounting injuries I’ve researched. It’s under her wing on her side. I thought maybe a hawk but everyone else is fine.. no feather loss… no other issues. It’s really all I can assume. Mildred has been mounting two of my girls daily.. I caught her in the act… see below

Is Mildred laying eggs?

She may just be mean. You never know. The damage could be from Mildred's nails.
Try separating her out and see what happens, but the injured hen needs to be healed and feathering in before you put her with the others, you don't want them to pick at her wounds.

I've had a few hens mount others for a while after I removed a rooster from their flock. Show of dominance, but they stopped a couple of weeks after and all settled down..

I did have 1 hen that was absolutely nutty running around and mating everyone including the rooster (Yes, she'd tackle him and give it go!). Anyway, I culled her. I did take a look inside and her reproductive system was shrunken and necrotic looking. Poor thing.

 

[azygous]

Chickens need to dirt bathe regularly even more than humans need to shower. They depend on that to control external parasites and to condition their feathers, which are important for regulating body heat. Rinsing the wound promptly as you did is all you need to do. Bacteria had no time to do any mischief in that short period.

 

[ANiceKaren]

Chickens need to dirt bathe regularly even more than humans need to shower. They depend on that to control external parasites and to condition their feathers, which are important for regulating body heat. Rinsing the wound promptly as you did is all you need to do. Bacteria had no time to do any mischief in that short period.

That’s wonderful news! Thank you! It made sense to me too! Acting like a normal chicken is a good sign that she is healing!