please help

[augiedranch]

What can I do? Vet not open until AM.

Separated, eating and drinking

 

[MrsBrooke]

You've got to clean it and get a good look at it (and then post pictures, please).

I would wrap her front half in a towel to calm her down and prevent her from flapping... plus, it makes it dark, so she should be relatively still. Grab some saline (table salt + warm water) or just clean water and wash her bottom! Use a paper towel and squeeze water over the wound. Once you can see your way clear, wipe anything away that you need to. Be gentle... if the skin is broken, we don't want to hurt her.

If washing reveals a prolapsed vent or a peck wound, treat it just like you would if you had a skin injury. Rinse it, dab some antibiotic ointment on it, and keep her comfortable and isolated from the rest of the flock until she heals. If you discover a prolapsed vent, follow the same treatment, but add a little Preparation H to her vent and gently nudge it back in to place. Within a few days or so, you should see improvement in the area. Keep her inside until she is FULLY healed. If there is any redness or inflammation, the other chickens WILL peck her and make it worse........ as you can potentially see here. :/

Has she started laying yet? If so, have you felt her abdomen for evidence of an egg (especially a crushed one)?

I would go ahead and put her on some water-soluble oxytetracycline, too... With an open wound in that location, you are talking infection CITY, and *that* is what we need to avoid if possible. The antibiotic won't hurt her and you can put it in her water. I got mine at our local Livengood... I've not seen it at Tractor Supply, but a feed store SHOULD have some type of water-soluble tetracycline. If you can't find that, you can give Tylan 50 (also good for respiratory infections and available pretty much every where) orally using a syringe dropper (dosage unknown)... but the water-soluble powder wins. It may be in the goat/cattle section. I believe it's 1T for a gallon and 1/4T for a liter. The bird will dose itself as long as it is eating and drinking properly.

If she looks like she's chilly, put a heat lamp by her... Also, for tissue wounds, it can't hurt to offer her high-protein foods like boiled eggs and meal worms.

Keep us updated!!

MrsB

 

[Eggcessive]

That looks like severe vent pecking by the other hens. There doesn't have to be a prolapsed vent for this to happen, but if her vent tissue from a prolapse is sticking out under all of the blood and feathers, they would have naturally started pecking the red tissue. So I would look closely for a prolapse, then follow Mrs. Brooke's advice for treatment. If no prolapse is found, just keep her separated until her vent heals. Vent and feather picking are usually the result of overcrowding, not getting outside to free range (as in cold weather,) feeding less than 16% protein in the diet, boredom, or from having an overly aggressive hen (s.) Vent picking is one of several causes of salpingitis, which may later lead to egg yolk peritonitis.

prolapsed vent

 

[hennible]

That blue nail polish is a better choice

 

[Snowychick]

oh gosh I hope someone has some answers for you xx

 

[hennible]

What happened to her is it an attack wound?

 

[augiedranch]

I'm not sure. Fine last night, not this morning. 6 months old. . I'm freaking out

 

[hennible]

Was she in a locked coop? was it the other birds the picked her vent maybe?
Do you have any Saline solution you could rinse the wound with to get a better look at it?
if not you could just use plain water to try and get any debris out and blood off just get a better look... Also with some little manicure scissors you could trim back the feathers to get a good look and get things cleaner, your main concern is probably going to be infection... Cleaning it is a must...

 

[augiedranch]

Anyone?

 

[Bill Matthews]

Anyone?

There is a vet who posts on these blogs.....Cannot remember his name...Think lives Florida...Maybe you can find him or try calling a vet for phone advice.....MrsBrooke seems to have nailed the best solution...Certainly appears to know what she is talking about....Luck