Raccoon attack! Bad wing injury need advice

[Savager]

Last night I got home later than expected and didn't lock up the birds. When I went out to check/lock them I found one of my birds had been badly injured by what im sure was a raccoon. I found her relatively soon after, so we tried to bring her in and clean her up, she is now staying in the bath tub. It grabbed her wing and basically pulled all the skin off the top of her wing. It goes down deep, and she has little to no mobility right now. The rest of her body was ok. We disinfected it and tried to loosely wrap it in place so it would still get air in the wound. Anyone had experience with regrowing large amounts of tissue on chickens. We haven't seen a vet yet, we will probably have to bring her in. Just want to know if there's any hope in saving the wing. Picture below.

 

[microchick]

Poor baby. Looks like the wound is to the bone and the wing is completely denuded of muscle. Yes, a vet is what she needs as the wing may have to be amputated if the muscle is destroyed..Don't worry if that happens. chickens can get around quite well with only one wing.

@casportpony
@Eggcessive

Sure would like to hear from you two. Have you given her any electrolytes in water? If she won't drink on her own, you can drip a few drops into her mouth and let her swallow it on her own. Also tempt her with scrambled eggs. Right now you are in a holding pattern until you can get her to a vet. Keep the area clean, keep her hydrated.

Also, you need to get rid of that predator. Live trap or whatever. Make sure your coop is a bomb shelter for your birds. Having discovered a free chicken dinner it will be back for sconds.

 

[Eggcessive]

I really have no experience with these types of injuries, but I would disinfect it again, apply plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment, and wrap the bare skin with the bone exposed with gauze to keep it from getting infected. Seeing a vet is best, since wing amputation with bone exposed may require some good antibiotics, such as cephalosporins or clindamycin. Maybe others will offer help too.

 

[Savager]

Poor baby. Looks like the wound is to the bone and the wing is completely denuded of muscle. Yes, a vet is what she needs as the wing may have to be amputated if the muscle is destroyed..Don't worry if that happens. chickens can get around quite well with only one wing.

@casportpony
@Eggcessive

Sure would like to hear from you two. Have you given her any electrolytes in water? If she won't drink on her own, you can drip a few drops into her mouth and let her swallow it on her own. Also tempt her with scrambled eggs. Right now you are in a holding pattern until you can get her to a vet. Keep the area clean, keep her hydrated.

Also, you need to get rid of that predator. Live trap or whatever. Make sure your coop is a bomb shelter for your birds. Having discovered a free chicken dinner it will be back for sconds.

Yes I know I've been trying to decide what to do with the predator. So that's what I was worried about, the muscle will be the problem to grow back? She's been really drinking fine went through a good amount today. Also comb is still bright red and laid an egg this morning. Haven't given her electrolytes, what about diluted Gatorade? Also, how costly exactly is a chicken amputation. We've had to treat a duck before when she got her head stuck in something and that was a good amount from what I remember.

 

[Eggcessive]

Gatorade would be fine as a substitute for electrolytes.

 

[microchick]

Loosing that much muscle I doubt if it's repairable. Lacerated muscle can be stitched and healed but for a chicken wing, loosing large amounts of muscle isn't a good thing. Think about the last time you had chicken wings. Not a lot there to work with.

She must be a tough little girl. Yes, diluted Gatorade will work in a pinch. There is a formula here on BYC for making your own electrolyte solution. Just use the search window.

I have no idea how much something like that would cost. Sorry. But you have done a good job with her so far. Good advice from @Eggcessive. Remember not to use antibiotic ointment with pain killer in it. You can even us gauze pads and lightly wrap her body like in your picture with vet wrap. Not to tight. You don't want to impinge her breathing.

 

[Savager]

Loosing that much muscle I doubt if it's repairable. Lacerated muscle can be stitched and healed but for a chicken wing, loosing large amounts of muscle isn't a good thing. Think about the last time you had chicken wings. Not a lot there to work with.

She must be a tough little girl. Yes, diluted Gatorade will work in a pinch. There is a formula here on BYC for making your own electrolyte solution. Just use the search window.

I have no idea how much something like that would cost. Sorry. But you have done a good job with her so far. Good advice from @Eggcessive. Remember not to use antibiotic ointment with pain killer in it. You can even us gauze pads and lightly wrap her body like in your picture with vet wrap. Not to tight. You don't want to impinge her breathing.

Thanks for all the input. We originally didn't compress it with anything because it wasn't bleeding out and we thought getting air to the wound would help with healing. Also at first we did use lidocaine but reading I realized this was no good. I was worried about how much she lost to grow back. We will have to check her again in the morning, and I'll give her Gatorade in the morning.

 

[HAPPYCHICKENLADY17]

poor thing, hope she recovers soon

 

[glassdragonfly]

Poor girl! Raccoons!

 

[sunrise.superman]

You can use Telfa nonstick wound pads from Walmart or Walgreens or similar drug store. The brand name tends to work better than the generic. You can dress the pad w ointment, etc., won't stick to the wound, can be loosely wrapped to allow some air and still keep the wound moist. In veterinary treatments for other species silvidine cream works well for moist tissue but dressed to prevent infection and promote healing at the same time. I've not used it on chickens so someone here may have experience if it's an issue for chickens or not, but every other species I used it on did very well.