Ripped neck on Naked Neck- pics near the bottom

[Noobchick]

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Naked Neck, about 20 weeks old

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Torn skin on neck

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Found her like this this afternoon, about an hour ago. Have been cleaning wound out since then. Not sure how long she was like that before I found her, maybe a couple hours??

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
no

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Yes, injury to her neck, a piece of torn skin about an inch wide and 3 inches long running across her neck.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Not sure because I didn't see it, but I think it could've been that the rooster was trying to mate with her and she tried to get away from him, ripping her skin off in the process.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She IS still drinking and eating, thankfully. Pennfield crumbles and water that I dosed with Nutri-Drench, a vitamin supplement.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Normal

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I've isolated her in our "sick ward" in the guest bathroom and given her water and crumbles. Have dabbed warm water on the wound to try to loosen the clots a little bit in order to allow some diluted Hydrogen Peroxide to get to the wound and clean it out. I've done three rounds of that. Wound looks cleaner now (please see pics.)

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I can't take the bird to the vet today as they're not open, but I'm willing to do so tomorrow. Just need to take care of her for today. If you guys don't think I need to take her to a vet, though, and that I can take care of it all by myself, that's fine too.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
88 sq. foot coop, pine shavings. One roo and 5 other pullets, all about her age.

My questions:
It looks like the skin that was torn is hanging now. Should I should remove it or leave it there? It looks like it's still attached the full width of the wound.

I also don't know if I should try to remove the clots that have already formed in order for the Hydrogen Peroxide to penetrate all the way in.

I wasn't planning on wrapping it, but should I coat it with the pain free Neosporin or just leave it alone?

Want to do right by her, but don't want to interfere too much with her natural healing process.

The injury before cleaning
http://db.tt/bTu6dGXs

The injury post-cleaning
http://db.tt/N0eQj1en

The piece of skin that was removed from her neck but is still attached the width of the wound.
http://db.tt/esI1pQdz

 

[Turken Lover9847]

My mom , TriciaHowe, Has experence with this form my NNs. She will post how to fix this

 

[NatureBoy86]

I personally would remove the excess skin, otherwise it look s like your doing exactly what I would do. Chickens are incredibly resilient and with the anti biotic applied it should be just fine. Id separate her/him from the rest so they wont peck at it.

 

[TriciaHowe]

Hi there.... I have had to repair my NN's so many times that I went out and bought suture kits. This is a very fixable injury. If you don't have a suture kit you can use a needle and thread. I would suture that wound closed (will probably take about 3 or 4 passes) to approximate the edges as best as possible. Cover with either triple antibiotic or my fave is wound kote (purple spray). It will heal before you know it.

I ended up separating my NN's from the rest of the flock. Their skin is was just to delicate. I have repaired worse injuries with excellent results!! Please email me or PM me if you need further help.... Good luck to you!!

 

[Noobchick]

Thank you! I'll keep an eye out for her post. My girl's such a sweetheart and being so cooperative. Just want to make sure she'll be ok.

 

[Noobchick]

Quote:
Holy crap, sutures? I don't even know how to sew (embarrassing but true) so I'd be afraid I'd mess it up. Where can I buy suture kits? We have small needles and regular thread but I seem to remember people on here saying not to use regular thread because the new skin will grow onto it??

The triple antibiotic= I'm assuming that's like Neosporin?

I've also PM'ed you. Thanks for your help!

 

[CMV]

Quote:
Holy crap, sutures? I don't even know how to sew (embarrassing but true) so I'd be afraid I'd mess it up. Where can I buy suture kits? We have small needles and regular thread but I seem to remember people on here saying not to use regular thread because the new skin will grow onto it??

The triple antibiotic= I'm assuming that's like Neosporin?

I've also PM'ed you. Thanks for your help!

Unfortunately, suture kits are something you need to have on hand before you need them- they require a prescription. Sewing a wound closed with anything else can lead to other complications. Have you thought of using super glue or steri-strips to close the wound?

 

[Noobchick]

Quote:
I don't have steri-strips either, but I have super glue. How do I go about using that? I'm afraid of closing the wound only to have it get infected later.

I'm definitely going to pick up a suture kit tomorrow at the vet's then. . .

Edited to add: I'd like to take her to the vet tomorrow and get them to close the wound (I'm hoping they'll let me watch). Just finished putting some Neosporin on her wound (the no pain-relief kind). Will it be too late to close the wound if I wait till tomorrow??

 

[flowerchild59]

Quote:
Holy crap, sutures? I don't even know how to sew (embarrassing but true) so I'd be afraid I'd mess it up. Where can I buy suture kits? We have small needles and regular thread but I seem to remember people on here saying not to use regular thread because the new skin will grow onto it??

The triple antibiotic= I'm assuming that's like Neosporin?

I've also PM'ed you. Thanks for your help!

Maybe we should start a thread on how to suture. I am a nurse, I have seen it done, never done it myself. And emabarrassingly, I don't know how to sew on a button either

 

[TriciaHowe]

I bought my suture kits right off the internet. No rx required. My feed store also carries suture kits. I get them from a supply company cheap because they are expired. Still in the sterile package, but can't be sold for human use. I pay about 50 cents a kit.