Serious Injury, please help!

[nikiweaver03]

Hello everyone, I have an injured girl and I'm hoping to get some advice. We have a small flock of 12 free range girls, and last night the wind blew the door to the coop closed before they had all gone to roost. A few were stuck outside and had found other places around our property to sleep. Around 10pm, I heard a chicken making a lot of noise, and when we went outside a couple of them had come out from where they were hiding. One was fine, but the other has a huge injury on her side under her wing. Her skin is completely torn open down to the muscle and the injury is probably 5 inches long and an inch or two wide at it's widest point. She is missing all her feathers on and around the gash. I brought her inside and put her in the sink, but was afraid to rinse her off or anything. She wasn't bleeding a lot, just a few drops in the sink, so I put some honey on the wound to prevent infection and kept her in a box in the house overnight. She seemed fine when we went to bed and still seems fine today but I'm not sure what to do. She's eating and drinking (we gave her some leftover pasta which is one of their fav treats), and she's still just chilling out in the box, but I'm not sure if the injury will heal. Her skin is completely separated and our local farm vet said that chicken skin is too tight for stiches, so I would love to know if this is something she has the ability to heal from or if she's in a lot of pain and just putting on a good face. She doesn't really seem to be in distress at all, but it's so hard to tell with chickens. When I was a child, we raised chickens, but we used them for meat as well as eggs, so my dad would have likely just butchered any that had this type of injury. I have never seen how they might heal, or not, from a serious injury so I'm at a loss. Our girls are part of our family and we are vegetarians, so we want to try to help her if we can. She is a 1 year old Rhodes Island Red, and I can take a photo of the injury if that would be helpful. Any suggestions, or help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

P.S. We are still missing one this morning, but have the others all accounted for. Hopefully she'll turn up later, but we're afraid we may have lost her.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Going down to the muscle is pretty dangerous, it can get infected pretty quick. Put some lanolin on it or antiseptic ointment, it will keep germs from coming in. It's good your washed it. Keep and eye on the injury, and if you've ever heard of Blu-Kote, it also helps, keep other hens from picking at it.

That's terrible the wind broke the door down! I hope you find the other one also

Thanks for joining!

 

[nikiweaver03]

Thank you so much for your reply. If we can keep it from getting infected, can they heal from an injury like that?

And Thank you, I'm glad to be here. I've been a huge fan of this site and referenced it many times since we got our girls last year. I just wish it wasn't such a terrible situation that prompted me to finally join.

 

[SteveBaz]

I have read hear someone had a similar situation and they held the bird and stitched it up and when the sticking did not take they super-glued the gash shut. It took 2 people and a bath towel to hold her still and one held and the other person super glued it shut. I believe you should leave the muscle completely alone and let it heal for itself. The skin needs to be pulled shut even if a 3rd person took 2 tweezers or Hemostat’s and now you have 1 holding with a towel 1 with the Hemostat’s and the other controlling the super-glue. Sounds good anyway LOL!! You can do this. Pull feathers from around the areas that are to be glued together so it is skin on skin as best as possible but go for it it will work. Best of luck to you

 

[Karhog]

Hi, fraid I can't help much- I would be concerned about infection and keep it as clean as possible- sounds like you are anyway.
Hope she 'mends' ok and soon and here's hoping your other girl turns up

 

[nikiweaver03]

Thank you so much for all your advice! I will see what we can do with some super glue. Hopefully the skin will not be too stiff from sitting so long and we can get it pulled together. I'm not sure that we can because I think it may have been ripped off rather than just torn open (there's a pretty good size chunk missing), but it's definitely worth a try. We'll do our best to get it together better in hopes that it will heal. Your help is greatly appreciated so thank you again!

 

[chloezoebob101]

i have never had one get that bad, but i have had some get really bad, if you know she will not make it, then i would cull her. its too hard to see a hen suffer...

 

[nikiweaver03]

I have been checking on her throughout the day, and she seems to be doing fine. She's eating and drinking and has tried to jump out of the box a couple of times. We put a laundry basket over top of the box to keep her safe and we are going to build her a small pen inside tomorrow. She let me hold her for a long time and just say content and looked around like she normally would. Checking the injury, there's not any skin available to try and glue it shut, but it looks clean and appears to be something she can heal from. Not sure that her feathers will grow back, but we're going to keep her inside while she heals and continue to put honey on the wound to keep it from getting infected and hopefully she'll make a full recovery. She can stay in the house as long as it takes even if it's a month or two and since she doesn't seem to be suffering or even really that bothered by the injury, I see no reason not to just keep an eye on her and see how she does. Thank you all again for your advice and I will keep you all posted on her progress. The other missing girl still hasn't shown up, but maybe we'll get lucky and she'll come back to roost tonight. Think good thoughts.

 

[SteveBaz]

Other than honey which may or may not be a healing substance (I never heard of it) You could use a neosporin or a real antibiotic like;

BluKote Ointment and Spray - Effective treatment of surface wounds, abrasions, and Antiseptic, fast-drying Blu-Kote is highly effective against pus-producing bacteria and common fungus infections. Penetrates to reduce pus formation and dry up secretions of pox-like lesions.

RedKote Spray - For fast, safe healing of lacerations, wire cuts, scratches, burns, chafes and other superficial wounds. Non-drying, soothing, softening. Stimulates new, healthy skin growth and discourages scar tissue formation. Red – Kote is good to help the dry scales loosen up and fall off. There is a condition called scaly leg which we recommend using this product for. It happens when the scales do not come off when they should and leg mites begin to gather under the scales. Regular use of Red – Kote can help prevent scaly leg. When a chicken’s foot is bruised, the bruise can become infected and swell. This is called bumble-foot. The Red – Kote can help heal this condition, as well as the breast sores that sometimes form due to rubbing against the roost pole. Bottled water (2) and a Spray applicator.

Good luck to you

 

[chloezoebob101]

I have been checking on her throughout the day, and she seems to be doing fine. She's eating and drinking and has tried to jump out of the box a couple of times. We put a laundry basket over top of the box to keep her safe and we are going to build her a small pen inside tomorrow. She let me hold her for a long time and just say content and looked around like she normally would. Checking the injury, there's not any skin available to try and glue it shut, but it looks clean and appears to be something she can heal from. Not sure that her feathers will grow back, but we're going to keep her inside while she heals and continue to put honey on the wound to keep it from getting infected and hopefully she'll make a full recovery. She can stay in the house as long as it takes even if it's a month or two and since she doesn't seem to be suffering or even really that bothered by the injury, I see no reason not to just keep an eye on her and see how she does. Thank you all again for your advice and I will keep you all posted on her progress. The other missing girl still hasn't shown up, but maybe we'll get lucky and she'll come back to roost tonight. Think good thoughts.

my rooster disappeared bc he got in a fight with his son and went off and died

I'm sorry i know this isn't what happened with yours but i thought id share.