Hi all, hubby and I were just dusting our chickens for lice - the second week of two treatments. We are not experienced chicken owners and last week catching and dusting the birds was difficult for us. None the less, we did catch and dust all of them, maybe not into all the nooks and crannies as a more experienced person would, but none-the-less they were all well coated.
Today (2nd treatment) hubby was a little more confident in the catching and holding department, which made my job (the duster) easier. I rubbed down each bird thoroughly, right into the corners under the wings.
The last bird frightened the heck out of me. Under her wing is a terrible injury. It must have been there a long time too but I didn't see it last time. Anyway, it looks like at the point where the wing joins the skin, there is a HUGE tear, about the size of two golf balls on the breast bone.
The wound is obviously old. It is not wet or weeping or bleeding at all. It does not look 'raw.' In fact, it looks fairly healed, very dry and black and crusted over around the edges. She eats, flaps her wings and lays an egg a day, no problems. She runs to me when she sees me and is one of our hardest to catch! We had no idea she was unwell.
The wound, when it's healed though, has not knitted together. It is like an open hole over her chest cavity. I can't see anything wet (like raw flesh) underneath it. It's all white inside, like a layer of fresh white skin, so maybe there is a thin coating of skin which has grown over to protect her organs etc. But the outer layer, whilst healed, is definitely open.
What do I do? I can only assume she has had this since we got her 2 months ago. I am so worried. Do I just let it go and assume she will be ok? She has obviously carried this injury a long time and it looks like the worst is over.
Does anyone have pictures of what a healed wound (a tear) could potentially look like?
I could try and catch her every day and clean it out, but I think this would be very distressing to this bird which appears to be coping ok. I am also hesitant to wet the wound considering it seems to be mostly healed.
Thoughts please?
Krista
Today (2nd treatment) hubby was a little more confident in the catching and holding department, which made my job (the duster) easier. I rubbed down each bird thoroughly, right into the corners under the wings.
The last bird frightened the heck out of me. Under her wing is a terrible injury. It must have been there a long time too but I didn't see it last time. Anyway, it looks like at the point where the wing joins the skin, there is a HUGE tear, about the size of two golf balls on the breast bone.
The wound is obviously old. It is not wet or weeping or bleeding at all. It does not look 'raw.' In fact, it looks fairly healed, very dry and black and crusted over around the edges. She eats, flaps her wings and lays an egg a day, no problems. She runs to me when she sees me and is one of our hardest to catch! We had no idea she was unwell.
The wound, when it's healed though, has not knitted together. It is like an open hole over her chest cavity. I can't see anything wet (like raw flesh) underneath it. It's all white inside, like a layer of fresh white skin, so maybe there is a thin coating of skin which has grown over to protect her organs etc. But the outer layer, whilst healed, is definitely open.
What do I do? I can only assume she has had this since we got her 2 months ago. I am so worried. Do I just let it go and assume she will be ok? She has obviously carried this injury a long time and it looks like the worst is over.
Does anyone have pictures of what a healed wound (a tear) could potentially look like?
I could try and catch her every day and clean it out, but I think this would be very distressing to this bird which appears to be coping ok. I am also hesitant to wet the wound considering it seems to be mostly healed.
Thoughts please?
Krista
-K
