Severe neck wound

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes if possible for early care, you can bring them inside in a crate to a cooler room or basement. If she eats, drinks, can stand and walk, hopefully she should recover. You can do searches on BYC for wounds, and will find many threads and pictures of cases of amazing recoveries.

 

[rusty acres]

Update:

I got home from work and checked on my girl, who was in our little prefab coop separate from the others. She had come out of the little coop and was down in the run walking around, which I took as a good sign. I put some water and treats in the run (she already had some in the coop). She drank some water and picked at the treats a little. I noticed her picking at her back, plucking out a feather and eating it, then I saw a whole other open wound on her back near her tail and a big bald spot beside it where I guess she's been plucking herself. I cleaned both wounds with Vetericyn and put on lots of antibiotic ointment, then just held her for a while. When I put her back in the isolation coop, she continued plucking at her back, so I took her back out and sprayed on some Blu Kote in the hopes of dissuading her. But she's continuing to pick. In the light of day, the neck wound is really deep, like through the muscle, so I don't know how it can possibly heal. And she's picking at her back, so that won't heal either. Now I'm wondering if she was attacked by something (my cat, a hawk, etc) and managed to escape. I can't imagine that pecking from other chickens would inflict that kind of damage, but I'm relatively new to keeping them so what do I know? The wounds didn't look fresh, so she may have had them for several days. But then again, she only started acting differently yesterday, so maybe they were fresh? How do chickens hide that shit so well??? She's walking, eating and drinking at the moment. I don't know what the right course of action is- do I just keep cleaning and putting on antibiotic ointment and pray for a miracle? Is it more humane to put her down?

 

[Chickens like to peck me]

eek take her to a vet keep her warm give her easy access to food and water keep herin a tub while healing

 

[Eggcessive]

I think that you can clean the newest wound with some chlorhexidene or betadine, and then continue with t neopsorin. If she is up and running around, I would say that she will eventually heal. You would be amazed at how a gaping wound with exposed muscle and fat, or even down to the bone can heal eventually. I would not use BluKote until her tissue heals. Blukote is more for scratches and minor wounds. Vetericyn wound spray is also good. But for a major wound at first you cannot beat chorhexidene (hibiclens,) which can be found at Walmart or drug stores in the first aid aisle. Follow directions on label. You can make her a teeshirt out of some old clothes or a baby shirt. That might keep her from picking at her back.

 

[rusty acres]

I think that you can clean the newest wound with some chlorhexidene or betadine, and then continue with t neopsorin. If she is up and running around, I would say that she will eventually heal. You would be amazed at how a gaping wound with exposed muscle and fat, or even down to the bone can heal eventually. I would not use BluKote until her tissue heals. Blukote is more for scratches and minor wounds. Vetericyn wound spray is also good. But for a major wound at first you cannot beat chorhexidene (hibiclens,) which can be found at Walmart or drug stores in the first aid aisle. Follow directions on label. You can make her a teeshirt out of some old clothes or a baby shirt. That might keep her from picking at her back.

I wasn't planning on using the Blu Kote until I saw her continuing to pick. I like the t shirt idea! Thanks! I googled chicken cones and you can guess what came up!

 

[Chickielady]

If you can, trim the feathers around the wound, and get someone to hold her and give her a few stitches to pull the skin back together. Then glob alot of Triple-Antibiotic oinment on the wound to keep it pliable, so the skin can grow back together, otherwise it can dry, and pull apart instead of healing back together.
Skin shrinks as it dries.
Bluekote can help disguise any redness to prevent others from pecking the area.
I had a few cockbirds in my time, that would grab hold of the hen's head or neck feathers so hard, that they ripped skin.
Hope this helps !

 

[happyhens1972]

I wasn't planning on using the Blu Kote until I saw her continuing to pick. I like the t shirt idea! Thanks! I googled chicken cones and you can guess what came up!

You can buy saddles for chickens which are designed to prevent damage when being mated by cockerels but might it be the right sort of thing to cover the wound while its healing? If not, you might use the 'pattern' to design something yourself?

 

[Eggcessive]

Usually, I would not recommend stitching together an old wound. Most times they heal better from the inside out when they have been there and have been contaminated with dirt. Trimming feathers away from wound is a good idea.
You can also use elastic netting to hold telfa non-stick gauze in place, and it is found online and at medical supply stores. Most people just leave them open unless they are picking at them.

I have made one piece hen aprons or saddles out of polar fleece, and there are pictures on Google.

 

[Hazelbunny]

We had a chicken that had the biggest wound I have ever seen on any animal before, she had a big chunk out of her back any deeper we would've seen bone. We treated her the best we could and it healed up. after a while her feathers grew back and we still have her today. You should always try instead of just giving up, everyone at my house said she wouldn't make it and that we should end her life but now look at her she is back to normal and the only scars she has are her tail is low and some back feathers are a little dull colored.

 

[happyhens1972]

We had ducks and geese when I was a teenager and two of our geese had a fight over our female mallard....they literally grabbed hold of her, one each side, and pulled. They split her chest clean open....you could actually see her heart beating and she was laked in blood!!! We rushed her to the vet, expecting them to say that euthanasia was the only answer and instead, the vet squirted a bunch of antiseptic powder into the wound, pulled her skin together, almost like closing a jacket, popped a single staple in the middle to hold it together and told us to take her home and restrict her movement. We kept her in a cardboard box for a week, her head stuck out a hole in one end and her butt out the other, hand fed and watered her, cleaned her butt and a week later, the wound had knitted and a couple of weeks after that, you'd never have known it had happened!!! It's truly amazing what they can get through with the right treatment!