Severely hen-packed...favorite 8 week old Buff Brahma hen was found hi

[Dr. Phrankenstein]

My favorite 8 week old buff bramah hen was found Saturday morning hiding under the ledge of the door so severely hen-pecked that skin was torn gaping openlarger than a large egg. At first sight I thought she was a goner, but when I put her down in a separate area she got up and started picking and scratching like normal.

I isolated her and put some neosporin on the wound area. The skin was pulled back so far I saw no hope of survival unless it was stiched together. I had materials available, and she sat quietly in my lap for well over 30 stitches to pull the skin back together.

None of the muscle tissue looked punctured although it did look bruised in one area. The injury was from her mid back to her tail and down one side.

After the stitches she has been near normal in behavior eating, drinking and eliminatin normally. It has been almost 48 hours since the massive set of stiches and she still seems fine although on her sides well below where the stiches are, under her skin is turning a bluish green color. I have not given antibiotics. Could this be gangreen, or is it possibly just severe bruising showing up. Nothing is oozing, and she still appears to be healthy in her actions.

What should I look for or do next?

Dr. Phrankenstein (not a real doctor!)

 

[Phage]

Pictures would help

Phage (

)

 

[Dr. Phrankenstein]

I was so absorbed in the process I failed to get a picture. My wafe was nearly sick at the sight, and on of my daufhters helped while I stiched her up.

I will take a picture first thing in the morning and post it if she is still hanging in there.

 

[allieloveschickens]

poor thing! You might put some antibiotic ointment on, maybe neosporin (the regular kind, not pain relief). Good luck!

 

[Judy]

The trouble with stitching a wound like that is you sew in the germs. You might consider snipping a couple of sutures to allow drainage. I assume you are keeping antibiotic ointment on it. Probably a pro would have left a small drain in it or at least left a portion open. The outside skin heals first so you see why this traps germs. Lots on here would give an antibiotic, probably Baytril or penicillin.

 

[Phage]

As others have mentioned apply some neosporin cream.
The good news is that chickens have an amazing ability to recover from this sort of thing, and if she is behaving her normal self and eating/drinking then she should be fine.
Just you need to keep her away from the others until she is well healed or they will peck at her again.
Also is there a reason they went for her? Maybe they need more space or more protein in their diet. Are they still on baby chick feed?

 

[Dr. Phrankenstein]

here is a photo I took this morning.

See the green areas on the sides. That is my concern. I have been using neosporin twice per day. The stitched area appears to be healing a bit now.

She appears to still be doing well. I let the bigger chickens out in the yard and put her ib with the 7 others that are her size. I think she enjoys the social interaction. i

I put her back in isolation after about 30 minutes so she doesn't get pecked anymore.

The culprits are the black australorp and deleware hens. They are 8 weeks older and rather larger.

I put the smaller ones in with the larger ones about a month ago. They have a place they can get into that the bigger ones can't, but every now and then they will get cornered away from the safe haven.

This has happened before, but it was only feathers that were missing that time.

I had all the chickens in a 20% protein ration right up to the day she was injured. It was that day I had switched to the 15% grower finisher.

at this point I feel like shouting... "She's alive!!!!!!!"

Dr. Phrankenstein (not a real doctor)

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

No picture. Sorry, that has to be so distressing for your family. Glad you're competent and on it Dr.

 

[pips&peeps]

The green is usually brusing from being pecked so hard. If it gets infected you will see a tiny bit of drainage, but mostly chicken puss is like cottage cheese.

I woud recommend you remove the stitches as the skin will grow back together on its own. I had a bird that had it's entire back pecked to the meat and I just cleaned her up, removed her from the offenders and she healed up on her own just fine. There was a huge scab about the size of the palm of my hand that I later had to remove that was stuck to her, but otherwise she came out of it fine. All her feathers grew back and she looked normal.

 

[Dr. Phrankenstein]

here is a link to the picture:

http://cid-02bc948ae8611dc9.photos.live.com/self.aspx/.MobilePhotos/CIMG0202.jpg

I find it amazing that a patch of bare muscle lat large would be able to grow back skin!

The skin was missing from an area that was about 2 inches wide by 3 inches long, and it was by no means a straight line. In fact it was torn away around her tail on the top and around her left side. I have higher hopes now hearing your story. I gave her a 5% chance when I first made the repair, but zero without it. In retrospect I wonder if I did more harm than good.

she still appears happy and healthy when she is out for a while. I don't think she likes being alone.

Should I put all of the chickens back on the 20% diet?

I ordered 25 chickens originally from McMurray, and much to my surprise I did not lose a single one. I ended up giving away the 6 leghorns just because I had more than expected.

I have 6 Black Australorp and 13 Delewares along with 2 rare chicks they included that I cannot identify. Of course I made the mistake of picking up a couple buff bramah chicks and speckled hambergs from the feed store when the others were 8 weeks old.

The intent was to let the first group be the egg producers and the others be the pets.

it appears getting more chicks was not the best idea...

On removing the stitches, that might be a bit tough at the moment. Besides, it looks like the skin is healing together already.

Thanks again to everyone for their comments. I will keep you posted through the week.