Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ManueB]

That "just afraid" is what you NEED to worry about. Dogs that are afraid are more likely to bite.

It does make my ego feel less sore to think that the great Pyrenees who left three holes in my butt two weeks ago was afraid of me, my 5 feet and my 115 pounds .

The Chicken Guard door control unit arrived today. I wont get it fitted tomorrow because it's going to rain.

That was very fast! Once fitted, will you need to come at least once in the morning to check if it opens properly ? Or will C. do that?

 

[ManueB]

@Shadrach, I would be very grateful if you'd agree to give me a bit more of your opinion for Piou-piou, my runt hen wounded from mating under her wing.

The wound is drying. In the lower edge it has formed a new scab. She's acting healthy but the wound still smells bad.
I think at some point we will have to cut off the dead hanging skin. What tool should we use ?

We've kept her in a dog cage, she's getting depressed. I put a tent for her on the grass but she started trying to dustbathe, so I took her out. Can we let her do that or should we wait ?

Are we past the risk of infection now or can it still happen until she's completely healed ?

Here are pictures of her wound from today. I'm putting them under a spoiler as they are not so pretty.

Spoiler: Wound photos

She did not get antibiotics and I don't think we will be able to get her to the vet next week. We're still applying chlorhexidine everyday.

Tax : Piou-piou at two months and a half still didn't have feathers.

 

[fuentemoon]

Hypoclorous acid (active ingredient in Vetricyn) is amazing on wounds. If you can get some it is great for disinfecting other stuff too.
After buying vetricyn a couple of times i found that i could buy it cheaper as a cleaner, and with less ingredients. Just pay attention to the concentration.

 

[bruceha2000]

It does make my ego feel less sore to think that the great Pyrenees who left three holes in my butt two weeks ago was afraid of me, my 5 feet and my 115 pounds

Ouch, no residual infection I hope

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good Morning X Batts.
I was at the hospital in the morning yesterday.
Cleared since 1985, I have been cancer free.

 

[Shadrach]

It does make my ego feel less sore to think that the great Pyrenees who left three holes in my butt two weeks ago was afraid of me, my 5 feet and my 115 pounds .

That was very fast! Once fitted, will you need to come at least once in the morning to check if it opens properly ? Or will C. do that?

The idea of getting an auto door opener is that it works and is reliable which cannot be said for C.
If it doesn't work one morning that's a risk I'm willing to take. With the current 5 there is enough room for them to be confined to the coop until I get there. This product (Chicken Guard) has a good reputation in the UK. There are cheaper alternatives. I'm hoping pay a bit extra and buy something decent works here.
Having reviews saying "it was working fine for a couple of days and then one night didn't close and a fox got in and killed all my chickens" wouldn't be good for business.
I will encourage C to at least look in each morning. They have to walk past the chicken to feed the geese in the mornings.

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach, I would be very grateful if you'd agree to give me a bit more of your opinion for Piou-piou, my runt hen wounded from mating under her wing.

The wound is drying. In the lower edge it has formed a new scab. She's acting healthy but the wound still smells bad.
I think at some point we will have to cut off the dead hanging skin. What tool should we use ?

We've kept her in a dog cage, she's getting depressed. I put a tent for her on the grass but she started trying to dustbathe, so I took her out. Can we let her do that or should we wait ?

Are we past the risk of infection now or can it still happen until she's completely healed ?

Here are pictures of her wound from today. I'm putting them under a spoiler as they are not so pretty.

Spoiler: Wound photos

View attachment 3456303
View attachment 3456305

She did not get antibiotics and I don't think we will be able to get her to the vet next week. We're still applying chlorhexidine everyday.

Tax : Piou-piou at two months and a half still didn't have feathers.
View attachment 3456297

That wound doesn't look any better than it did when I answered on your thread. No wonder it stinks. Clean means no necrotic tissue, no dirt, no bits of flesh hanging off unless the wound is to be stitched.
You need to take her to a vet. You need to do it now. It doesn't even need to be an avian vet. Any vet should be able to clean a wound like that.

Chickens with an infection can seem fine for days and then one day they are not. Do not judge her health by her demeanor. There is obviously a problem and the vast majority of the time a smell from a wound means it's infected. Sometimes, rarely, the smell can just be lack of proper cleaning and dirt is rotting in the necrotic tissue.

I do not at this stage think this is something you and your partner can deal with adequately.

Assuming she lives she will need a large run built for her so she can be outside and moving around, preferably within sight of the other chickens. She must not be left alone with roosters until the wound is properly healed. Dink was living with me for a couple of weeks after a hawk ripped a very deep gash in her back and after that a further week in the run I made for her.

I mention in my coop article that everyone who keeps chickens should have an isolation coop and the coop should have a run. You should consider this a priority imo given you free range and have a high predator load.

You need to check all the hens carefully in case one has even a small cut on her body under the wing. Often it is the roosters spur getting caught in a cut that rips the flesh off like the hens been skinned.
Obviously you need to do the roosters toe nails and spurs. The toe nails just need smoothing. The spurs need perhaps 1mm filed off round. All these checks, including the spurs and toenails would take you and your partner a couple of hours at night using a headtorch.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I have to agree with Shad on that @ManueB it is past time to take her in.

 

[Shadrach]

Raining. Did a complete change of bedding in the coop. We did go out in the lighter rain on and off.
Ella still has a couple of lice. I removed some more concrete shit from her rear end but she's far from what I call clean. It took me ages to find the lice. I sprayed her with permethrin. She wasn't impressed.

 

[Shadrach]

@ManueB

This hen had a 5cm square patch ripped of her breat by a hawk. I caught her seconds after the attack. You can see sticking out on her right hand side the falp of skin I couldn't stitch. The main wound was cleaned, disinfected and then covered in this,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...s-and-injuries-with-stockholm-hoof-tar.74400/ She was back with her tribe the next morning.

This was Pinch. She took a full strike from a hawk. Unfortunately, despite being able to clean the wounds it seems likely her spine and perhaps other internal organs got damaged in the strike. She died after hanging on for eleven days.

This is Mel. She fought off a hawk to save her chick. Gloria my vet stitched this wound, The skin was hanging off when I found her.

These are two very bad pictures of under wing injuries. The first caused by a roosters spur. Again the wound was cleaned and Stockholme Hoof Tar applied.

This one was from a hawk attack.

Something like this for your injured hen would be fine. It doesn't take long to make.

There are more injury pictures in my articles.