Should open wounds be kept moist or dry?

[chickengoesmeow]

(Reposting from reddit because the people on reddit are not helpful)

I had a hen get the back of her necked ripped off yesterday, about 2" long and an inch wide. Sounds severe, but this is the fourth time I've dealth with this. I have absolutely no idea why they feel the need to scalp each other, but I suspect it was from a fight gone wrong. I think she might've been antagonizing my new rooster and one of the older roosters stepped in to protect him. She and one of the other hens had been bullying the poor guy for weeks, so she had it coming.

The last three times this has happened I sprayed the wound with Vetericyn 2x a day. This method hasn't been working the best, it just scabs and gets infected and it doesn't heal completely for months. It also leaves behind a lot of scar tissue, which leaves the hen prone to getting injured during mating.

This time I'm considering taking a different approach. I've bandaged her neck with gauze soaked in Vetericyn and am keeping it secure with paper medical tape and vet wrap, redressing it every 12 hrs. She absolutely hates it and keeps on trying to take it off, but the wound is staying moist and it's keeping the remaining skin in place. I got some vaseline today so when I rebandage her tonight I'll cover the gauze in vaseline because I heard it keeps in moisture better and just spray her neck.

Will keeping it moist and sterile work better than letting it heal unbandaged? Most places I've seen say that leaving it unbandaged is better, but in my experience it hasn't worked and in humans you are supposed to keep wounds moist for better healing.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive can help you!

 

[Eggcessive]

The best thing is to keep it moist with Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment after twice a day cleaning. It does take awhile for the skin to come together.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

(Reposting from reddit because the people on reddit are not helpful)

The last three times this has happened I sprayed the wound with Vetericyn 2x a day. This method hasn't been working the best, it just scabs and gets infected and it doesn't heal completely for months. It also leaves behind a lot of scar tissue, which leaves the hen prone to getting injured during mating.

Photos?

I agree, keep the wound moist with triple antibiotic ointment.

A bit more concerning is you mention the Last 3 Times This Happened...
Granted, things do happen, but you may need to access your flock numbers, housing and birds to see if you can avoid this type of injury.

How many roosters and hens do you have, how much space? You mention a new rooster, an old rooster, antagonizing...
Roosters compete for hens, they can also try to force hens, they can also intentionally damage hens when they are rejected. Aim for peace, a nice calm group of hens that get along with their rooster, sometimes too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the pot.

 

[chickengoesmeow]

I know it's been two weeks (forgot I posted this lol) but I wanted to update that the hen has healed a lot better with me wrapping it. I wrapped it twice a day up until Wednesday, and only stopped because it had scabbed over and it wasn't stayed wrapped anymore. Its healing a lot faster than previous injuries I've dealt with and the scab is thin and brown vs the thick black scabs with pus that the last injuries had. I'll take some pictures of the healing tomorrow morning. I really wish I had remembered to take pictures when I was bandaging it but it completely slipped my mind.

Photos?

I agree, keep the wound moist with triple antibiotic ointment.

A bit more concerning is you mention the Last 3 Times This Happened...
Granted, things do happen, but you may need to access your flock numbers, housing and birds to see if you can avoid this type of injury.

How many roosters and hens do you have, how much space? You mention a new rooster, an old rooster, antagonizing...
Roosters compete for hens, they can also try to force hens, they can also intentionally damage hens when they are rejected. Aim for peace, a nice calm group of hens that get along with their rooster, sometimes too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the pot.

Me saying this has happened four times is a little misleading. The first time was actually with this same hen that just got scalped when she was 3/4 weeks old. It happened after we had put them in a dog crate in the run for a bit. I was taking this one out to put her in a box so I could take them back inside, when one of the hens came over and took a bite out of her head. I was absolutely flabbergasted and I still won't let that hen anywhere near chicks, though it wasn't a big injury and it healed within a week. It was about the size of a fingernail, which is pretty big on a little chick.

The second time was similar but much more severe. We had put some seven week old chicks out into a closed off area of the coop to start integrating them. One of them managed to fly out of a 4 inch wide opening at the top and couldn't get back in. I went out to check on them and found her laying on the floor covered in blood. It was really bad, but she healed within a couple weeks with blu-kote and daily Vetericyn. She has grown up just fine and actually raised her first batch of chicks this spring. She still has a quarter sized scar on her neck and I think she has ear damage on one side.

The third time I don't know the exact cause, but I think it was a mix of breeding and bullying. It was a hen's first molt and she developed really bad anxiety for some reason. She would stay on the roosts all day and would freak out if any of the other chickens got close to her. I never saw any chickens bullying her before this, but after she started isolating herself they picked on her a bit. Eventually I went out one day and her neck was ripped off. I treated it the exact same way I treated the second incident, but this one didn't heal right. It had a really nasty scab and pus oozed from it and it took months to heal. I kept her inside during this time and I think that messed her up even more. By the time I started trying to reintroduce her, she was terrified of the other chickens. I had to put another feeder and waterer near the roosts because she wouldn't eat or drink if there were other chickens around. Eventually one of the other hens started copying her behaviour and then I had two socially anxious hens. I ended up rehoming them to a place that had an extra coop the two of them could live in alone. It sucks because they were my two most friendly hens, but they are a lot happier there. I still don't really understand what happened with her. At the time I had 10 hens and 2 roosters in a 60sq ft coop and 240 sq ft run and I let them free range for a few hours a few times a week.

This most recent time was the fourth time. I'm also not 100% sure what happened. All I know is that she has always been aggressive and high on the pecking order, she and her friend had been bullying the new rooster and the new pullets, and that she was kinda standoff-ish for a week beforehand and had been roosting by herself in a corner and staying in the coop for a lot of the day. When I found her she was hiding in a nesting box. It might've been from a fight, it might've been mating, it might've been bullying, I'm not really sure. My bet is on a conflict because she hasn't been acting scared of the other chickens like the last hen was. She has been fighting the other hens much more than when she was in the flock (probably trying to reestablish herself) but hasn't been fighting the roosters like she used to. She isn't acting scared of them, but she is not open to mating and will run away if they start dancing. I'm keeping her in the enclosed area I keep the new birds (now with no gaps) and have been putting her on the roost with them each night and letting her free range with them.

I'm hesitant to say that this was a breeding injury. I definently have a bad roo to hen ratio (11 hens and 3 roos), but I don't really have a problem with overmating. They have a 120 sq ft coop and a 240 sq foot run, and I let them free range whenever I have time to sit outside with them (3-4 times a week for a few hours each time). The younger one will chase hens around sometimes, but when the older ones see this they put a stop to it immediately. I have one hen I had to saddle this summer and another who I saddle almost year round because she has weak feathers, and that's it. I've been debating getting more hens but I'm short on room in the run as is and the chickens seem happy like this.