Sick silkie hen!? I am lost!!

[Chicnextdoor84]

About 2 weeks ago i had been sick and my husband fed and watered my chickens, didn't exactly check on them personally. The next day I went out to do my rounds and my silkie hen was having a hard time walking and I thought she was egg bound since she stopped laying from going broody a couple months back. I brought her in and gave her a warm bath where I found she had a large wound/sore on her abdomen. I cleaned it with iodine wound wash and put blue kot and triple antibiotic on it. She has been eating and drinking and having BM's but still isn't walking much besides to change position in her Plastic tub. She is alert and doesn't seem to mind too much to be messed with ( I flip her over on her back to check on her wound and she will relax) her legs don't seem to be hurt as she pushes against my hands and wiggles them quite well in the air. But if you set her down on the floor she won't pick herself up in proper position and walk. I don't know what I'm doing and I don't know exactly what is wrong with her, does anyone have any advice. There is no avian doctor in my area and she is very dear to me so I am trying to save her myself. I have thought maybe her mate accidentally spurred her underside trying to mount as he has large spurs. But I am just guessing with not much chicken knowledge in my background. I pray it's not something serious like Mareks Disease I've read can cause tumors. I bought her back in the summer an was told she was about 2 years old, she had been very healthy an sassy, laid lots of eggs from which I have hatched some beautiful chicks! I hope I can receive some helpful info and save her. Thank you all in advance!!

this is a picture I took earlier today. I'm sorry it has blue kot on it I didn't get a picture before I started treating it.

 

[pwand]

Dust her for mites, its always a possibility. Any chance she laid in poop for few days, it will burn them and cause a sore. It looks very big in the picture. Give her antibiotics to see if that helps. Sorry i am not much help.

Put an antibiotic ointment on it as well. Make sure it doesn't have any painkiller in it, like anything that says cain in it.

 

[Eggcessive]

Could she have been attacked by a small predator such as a rat or an opossum or something like that? It looks more like a bite or injury than a tumor in the picture. She may have hurt her legs getting away. I would give her some poultry vitamins, and try her outside of her crate every day tempting her with some scrambled egg or another favorite snack to get her to walk a bit. Good work on cleaning the wound.

 

[Chicnextdoor84]

Thank yall for the responses! What kind of antibiotics would you recommend I start her on? I wouldn't think she had laid in any poop but being silkies they do sleep on the coop floor, but not under the others roosts they sleep in a corner to themselves lol. I had not thought about a small predator like a rat, I've never seen one in the coop but with feed around that could be a possibility. A scary possibility! I am putting a few drips of vitamins in her water, and putting the triple antibiotic ointment w/o pain on the sore. She normally loves grapes and wouldn't touch them last night): I'm worried about her!! She's my baby!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Antibiotics such as Clavamox, amoxicillin, and keflex or cephalexin would work on a bite wound, but these are not available without a prescription. They can be had online from a fish or specialty bird store, but by the time you got them it probably wouldn't matter. Could your vet prescribe any? The only antibiotics available in feed stores are penicillin injections (which would work,) and drugs for respiratory or intestinal infections. Here is one site for online meds: http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=f76b3aa1-3667-4ff2-88de-5049eaee5d28

 

[Noobchick]

My guess is that she may have internal injuries you can't see. That's a pretty nasty wound. Could also be that her legs or leg joints were injured or bruised with whatver happened to her. I wouldn't encourage her to walk-- just keep her wound clean (don't let poop get in it.). As long as it doesn't look infected, you probably won't need to do much wound care after this. Too much messing with a wound can actually prevent it from healing quickly. I wouldn't put any more blukote, and definitely no peroxide. Keep it dry and clean, make sure she's eating, and keep her still if she's not up for moving.

Edited to add: I can't quite tell from the picture, but are those maggots I see? The little white things in the wound.

 

[Chicnextdoor84]

I will see what I can do about antibiotics, I was afraid I couldn't get anything like that at a feed store. Thanks for the link! No there isn't any maggots, it's a few small scabs on the wound where her nail caught it when I was giving her a bath, she was kicking around when I was wrapping her in a towel, it bled some but it stopped easily. That's when I found the wound.

 

[ten chicks]

I will see what I can do about antibiotics, I was afraid I couldn't get anything like that at a feed store. Thanks for the link! No there isn't any maggots, it's a few small scabs on the wound where her nail caught it when I was giving her a bath, she was kicking around when I was wrapping her in a towel, it bled some but it stopped easily. That's when I found the wound.

She probably is not walking due to the location of wound,and the fact that she is experiencing discomfort possibly some pain from wound. Clean daily,watch for infection,is there any foul smell coming from wound? Watch for black tissue(necrotic)which indicates wound is not healing properly and infection has set in.