Something is chewing on my chickens neck...

[fernv]

EDIT: I updated the info and added photos down the thread. My husband is now thinking something is getting her out in the yard, but really we are completely lost and have zero ideas.
My pet chicken has a very deep hole in her neck, possibly another wound near there as well. It looks really bad. My husband was home all day yesterday and today and didn't hear anything, she was in our garden during the days. He thinks maybe something is getting into her coop at night and chewing on her since she didn't scream/alert us. Could bees/wasps do this? There are a lot of bees around her coop. We don't see any signs of mice in there. It could have happened over a few days, it was hard to discover it, but it is really deep now. *We have moved her into a dog kennel in the house, so she is safe for now, but we really need to get this figured out so she can be safely outside. We are hoping she can recover with rest if we can keep it from getting infected. She is getting older and is fairly sedentary. She is our only chicken.

 

[Quaen]

My pet chicken has a very deep hole in her neck, possibly another wound near there as well. It looks really bad. My husband was home all day yesterday and today and didn't hear anything, she was in our garden during the days. He thinks maybe something is getting into her coop at night and chewing on her since she didn't scream/alert us. Could bees/wasps do this? There are a lot of bees around her coop. We don't see any signs of mice in there. It could have happened over a few days, it was hard to discover it, but it is really deep now. *We have moved her into a dog kennel in the house, so she is safe for now, but we really need to get this figured out so she can be safely outside. We are hoping she can recover with rest if we can keep it from getting infected. She is getting older and is fairly sedentary. She is our only chicken.

Pictures? If she had a previous wound, it could be maggots. Thus, flystrike.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Have to ask a few questions how many birds do you have and how big is your coop?

 

[fernv]

She is our only chicken, it's a very large coop. She had a neck injury a few weeks ago that healed up well. We kept vetericyn on it. How could we tell if it was maggots - would they be easily visible at all times? Could they burrow a hole in her neck?

 

[fernv]

We don't know if the previous injury was the same thing or different. At the time, we had been gone overnight and the neighbor was caring for her. We though maybe a raptor tried to get her and missed, but there were no claw or teeth marks, just missing feathers and skin on the back of her neck. This time, it is a hole, not missing feathers except right where the hole is. My husband is going to look her over everywhere more thoroughly now that she is asleep. I'll post any new info he finds.

 

[Quaen]

She is our only chicken, it's a very large coop. She had a neck injury a few weeks ago that healed up well. We kept vetericyn on it. How could we tell if it was maggots - would they be easily visible at all times? Could they burrow a hole in her neck?

I'm not sure where in the neck the wound is. Maggots would be quite visible, as they can be drowned/suffocated.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We don't know if the previous injury was the same thing or different. At the time, we had been gone overnight and the neighbor was caring for her. We though maybe a raptor tried to get her and missed, but there were no claw or teeth marks, just missing feathers and skin on the back of her neck. This time, it is a hole, not missing feathers except right where the hole is. My husband is going to look her over everywhere more thoroughly now that she is asleep. I'll post any new info he finds.

I think another pecked her

 

[fernv]

No bugs visible in/near the wound. The would is larger than we thought. It is partly down her back and extremely deep. She seems fine, but my husband isn't sure she's going to make it. It's very distressing. How would we know if she is in pain? We don't want her to suffer.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Need photos badly and still want to know how many birds how large it the coop Please

 

[Quaen]

Need photos badly and still want to know how many birds how large it the coop Please

She is our only chicken, it's a very large coop. She had a neck injury a few weeks ago that healed up well. We kept vetericyn on it. How could we tell if it was maggots - would they be easily visible at all times? Could they burrow a hole in her neck?

She has one chicken...