Sudden Throat Injury

[RogerChicken]

I noticed this last night while putting them away, but wasn't able to take a good look at it.

In the light of morning, it doesn't look good. This is a white Chantecler about 12 weeks old; they are in (I believe) a secure run.

The chicken doesn't appear to be in any obvious distress -- still eating, still drinking. And the other chickens don't seem to be pecking at it.

Any guesses as to what happened? Is this something that is recoverable, or is it time for some hatchet medicine?

 

[Rose the Legbar]

I’d personally say to take her away from the flock. Make sure to trim the feathers around the wound so there won’t be any dirty feathers touching the wound. Chickens have survived way worse injuries before, and it seems like your girl isn’t in shock or stressed so there is a very high chance of survival.
@Wyorp Rock Can help with more specifics of what to get to help her. I only really know the first two steps.

 

[RogerChicken]

So... it seems like he's doing just fine. It's starting to look more like a big blood clot stuck to his feathers rather than an big gaping wound now -- maybe he tore out a pin feather or something.

Anyway, continuing to monitor; thanks for the advice.

 

[RogerChicken]

Throat Injury: Follow-up

It's been 3 days and he's looking like he's healing nicely! The big bright red blob has become a very dark red scab. And there was a smear of blood on the inside of the coop chicken door, so I think he scraped it there, possibly in a traffic jam.

I made at least a couple of rookie mistakes:

* Tendency to over-react. Which is better than under-reacting when it comes to injuries, but there was a risk of making things worse.

* I was too squeamish to take a really good look at the injury. I'm sure I'll de-sensitize to it, but for now I'll need to force myself through the discomfort.

On the plus side, I'm glad I'd spent enough time watching them earlier to be able to tell that he wasn't behaving unusually.

Thanks for the good advice, everyone!