* The white color is from the silver salve (not pus). Purple dissolvable sutures were left in place with the hopes of securing a wet to dry dressing after initial wound care. It was not a success, the tom did not tolerate the dressings well. Fine hairs are regrowing but did not show up in the photo.
Dear BYC friends,
My Bourbon Red turkey tom was attacked by the neighbors dog 2 weeks ago. His injuries were extensive. I took him to the vet and he had several sutures under both wings and a large open wound (approx 5 inches in diameter) on his back side. The large wound on his back was deep and exposed a large amount of fat and raw muscle. He suffered several puncture wounds and nearly all of his feathers on his back are missing. The vet cleaned his wounds and sutured him (under anesthesia) and ordered him a high dose of antibiotics (1000mg amoxicillan every 12 hrs for one week), daily wound care with cholrihexadine, and silver sulfadiazine cream to be applied 2-3 times per day for one week. After one week I saw tremendous improvement. We were keeping him in our basement so that our turkey hen and chickens wouldn't peck him. After a week in a half I brought the turkey hen in for a visit. I left her in the inside pen with him for 24 hours and she did not peck him or act aggressive towards him at all. ( We have been hoping for poults because the hen is broody but have had no luck with them doing the "deed") I saw the turkey hen getting sweet on our rooster so I decided I better bring her in to visit the tom. Anyway, since it is spring breeding season my husband and I decided to let the tom rejoin the chickens and the hens. So far, no pecking is taking place, but I am rather concerned about his wound appearance. We are cleaning his wound daily with chlorihexidine, patting it dry and applying the silver sulfadiazine without a dressing cover. Over the past few days I have noticed the wound turning tan to tannish green, to green.There is NO odor, but it looks terrible. I am not sure if this is a normal finding for such a large wound that will need a large amount of granulation healing. If anyone has any experience with how this wound should look 2 weeks into the healing process please let me know. I hope I do not have to mechanically debride the wound. Also, I am concerned about flies since the weather is really warming up. Will the silver sufalidazine be enough of a deterrent for flies? Do you think applying blue kote at this point would be to early?? Should I bring him back into solitary confinement?? I will try to attach a photo asap. Thank you so much!
PS- I am happy to announce that we did finally (for the first time in 2 years) witness Rick (the tom) and Rosa (the hen) procreating! He is feeling better
Last edited:
