URGENT: gangrene? *GRAPHIC*

[Dutchgirl]

The cut smells normal. It doesn't smell good - it smells a lot like chicken poop - but I'm pretty sure that's normal.

A picture would be really helpful. Do you have a cell phone with a camera?

-Kathy

I don't, but I do know how to post pictures. I will try to get a photo on ASAP.

 

[Dutchgirl]

The wound and the gray skin around it: Here you can see that her crop is the normal pink color. Whole hen/her good side:

 

[casportpony]

That doesn't look good... I think it needs some serious cleaning and flushing with water and something like betadine. Maybe antibiotics, too. Can you bring her inside and keep her in a really clean place? Hopefully @Eggcessive will have some suggestions for you.

This is kind of technical, but maybe you can find some helpful info in it:
http://avianmedicine.net/content/uploads/2013/03/16.pdf

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Pretty sure all they dead tissue needs to be removed.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

@cafarmgirl might also have some good suggestions.

-Kathy

 

[Dutchgirl]

Okay. Like I said, she was made to sit in a tub full of water last night which might have helped to clean the wound, but it probably does still need to be cleaned. It is mostly scabbed over now - should I open it up with hydrogen peroxide?

Bringing her inside is probably not an option, due to concerns about parasites. I can try to make a clean place for her in the dog pen and move her into the coop/run at night (the dog pen is not predator-proof).

When you say that the dead tissue needs to removed... do you mean the damaged skin on the wound?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Interesting. The wound itself is pretty scary looking. What I'm wondering is if she's just had a lot of bleeding under there from whatever this injury was that has spread under the skin and caused all that discoloration? Maybe there was/is a vein or artery leaking a bit? I really don't know, just makes sense to me.

I would think that the wound needs to be opened and cleaned out and flushed really well, removing any dead tissue and infection as Kathy said, along with oral and topical antibiotic's. I think that's about all you can do and hope for the best. I treat a lot of stuff myself, out of necessity and when I can, but veterinary help would probably be best for this one if at all possible. Sometimes a cat/dog vet will help if you give them an idea what needs to be done. In years past I was lucky enough to have a vet who didn't see chickens or know anything about them but he was willing to help if I had an idea of what was going on.

 

[casportpony]

I wish I had better computer skils, then I could place arrows pointing to what looks dead to me. If you're concerned about parasites, put some poultry dust on her. If she were mine I would treat that wound right away with betadine of chlorhexadine and not peroxide as it has been shown to be ineffective against bacteria (that's in the above link).

-Kathy

 

[cafarmgirl]

Okay. Like I said, she was made to sit in a tub full of water last night which might have helped to clean the wound, but it probably does still need to be cleaned. It is mostly scabbed over now - should I open it up with hydrogen peroxide?

Bringing her inside is probably not an option, due to concerns about parasites. I can try to make a clean place for her in the dog pen and move her into the coop/run at night (the dog pen is not predator-proof).

When you say that the dead tissue needs to removed... do you mean the damaged skin on the wound?

There may be necrotic tissue inside the wound itself, though I would think it would smell. If you are able to open it a bit and see what you get out of it would give you an idea what's going on in there.

 

[casportpony]

The gray, wrinkled skin in this picture looks dead to me.

But I am not experienced enough to tell you to start hacking away.

-Kathy