What are the chances she will heal?

[oldchickenlady]

I have a Buff O hen with a large open wound on her side. I am not sure how long she has had it (thanks to Christmas holidays and 12 hour work schedule) I don't know if something got her and she escaped or if it started out as a bad skin tear (from my rooster, who I culled for being so rough) and the other hens pecked at it, but either way I found her yesterday and it is on left side of her back and it is bad. I cleaned as best I could and sprayed it with Vetericyn and bandaged it up. I put her in the dog crate with food and water. I put some liquid antibiotic drops in her water. I got some Triple Antibio cream today. I resprayed the wound and put the Triple Antibio cream on a gauze pad then covered the wound with that and rewrapped it and put her back in the dog crate. Is there any chance that the wound will heal from the inside out eventually? The wound is not just in the skin, it involves muscle also. She is moving around and seems to be eating a little, but I haven't actually seen her drink. I don't want her to suffer, but I do want to give her a chance. Anyone ever have a chicken survive something like this?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have read over and over on BYC stories of chickens with wounds that looked deadly- and they survived. BUT I would make sure you put antibiotic ointment in the wound (without pain killers added) and keep it clean.

I will do a search for you to see if I can find a comparable thread....

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1982009
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=432013&p=1

A really good one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2544011
see post #7

 

[Harriet]

One of my hens escaped from a fox attack and had a pretty bad wound on her back. I cleaned it and used blukote. I gave her some electrolytes in her water and she never missed a beat. The blukote is helpful for keeping dirt out of the wound and to prevent other chickens from pecking at the wound. You can get blukote at your local feed store. If you use it, be careful, it can be a mess and it doesn't come out of clothes and will stain your skin. Good luck.

 

[chickenzoo]

I would also put her on an antibiotic, penicillin, Amoxicillian, etc.... 250 mg for adult bird. If it did not punture an organ, then she can heal. I have a roo that had a big necrotic hole in his chest, deep and wide. The skin had grown together in odd ways and tube like and even had feathers growing towards the inside. Hubby said he was going to die, I said we'll see.... I grabbed him up, put him on the table on a puppy pad, held him with a towel, clipped off the deformed skin, cleaned out the dead tissue from the wound, packed it full of nitrofurizone & bluekote, and put him on Baytril for 3 days. After all that he still loves me... hehe

This is Barron now.....

 

[tammye]

there is a good chance she will survive if she does not get infected. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. keep her away from the others until there is no more scab and she has feathers. I hope she does well

 

[sourland]

Due to their high body temperature, infection in skin wounds is unusual in poultry. Now punctures or flesh wounds can present another problem. I'm guessing that your hen is going to be fine. The damage is probably the result of the toenails or spurs of a rough rooster.

 

[oldchickenlady]

This wound is not just a skin tear from claws or spurs, it is into the muscle beneath the skin, too. I don't know if the other hens pecked at it after she was wounded by the rooster or if something else got her...either way, I am going to give her a chance to heal. I just checked her and the wound looked pretty ok considering, no apparent pus. She had got the bandaging off sometime and I left it off all day to let it breathe. I resprayed it with the Vetericyn then reapplied the neosporin cream and rewrapped it. It is hard to see the wound due to her wing tip covering up a lot of it. I am keeping her in the dog crate on my front porch so I can check on her frequently. She has been eating some and I gave her some BOSS today and she ate that, so that was encouraging. She doesn't seem to be too stressed and is moving around well, so we will see...

 

[Miss Lydia]

That sounds encouraging, they are amazing how well they can heal. Keep us updated ..

 

[oldchickenlady]

Well, update on my wounded girl...she is slowly healing, no infection yet. I have been letting her out with the other hens and only putting her in the crate when it is exceptionally cold (kept in unheated room). She seems to eat much better when she is with the other girls so I have been letting her be with them some. So far, so good. My other hen who also had a big bare spot and skin tear is growing new feathers. I have had a chicken saddle on her for a couple of weeks now to provide some protection against the cold and other hens pecking at the skin tear. I will be able to take it off soon. Yay!