Where did this HOLE come from??!!

[howdysarah]

FYI: It's not gangrene. it is the purple wound cote spray that looks darker in places

Background on this sweet chicken:
always has a dirty butt from poop. i hadn't cleaned it in a while and noticed she wasn't feeling well - this was about 2 weeks ago. When i cleaned her up, she had a huge circle scab about 3 in. in diameter. I started her on oral antibiotics and began cleaning the area with soap and water and applying topical antibiotics/skin protectants. Within a few days she was a brand new chicken, and the scab started shrinking to about 2 in in diameter.

Last night when I was cleaning her, most of the the circle scab sloughed off. And revealed a HOLE!!! It is about 1.5 inches down from her vent. I had had her belly up when i was washing her, so water ran into the hole. i was pushing on her tummy to get it out and i saw something off white appear, but when i released pressure, it disappeared. so i got tweezers and pulled about 3/4 of an old soft egg shell out. I filled it with liquid antibiotic and managed to get the other parts of the egg out. I re-started her on antibiotics this morning and wound care, but the hole is still there and it is a big cavity under it that links up somehow to her egg track.

What caused this hole? She is super puny this morning and won't eat or drink or move. I have her warm and inside. I started her on antibiotics. Do you think it just shocked her system to lose the scab, and me pull the egg out through this hole and she will rebound? Or do you think she is too septic to even get antibiotics in her for her to recover??

 

[PippinTheChicken]

@aart @azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @casportpony

 

[EEforMe]

Woah! Now that is strange! I’m mostly clueless though. I hope she makes it! I’ll be watching!

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

That is probably from maggots that were attracted to the poop.

 

[LaFleche]

What caused this hole?

I suppose she got flystrike from having a dirty butt for long time and the maggots were able to feast on her.

 

[aart]

It's not gangrene. it is the purple wound cote spray that looks darker in places

That's the problem with that blue stuff, hard to evaluate the wound status.
Use something clear instead(neosporin, vetricyn, etc)

 

[azygous]

I also suspect maggots were responsible for make the "hole" connecting to her cloaca. If you had warm weather at the beginning of the week, and it froze recently, that may have killed the maggots, but be very sure they are all gone. It would be very helpful if you would add you location to your profile. It helps us fill in empty blanks in your information.

As @aart mentioned, Blu-kote is not the wound treatment you want to use for anything but superficial lacerations. It should not be used on deep or large wounds. Instead, antibacterial ointment is what you want because it protects while keeping the wound moist. This is important for tissue growth. The volcano-like ridge around the wound is called granulation and it's new tissue growing inward from the outer edge.

Continue to flush daily with saline. It will keep the ph in proper balance for tissue growth and keeping bacteria at bay, and it won't hurt anything if it gets into the "hole" likely eaten into the wound by maggots.

 

[azygous]

I was thinking about how to further treat this wound. I mentioned it's important to be sure all the maggots are gone. Take the saline solution and using a syringe, flush the wound and deep into the "hole". flushing the hole and any leftover maggots into the vent where they should flow out.

You can buy saline at the pharmacy or make your own.


Stovetop method

1. Boil 2 cups of water covered for 15 minutes.
2. Allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Add 1 teaspoon of salt.
4. Add 1 pinch of baking soda (optional).
5. Stir until dissolved.
6. Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 24 hours. ...
7. Add 2 cups of water to a microwave-safe container.
8. Mix in 1 teaspoon of salt.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Last night when I was cleaning her, most of the the circle scab sloughed off. And revealed a HOLE!!! It is about 1.5 inches down from her vent. I had had her belly up when i was washing her, so water ran into the hole. i was pushing on her tummy to get it out and i saw something off white appear, but when i released pressure, it disappeared. so i got tweezers and pulled about 3/4 of an old soft egg shell out. I filled it with liquid antibiotic and managed to get the other parts of the egg out. I re-started her on antibiotics this morning and wound care, but the hole is still there and it is a big cavity under it that links up somehow to her egg track.

Likely started from flystrike, but it sounds like you pulled the egg shell from the Coelimic Cavity, I'm just guessing at some point she laid internally.
The hole is likely leading into the cavity, not the oviduct, cloaca, etc. Could be wrong.

When an egg is laid internally, it travels back up the oviduct (Reverse Peristalsis) and drops into the abdominal cavity (Coelimic cavity). One can find hard shelled, soft shelled, egg yolk, etc. in the cavity when a hen has laid internally.

She may be able to recover if the tissue closes, hard to know.

 

[howdysarah]

thank you all. it helps me so much to read all this. so here we are now...a week or two or more later. the hole scabbed over and she seemed to be doing better (roosting, moving around, bullying her sisters). then i found her yesterday evening in the egg laying box instead of roosting pole. so i brought her in to keep her from cold. i started her on oral antibiotics again (Amoxil and Tylosin) and her scab came off today as i was washing her, but with it a TON (2 cups?-felt like 3+ though) of fluid (yellow-clear tinged, no oder, slightly slippery) came out of THE HOLE (that is not to be confused with her vent). I think the premature closure of the scab without the healing of the canal caused the fluid to build up and the scab coming off released the fluid build up.

i quit using purple stuff and am using vetrimycin with some hydroshield in it.

I think i need to do what you guys said and irrigate it with normal saline to clear it out and hope to let the tissue begin to close.

I live in Austin, TX. So we've had very warm weather (flies!) with several cold snaps.