White Rock with skin wound

[cptate]

We have a one year old white rock chicken who has a medium sized skin wound on her side. She is one that lost her back feathers due to our rooster and being pecked by other hens. Since then we have only been using Vetricyn and tried to keep the skin moist. But, about 5 days ago my husband noticed a "hole" under her wing. It looks like the skin was torn away about one inch square. We have separated her from the flock and she is in a safe "chicken room" of our house. First, my husband put blue-kote on it and Vetricyn. Since then we have only been spraying with Vetricyn multiple times a day and cleaned the wound with water very carefully but did not soak in bath situation. Have given her some apple cider vinegar in her water It looks horrible- dark with black bumps but not bleeding. I don't think it's a parasite but now wondering. What more can we do? Should we cover with Neopsporin and then gauze? Worried she may get frustrated and just pick at it more as she is picking at it some. Overall, her demeanor is fine, moving around, pecking and starting to eat again. Not a huge appetite but starting to be more interested in food.

skin wound

 

[alinas2010]

Welcome to the site, I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances. And sorry about your hen.

Are you able to post a picture directly to the thread here? The link posted makes us request access. It’s alright if it’s graphic, most folks here are quite used to it. You can always add a “warning, graphic pic” disclaimer if you’d like.

Sounds like you’ve been doing right by using the Vetericyn. Most of the time it’s a lost cause to try to cover a chicken wound with any sort of bandage or gauze unless it is on the foot. You’re right in that at best chickens fuss with bandages, at worst they slip and cut off circulation and can cause strangulation. Some overly curious chickens have been known to eat their wound dressings, also. The best sort of dressing is gobs and gobs of ointment. It may be hard to tell now with the blu kote on it, but do you see any maggots anywhere?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Pictures of the wound could really help. I would clean the wound with some saline or chlorhexidene (Hibiclens found in first aid aisle) and then apply plain antibiotic ointment twice a day.

 

[SmiYa0126]

It might be a tear caused by a rooster spur, my hen had a really bad gash under her wing. Does it smell bad? I would clean it with saline and do a warm compress to loosen the black bits so you can get the wound to heal properly. Clean the wind with saline twice a day and then slather with plain antibiotic ointment.

 

[cptate]

Welcome to the site, I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances. And sorry about your hen.

Are you able to post a picture directly to the thread here? The link posted makes us request access. It’s alright if it’s graphic, most folks here are quite used to it. You can always add a “warning, graphic pic” disclaimer if you’d like.

Sounds like you’ve been doing right by using the Vetericyn. Most of the time it’s a lost cause to try to cover a chicken wound with any sort of bandage or gauze unless it is on the foot. You’re right in that at best chickens fuss with bandages, at worst they slip and cut off circulation and can cause strangulation. Some overly curious chickens have been known to eat their wound dressings, also. The best sort of dressing is gobs and gobs of ointment. It may be hard to tell now with the blu kote on it, but do you see any maggots anywhere?

No, I do not see any maggots. We have covered it for about 18 hours. The first picture on left is from before covering from yesterday after a few days of Vetricyn. We gave her an Epsom salt bath for about 5 minutes, then applied Neosporin, sprayed with Vetricyn and wrapped it, as some sites said to do that. The wrapping did stay on until this morning, so not bad, but she did pick at it. The

Welcome to the site, I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances. And sorry about your hen.

Are you able to post a picture directly to the thread here? The link posted makes us request access. It’s alright if it’s graphic, most folks here are quite used to it. You can always add a “warning, graphic pic” disclaimer if you’d like.

Sounds like you’ve been doing right by using the Vetericyn. Most of the time it’s a lost cause to try to cover a chicken wound with any sort of bandage or gauze unless it is on the foot. You’re right in that at best chickens fuss with bandages, at worst they slip and cut off circulation and can cause strangulation. Some overly curious chickens have been known to eat their wound dressings, also. The best sort of dressing is gobs and gobs of ointment. It may be hard to tell now with the blu kote on it, but do you see any maggots anywhere?

Thank you for answering my question. As a new member and first time chicken owner, this site has been very helpful. Our dear Rosie is who is injured at this time. You can see she is also missing feathers on her back. She was picked on by our Rooster, but he is no more and may rest in peace. The first picture is just after an Epsom salt bath yesterday and then we put ointment on, sprayed Vetricyn and wrapped it. The wrapping did stay on until this morning. No, there are no maggots, kind of looks like scabbing happening..? The second picture is from today after we took off the gauze and wrapping. What do you think? It really is awful like a big chunk of skin was just cut away from her. Not sure if it was our rooster. She is still in the chicken hospital ( aka our laundry room) and plan to keep her for a while. Would love any other ideas. Thought to send pics to a vet as well tomorrow.

 

[cptate]

It might be a tear caused by a rooster spur, my hen had a really bad gash under her wing. Does it smell bad? I would clean it with saline and do a warm compress to loosen the black bits so you can get the wound to heal properly. Clean the wind with saline twice a day and then slather with plain antibiotic ointment.

No, it does not smell bad. Thank you so much will do the compress and saline. Hoping for the best.

 

[alinas2010]

I think you’re doing a great job. The wound itself doesn’t look bad, pink skin indicates healing. It looks better than it did. I would continue treatment as you are, but you don’t have to bother with the bandage if you don’t want to. Simply covering with ointment after cleaning will suffice. Keep at it, you’re doing great Even though it looks like an awful big chunk, chickens heal remarkably well with time and proper care!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would continue the wound spray and Neosporin twice a day. Sometimes a loose T shirt can be made for them to cover a wound lightly. It does look like a rooster spur laceration. You may want to examine his spurs and dull them or trim slightly and file them down.

 

[SmiYa0126]

This looks great! You're doing a great job!

 

[cptate]

I think you’re doing a great job. The wound itself doesn’t look bad, pink skin indicates healing. It looks better than it did. I would continue treatment as you are, but you don’t have to bother with the bandage if you don’t want to. Simply covering with ointment after cleaning will suffice. Keep at it, you’re doing great Even though it looks like an awful big chunk, chickens heal remarkably well with time and proper care!

Thank you. We appreciate the support.