Wound below cloaca

[Toltecmaster]

Hello,

I am open to suggestions regarding what I can do to help a two year old hen. She has a puncture wound below the cloaca about and inch in diameter, and it was maggot infested. I removed the maggots manually and washed the area thoroughly with water and hydrogen peroxide. However, I can see a gray loop of what may be the intestine. I do not know how or when this happened. I am pretty sure that it was in the last 24 hours. She had been laying eggs just fine. Today, she seemed uneasy and tried twice to lay and could not. The question is whether she could have picked at herself or whether one of the other hens could have picked on her. My hens are free ranging, and there are 4 in all. I have a dog who used to chase the hens as a pup and has stopped doing that in the last year. He may have gone back to his bad habit, and perhaps bitten her. Can a hen in desperation because she cannot lay an egg, tear the area below the cloaca with her beak?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Could you post a picture, it would help to see what you're dealing with. As to what happened, sorry to say but she may have been grabbed by your dog or got caught on something?

You did good cleaning, flushing with saline solution would have been good. Initial clean with Peroxide ok but best not to use anymore, it tends to disturb any new growth. Maybe best to separate her from the rest, in a crate with doggie pads or newspaper lined with paper towel.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Pictures would be very helpful to the ER experts, I'm sure.

 

[Toltecmaster]

Thank you very much for replying ChickNanny13. She made it through the night. I checked her butt this morning and saw no maggots. Relief must have come once I cleaned her last night, and she slept. Then about 3 hours later at about 10:30 PM she laid the egg which she had tried to lay twice earlier in the day. I am posting a couple of photos of the injured area that I took this morning

. I will find some saline, and cut the feathers most proximal to the wound. Since the cloaca is above the wound it will be a challenge to keep the wound area clean. I will also find some spray neomycin. Perhaps aloe and vitamin E oil will help. I also have colloidal silver. Once again thank you.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello,

I am open to suggestions regarding what I can do to help a two year old hen. She has a puncture wound below the cloaca about and inch in diameter, and it was maggot infested. I removed the maggots manually and washed the area thoroughly with water and hydrogen peroxide. However, I can see a gray loop of what may be the intestine. I do not know how or when this happened. I am pretty sure that it was in the last 24 hours. She had been laying eggs just fine. Today, she seemed uneasy and tried twice to lay and could not. The question is whether she could have picked at herself or whether one of the other hens could have picked on her. My hens are free ranging, and there are 4 in all. I have a dog who used to chase the hens as a pup and has stopped doing that in the last year. He may have gone back to his bad habit, and perhaps bitten her. Can a hen in desperation because she cannot lay an egg, tear the area below the cloaca with her beak?

Can you take her to a vet?

It's possible it could have started out as a small pecking wound, flies lay eggs in a wound and the maggots go from there. Look up FlyStrike.

If you do decide to try to treat her at home, soakings in chlorhexidine, betadine or epsom salts may be helpful. I would worry that the abdominal cavity has been breached and maggots are inside, this will cause infection. Does she have a bad odor?

Apply a triple antibiotic ointment to the wound to keep it fairly moist. To help keep poop out of the wound, look at chicken diapers.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Thinking your dog may have tried to grab her. A friend of mine recently had neighbors dogs get over her fence & killed almost all of her 30 hens. She says the hens were all grabbed from the vent area = chase. She called the Police as she trapped the dogs in the coop. Sad, neighbors cited & she got compensated but not much. Now the expense of putting up a taller fence & bury the bottom.

You could take her to the Vet to see what more can be done but that's an awful huge wound, not sure it could be stitched. Best wishes and hope she does well.

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC. So sorry, that looks pretty serious. Any chance you can get her to a vet?

 

[micstrachan]

Poor thing. I have not dealt with fly strike myself, but you will have to make sure flies to not have access to her or it will happen again while she is healing. I also suspect she will need an oral (or injected) antibiotic, as that looks like a pretty significant hole into her abdominal cavity. So sorry. I wish I had more help to offer.