Wound treatment

[Asheville Ckn]

I found a pile of feathers this morning about 20' from the coop and feathers around a small hole next to the door. Looks like something, insert (opossum, racoon, wolf rat, skunk) got in during the dark and tried to pull one of my girls out.
She's alive, although not too happy. Looks like all the tail feathers were pulled out and on gash on her but. Some residual blood as well.
Is there any special protocol on dressing this type of wound on her? I'm great on medical with people / dogs but want to make sure I do this right as it looks rather painful.
I have her in a separate cage partially covered to keep her calm.
Thanks,

Asheville Ckn

 

[Odelia]

Iodine is always good. Don't use hydrogen peroxide. Can you keep her in the dog kennel in the coop until the wound heals up? That way she does not lose her place in the flock and isn't having her wound pecked.
Also have you found where you need to fix your coop so that the predator can't get in again?

 

[Asheville Ckn]

I had not really considered iodine. I was leaning more to a saline solution to flush everything out. And then some antibiotic gel for the would itself. I use that on the dog so I presume it's OK for a chicken.

As far as keeping her in the coop, I can't do that because of the way it's set up. I was going to keep her in the dog crate on the porch for a few days until she starts to heal. I could always bring the crate down to the coop during the day. I didn't think about position in the flock, however she is pretty beta and sits as #3 out of 4. She seems to have calmed down so I figure I'll let her chill out for a little while and then patch her up.

I did find the hole (s). not to big, maybe softball size and no fur, so i could not identify what it was. I'm going to go back down and make repairs. I have a trap that I'll set with bait tonight and see what comes up.

 

[Asheville Ckn]

Has anyone used Farnam Wonder Dust Wound Powder? I have several people telling me it works great on wounds.

 

[Michael Apple]

Has anyone used Farnam Wonder Dust Wound Powder? I have several people telling me it works great on wounds.

I think it has charcoal and sulfur in it. I have used NFZ powder and salve. I used Betadine for many years but found that it can actually damage tissue. Now I'll use Chlorhexadine to clean a wound. I prefer silver sulfadiazine cream to the others since it stops growth of bacteria in the wound unlike neo-poly-bac, and is not as harsh as NFZ. I use a tongue depressor when applying salves or creams to wounds as to not pollute the wound. You may want to keep her off dirt so the wound won't get dirty. Put some poultry vitamins-electrolytes in drinking water to help her with stress. If the bird doesn't become active and eat/drink well in the next day or two, you may want to think about putting her on antibiotics like Cephalexin for 5 days.

 

[Asheville Ckn]

Michael,

Thank you for the great information. I used the wonder dust and it seems to work well so far. She is up and going great, eating & drinking like a champ, albeit, I'm sure shes in pain from the injury, but no more bleeding.

I saw the Chlorhexadine on the shelve at the feed & seed. Seems pricey but I wasn't sure what I was getting, so maybe it's something I should consider.

( I prefer silver sulfadiazine cream to the others since it stops growth of bacteria in the wound unlike neo-poly-bac, and is not as harsh as NFZ.) Where do you get the SS cream? I did not see that in the meds section. I also presumed that a neo-poly-bac would / does stop the growth. From what you're saying, it does not, correct?

Thanks again,

Derek

 

[dandelion lane]

I found a pile of feathers this morning about 20' from the coop and feathers around a small hole next to the door. Looks like something, insert (opossum, racoon, wolf rat, skunk) got in during the dark and tried to pull one of my girls out. 
She's alive, although not too happy. Looks like all the tail feathers were pulled out and on gash on her but. Some residual blood as well.
Is there any special protocol on dressing this type of wound on her? I'm great on medical with people / dogs but want to make sure I do this right as it looks rather painful.
I have her in a separate cage partially covered to keep her calm.
Thanks,

Asheville Ckn

 

[dandelion lane]

I had a predator problem and lost 50 of my teenagers last month... The ones that survived with wounds I washed with peroxide without any issues and covered the wound with a good dose of A & D ointment... They healed very quickly... And yes separate them from the flockbto avoid further pecking.

 

[MavisMama]

Hey, Asheville, Ckn - are you from NC? I just visited there & it's beautiful!! I hope your hen is recovering well and that you've discovered how the culprit got in. We lost 2 to a racoon & did major reinforcing to the coop. Heartbreaking lesson - glad your girl made it (again, hope she's doing okay.)

I'd like to get in on the chicken wound forum - my Mavis got a few major quills on the back of her neck pulled out by, most likely, our rooster who is very full of himself lately (I'm told that's not uncommon for roosters this time of year..) and she bled like crazy. There's a enlarged area about the size of a big cherry tomato (hematoma?) at the area & the day it happened I bathed her & applied triple antibiotic ointment. She's acting fine. We've separated her from the others so they don't peck her - they're white & blood or red skin shows up way too well. When I looked at it today, I saw what appears to be pus spots where the quills were. I'm now wondering if I should have her medicated with antibiotics orally. Is there a safe broad-spectrum antibiotic anyone uses in cases like this?
I love Mavis - I want to be sure I do whatever is necessary to keep her healthy.
thanks