Yikes! Large wound on hen.

[mobius]

Current project is a much improved first aid kit for chickens, to include the stockinette! Your experience got my attention, thank you.

 

[GraceHomestead]

I just want to say Thank you for this post! I am so glad you were able to help her and walked us through every step!
I have a hen that the rooster has been "using" more then the others. I just thought she had a few missing feathers but then she dissapeared 2 weeks ago qhen they were out freeranging.
We looked everywhere and figured something had gotten her. Yesterday when they were let out to freerange we noticed the hens fighting and I mean all out attacking what I thought was our other rir hen. My daughter yelled it was the missing one and found her hiding spot for these 2 weeks. She has the exact same wound under her wing and it is all crusted over. We put her in a crate and brought her home. The other hens were attacking her so ???? Not sure really what to do! We live about 9 miles from our farm...
But I am going to clean the wound and hopefully get her feeling better.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

I love sprayable saline.. It comes in a can and I keep it around for such occasions. I find some hens prefer to heal with their friends. Spray the wound out daily with saline (I get the kind with aloe in it) and put some neosporin in there. Make sure she's peppy and eating. I've had plenty of big wounds heal just fine IF the chicken wasn't immune compromised. The other hens know and pick on them!

Watch her. Make sure no one is pecking the wound. If she starts scabbing up nicely, just wipe with a warm damp cloth to remove dirt, spray saline, air dry and apply neosporin. She sounds tough!

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

They could have been attacking her because she was gone for so long. They see her as a new arrival. If that's the case and because you live farther from your farm I would keep her at home. The extra stress from finding her new place in the pecking order wouldn't be helpful. If you think she's strong enough to handle herself then putting her with the flock would be fine. You know your birds best!
I knew my girl was missing the flock and at only 100 ft from the house it was easy to make multiple checks a day.
Good luck with her and feel free to post and ask questions!

 

[rebrascora]

I agree to remove her from the flock. Since they were already demonstrating aggression towards her when you found her, they could easily kill her when you aren't there. I would be inclined to bring a low ranking bird home to keep her company. That way, you will be reintroducing two birds that are palled up, instead of just one lone hen, when she is ready top go back into the flock.
I'm wondering if she has a secret nest somewhere and has been looking to hatch chicks and perhaps came out when she heard you arrive to get fed. 2 weeks is a long time to isolate herself from the flock even with an injury. Is she acting broody at all?

 

[cathy d]

My current project is a much improved first aid kit for chickens, to incl the stockinette! Your experience got my attention, thank you.
[/quote]

what is a stockinette? I am a new chicken keeper for a few months more than one year now and I have had only one bad experience and that was with maggots a month ago, it was enough for me. and I am trying to stay up on everything keeping the hen house clean every day along with checking each one every day. My flock is only five hens now. So far everything is good.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Stockinette is a stretchy knit fabric tube used in the medical industry. In Ohio it's gotten harder to find. Most medical supply stores carry it. I buy it at Discount Drug Mart. It's sold by the yard. I got mine for under $1 a yard. A quick search on Amazon gives plenty of options.

She was not happy to have the stockinette put on. Luckily I could leave it on her and still check her wound. I honestly took a guess on how long I would need and cut it. It does fray a little and unravel a bit because it is knit but not bad. I again guessed about 2" from what will be the neck and cut two slits for her wings maybe 3" apart. It depends on the size of the hen. Then is the hard part...getting it over her. Ha Ha I bunched it up so it's all in my hands and pulled it over her head. At first her wings are trapped so she can't balance herself. That's the worst part for her. Then I pulled her wings through the slits I made. To keep it from riding up I also cut slits for her legs. For her legs I made more of a T or + cut for better movement. At first when I was treating her she wasn't so happy about being handled. I would wrap her front end loosely with an ace bandage to pin her wings and lay her on her side. She got much more trusting and I could lay her down without having to wrap her up. The stockinette is streatchy enough I could put my hand under to smooth her feathers and it would go back into shape. When it got too dirty or unraveled I just cut it off and put on a new piece.

She is getting new feathers! And the wound seems to still be shrinking. I'll get a picture today and post it. She hasn't needed treatment in 2 weeks or so. I've kept her saddle on to protect it but I think she won't need that soon either.

Sorry for such a long response. I try to be thorough and detailed.

Found a picture online. If you look at the pictures in this thread you will see a rather amusing picture of my hen in her stockinette.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

@cathy d
Were the maggots in a wound? It sounds awful but they may not be as bad as you think. They will eat dead tissue and clean a nasty wound. Not ideal to have flies lay eggs in a wound but if it was bad enough to attract flies.... I would remove them and clean the wound with clean water. Then do treatment. If they weren't in a wound then they were probably a nice chicken treat.

 

[cathy d]

@cathy d
Were the maggots in a wound? It sounds awful but may not be as bad as you think. They will eat dead tissue and clean a nasty wound. Not ideal to have flies lay eggs in a wound but if it was bad enough to attract flies.... I would remove them and clean the wound with clean water. Then do treatment. If they weren't in a wound then they were probably a nice chicken treat.

I had not noticed any wounds on her previously, but she always had poop stuck in her feathers below her vent and that's where the maggots were, under the clump of poop. I mean it's winter time and you wouldn't expect flies to lay larvae at this time of the year. I had been unable to check her for about 2 weeks when under the weather and when was giving treats around a few days after the 2-week I notice that she was not interested in the treats that much and she was staying separate from the rest my other girls don't pick on eachother and there's really nothing to get hurt on in my yard or even in the henhouse that I can see and she was full of maggots I mean there was nothing else seem to be infected or red but it was though she was shutting down and quite doable. she was supposed to be a black star rooster I have two of them and they turned out to be hens they look similar to Bar Rocks.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I had not noticed any wounds on her previously, but she always had poop stuck in her feathers below her vent and that's where the maggots were, under the clump of poop. I mean it's winter time and you wouldn't expect flies to lay larvae at this time of the year. I had been unable to check her for about 2 weeks when under the weather and when was giving treats around a few days after the 2-week I notice that she was not interested in the treats that much and she was staying separate from the rest my other girls don't pick on eachother and there's really nothing to get hurt on in my yard or even in the henhouse that I can see and she was full of maggots I mean there was nothing else seem to be infected or red but it was though she was shutting down and quite doable. she was supposed to be a black star rooster I have two of them and they turned out to be hens they look similar to Bar Rocks.

Hhhmmmm.... I'm no expert but that is odd. They can have gut issues and have nasty poops. There is a snowball effect to chicken poop. Once it's dry and stuck more collects and more and more. A soak in warm epsome salt water dissolves stuck poo. If it's to cold for a soak you can trim the cruddy feathers. She's clearly not feeling well if she's isolating herself and not interested in treats. You can look up causes of dirty butt and see if symptoms match. You can always start your own thread too. Get some better information from someone who knows. Good luck with her.