Young Pullet, Serious Injury

[Nomadicus]

Help: Any suggestions? There is no skin left on her neck. We can use triple antibiotic on this wound. Wife is a wound care nurse retired for people like me... Is there any hope we can get her well again. I found her down as in wedged in a spot where she just got picked on until I found her this morning. I brought her inside where she is now calm. We washed as best we could with warm water. Is here anything like Tylenol or low dose aspirin that we can give her for pain? This is a first time for us with a wound this serious and are at a loss as to how to proceed now to relieve the pain and get her on the road to healing.

 

[MarlaMac]

Help: Any suggestions? There is no skin left on her neck. We can use triple antibiotic on this wound. Wife is a wound care nurse retired for people like me... Is there any hope we can get her well again. I found her down as in wedged in a spot where she just got picked on until I found her this morning. I brought her inside where she is now calm. We washed as best we could with warm water. Is here anything like Tylenol or low dose aspirin that we can give her for pain? This is a first time for us with a wound this serious and are at a loss as to how to proceed now to relieve the pain and get her on the road to healing.

We had a chicken who was attacked by a hawk and had an very serious injury. I will find my post and attach it after I write this. Here is what we did with help from many on this forum, especially @Wyorp Rock .

Treat her for shock. Sugar water - lots of recipies on this forum for that, search for sugar water with brown sugar. If you don't have sugar, electrolytes or even gatorade will help in a pinch.

Wash the wound with Clorhexidine solution. You can get this at any tractor supply or pet supply. It comes super concentrated, so mind that as you mix it. If you don't have or can't get that, then use saline water. You have to get the bacteria out. I flushed our bird for a couple of days with this solution.

Cut the feathers away from the wound so they don't dry into the scab as it develops.

After you wash it and it dries, slather it with triple antibotic ointment w/out the pain reliever in it. I applied it in the morning and evening.

Keep her away from dirt b/c dirt and ointment do not mix. You have to keep the wound clean until it scabs over and is feathered back in.

Keep her separated until the scab falls off. We build a temp run in our lawn so she could be among the chickens, but they couldn't get to her. She slept in side.

Good luck. Chickens are amazingly resilient. I will go find my post and put it in the comments.

 

[MarlaMac]

Here is our journey with a like injury.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-attacked-by-what-i-dont-know.1559978/#post-26455825

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Help: Any suggestions? There is no skin left on her neck. We can use triple antibiotic on this wound. Wife is a wound care nurse retired for people like me... Is there any hope we can get her well again. I found her down as in wedged in a spot where she just got picked on until I found her this morning. I brought her inside where she is now calm. We washed as best we could with warm water. Is here anything like Tylenol or low dose aspirin that we can give her for pain? This is a first time for us with a wound this serious and are at a loss as to how to proceed now to relieve the pain and get her on the road to healing.

We had a chicken who was attacked by a hawk and had an very serious injury. I will find my post and attach it after I write this. Here is what we did with help from many on this forum, especially @Wyorp Rock .

Treat her for shock. Sugar water - lots of recipies on this forum for that, search for sugar water with brown sugar. If you don't have sugar, electrolytes or even gatorade will help in a pinch.

Wash the wound with Clorhexidine solution. You can get this at any tractor supply or pet supply. It comes super concentrated, so mind that as you mix it. If you don't have or can't get that, then use saline water. You have to get the bacteria out. I flushed our bird for a couple of days with this solution.

Cut the feathers away from the wound so they don't dry into the scab as it develops.

After you wash it and it dries, slather it with triple antibotic ointment w/out the pain reliever in it. I applied it in the morning and evening.

Keep her away from dirt b/c dirt and ointment do not mix. You have to keep the wound clean until it scabs over and is feathered back in.

Keep her separated until the scab falls off. We build a temp run in our lawn so she could be among the chickens, but they couldn't get to her. She slept in side.

Good luck. Chickens are amazingly resilient. I will go find my post and put it in the comments.

@LTAY1946 I'm sorry to hear about your pullet.

Very Good advice and instructions from @MarlaMac she's got this!

I would not give Tylenol or Aspirin. While Aspirin can be given for pain/discomfort for injury like sprains, it's not the best choice for wounds. If you have a vet that can give you Meloxicam that would be better.

Are her eyes o.k.?
Chlorhexidine is, imho, one of the best things to use on wounds, but if her eyes are damaged or injured, then use Saline around them. Hopefully they are o.k., if not, then just gently rinse eyes with Saline, you can apply a dot of Terramycin or Original Neosporin in the eyes and around them.

Keep us posted on how she's doing.

edit was to correct auto correct, my nemisis

 

[Nomadicus]

@LTAY1946 I'm sorry to hear about your pullet.

Very advice and instructions from @MarlaMac she's got this!

I would not give Tylenol or Aspirin. While Aspirin can be given for pain/discomfort for injury like sprains, it's not the best choice for wounds. If you have a vet that can give you Meloxicam that would be better.

Are her eyes o.k.?
Chlorhexidine is, imho, one of the best things to use on wounds, but if her eyes are damaged or injured, then use Saline around them. Hopefully they are o.k., if not, then just gently rinse eyes with Saline, you can apply a dot of Terramycin or Original Neosporin in the eyes and around them.

Keep us posted on how she's doing.

Here eyes seem to be OK. The wound has scabbed over. She finally started drinking and pecking at a few granules of feed. I have Meloxicam. What dosage should I give? And many thanks for replying. I'm separating the pullets and roosters as the roosters killed a pullet while I was busy with the first one they brutalized. The bullies can thin there own ranks down but my girls are protected with a scalding pot.

 

[MarlaMac]

How many roosters do you have and how many hens do you have?

I know that I had to separate out two cockerels b/c they were ganging up on my 10 hens. I finally gave them away (one is still waiting for pick up, but he is separated). Those two chasing my hens made my rooster all the more aggressive in "keeping" his hens. One hen was so afraid of the two boys, she was actually hiding behind rocks and army crawling to the next hiding place. It was the saddest thing I have seen. Once I separated the boys my flock settled back down to their normal routines.

I am not familiar with using metacam (meloxicam) with chickens, so I cannot advise you on that. I do know that even with LC's serious wounds we never gave pain relievers. I think that not doing that made her self-limit so she would not over do herself.

If she is eating/drinking and doesn't seem to be in shock anymore, then perhaps the pain relief is not necessary (?).

Glad she is doing better. I pray she fully recovers. I am sure someone will chime in on the metacam.

 

[Nomadicus]

How many roosters do you have and how many hens do you have?

I know that I had to separate out two cockerels b/c they were ganging up on my 10 hens. I finally gave them away (one is still waiting for pick up, but he is separated). Those two chasing my hens made my rooster all the more aggressive in "keeping" his hens. One hen was so afraid of the two boys, she was actually hiding behind rocks and army crawling to the next hiding place. It was the saddest thing I have seen. Once I separated the boys my flock settled back down to their normal routines.

I am not familiar with using metacam (meloxicam) with chickens, so I cannot advise you on that. I do know that even with LC's serious wounds we never gave pain relievers. I think that not doing that made her self-limit so she would not over do herself.

If she is eating/drinking and doesn't seem to be in shock anymore, then perhaps the pain relief is not necessary (?).

Glad she is doing better. I pray she fully recovers. I am sure someone will chime in on the metacam.

I had an order of 50 str run. I received a few xtra but several died in shipment and several more over the first week. Worst mortality rate of any shipment ever. Walking among them in the run there seems to be a 50/50 mix. The problem is that some of the roos have become super hormonal and I have to cull some and isolate some. I'll keep 4 breeding roos and alternate them with the hens. 1 roo per 8-10 hens in a pen and hope that works out. Any roo that turns out bad will make good dumplings.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have 1.5mg/ml suspension or ?

 

[Nomadicus]

Do you have 1.5mg/ml suspension or ?

Only have 7.5 mg tablets.. Where could I possibly purchase the suspension? TSC? Vet?

 

[Nicci0110]

I'm not an expert but good luck with your journey of healing her up good. I'm sure she will be fine