TropicalChickies
Crowing
Hi BYC community,
A few weeks ago I rehomed 2 out of 3 cockerels who were ganging up on the hens. Unfortunately the day before I removed the horny devils, my most amiable and docile hen, Dusty, was injured by their rough mating attempts. She was missing for an afternoon, but I found her in the forest nearby, hiding. She was walking normally, but upon examination, I found a deep gash under her wing where it looks like a toenail ripped the skin away from the muscle.
I took her in, cleaned the area thoroughly with warm saline solution, flushed it with iodine, and sprayed an antibiotic ointment (that's the purple color in the first pic). I put her in a large private coop with some 8 week old just weaned chicks for company at night. At first, the wound looked like it was healing ok. I checked on it every day and applied more antibiotic. It seemed my biggest problem would be keeping her away from the flock (and the other two roosters) long enough to heal without her getting depressed from being kept inside. (My flock free ranges all day so they aren't used to be confined at all).
Fortunately she went broody six days ago and I figured letting her sit and hatch could give her a nice long break from rooster "love" and keep her safe without her being depressed about being by herself. I gave her five eggs to sit on and she took to setting right away.
Ok, so here's the problem -- yesterday I went to make sure she was getting up to poop and give her some food and water and I could smell something off about her -- a bit like sour milk. I examined the wound area and the looked inflamed and smelled like some bacteria started to grow under the scab. So I went to work.
Dusty, my 1 year old frizzle. She was wounded in a cockerel mating frenzy two weeks ago.
The wound area this morning. I had sprayed the purple antibiotic on it the night before. The wound is like a deep pocket and the pocket had formed a scab.
First I softened the scab by flushing the pocket with warm saline. Then I used tweezers to remove as much of the scab as I could, flushing out bits of scab with more saline as I went. It did not bleed. Much of the scab had little cheesy bits clinging to it which is what I smelled. Because the wound is deep, and the scab was keeping air out, this bacteria started to grow.
I just kept removing and flushing and scraping out as much as I could. I gently squeezed and massaged the whole area, but there was no pus or oozing. It's hard to say if it feels hot because the hen in broody and sitting on eggs so she feels warmer than usual anyway, especially her breast area.
This is the wound post cleaning.
After cleaning, I flushed it thoroughly with dilute iodine and dabbed gentamicin in and around the wound.
My question is: is an oral or injectable antibiotic called for here? If so, which one is best for this type of wound? (I live outside the US in Ecuador, so brands like "Tylan" aren't a thing here, nor are vets who treat chickens. But I can get antibiotics for animals pretty easily. I have oral doxycycline and cephalaxine on hand. Doxycycline is recommended online for skin infections. Or would an injectable be better?
Thank you for reading the long post -- I like to include as many details up front as I can. Please advise, she's a very sweet little hen who loves being a mama. She is eating and drinking and seems alright overall -- she puffs up and squawks like a broody but was ok with being treated although she was really insisting to get back to her eggs after 20 minutes. I'm tagging some of the experts I always see giving sound advice. Thank you in advance
@Wyorp Rock @coach723 @azygous @TwoCrows @Allsfairinloveandbugs @casportpony
A few weeks ago I rehomed 2 out of 3 cockerels who were ganging up on the hens. Unfortunately the day before I removed the horny devils, my most amiable and docile hen, Dusty, was injured by their rough mating attempts. She was missing for an afternoon, but I found her in the forest nearby, hiding. She was walking normally, but upon examination, I found a deep gash under her wing where it looks like a toenail ripped the skin away from the muscle.
I took her in, cleaned the area thoroughly with warm saline solution, flushed it with iodine, and sprayed an antibiotic ointment (that's the purple color in the first pic). I put her in a large private coop with some 8 week old just weaned chicks for company at night. At first, the wound looked like it was healing ok. I checked on it every day and applied more antibiotic. It seemed my biggest problem would be keeping her away from the flock (and the other two roosters) long enough to heal without her getting depressed from being kept inside. (My flock free ranges all day so they aren't used to be confined at all).
Fortunately she went broody six days ago and I figured letting her sit and hatch could give her a nice long break from rooster "love" and keep her safe without her being depressed about being by herself. I gave her five eggs to sit on and she took to setting right away.
Ok, so here's the problem -- yesterday I went to make sure she was getting up to poop and give her some food and water and I could smell something off about her -- a bit like sour milk. I examined the wound area and the looked inflamed and smelled like some bacteria started to grow under the scab. So I went to work.
Dusty, my 1 year old frizzle. She was wounded in a cockerel mating frenzy two weeks ago.
The wound area this morning. I had sprayed the purple antibiotic on it the night before. The wound is like a deep pocket and the pocket had formed a scab.
First I softened the scab by flushing the pocket with warm saline. Then I used tweezers to remove as much of the scab as I could, flushing out bits of scab with more saline as I went. It did not bleed. Much of the scab had little cheesy bits clinging to it which is what I smelled. Because the wound is deep, and the scab was keeping air out, this bacteria started to grow.
I just kept removing and flushing and scraping out as much as I could. I gently squeezed and massaged the whole area, but there was no pus or oozing. It's hard to say if it feels hot because the hen in broody and sitting on eggs so she feels warmer than usual anyway, especially her breast area.
This is the wound post cleaning.
After cleaning, I flushed it thoroughly with dilute iodine and dabbed gentamicin in and around the wound.
My question is: is an oral or injectable antibiotic called for here? If so, which one is best for this type of wound? (I live outside the US in Ecuador, so brands like "Tylan" aren't a thing here, nor are vets who treat chickens. But I can get antibiotics for animals pretty easily. I have oral doxycycline and cephalaxine on hand. Doxycycline is recommended online for skin infections. Or would an injectable be better?
Thank you for reading the long post -- I like to include as many details up front as I can. Please advise, she's a very sweet little hen who loves being a mama. She is eating and drinking and seems alright overall -- she puffs up and squawks like a broody but was ok with being treated although she was really insisting to get back to her eggs after 20 minutes. I'm tagging some of the experts I always see giving sound advice. Thank you in advance
@Wyorp Rock @coach723 @azygous @TwoCrows @Allsfairinloveandbugs @casportpony
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