Dog got hold of one of our hens-skin tore

[cconroy]

We let our girls out for the first time today in the back yard. Our dog was pretty relaxed with them. One of our hens is super friendly so my husband picked her up to bring over to the sun. Our dog got excited and jumped up and managed to pull some feathers out. At first we didn’t think anything of it, but then we saw the feathers had some fat on them. Upon inspection, her skin tore. It looks bloody, but it isn’t bleeding at all. We used some microcynAH on the wound. Chicken skin is so thin! Just curious if we should separate her tonight and any other recommendations! These are some photos. She’s walking around the yard just fine eating all the good stuff right now. I think the wound looks worse than it is from that angle because it doesn’t look that bloody from the other angles

 

[fowltemptress]

The exact same thing happened to one of my hens. You should consider her environment and if there's anything that may contaminate or aggravate the wound to complicate healing. In my case, there were flies out at the time, so I brought her in to be sure they didn't get into the wound - maggots can kill a bird quick. I also wanted to keep her from dust bathing and kicking stuff into the hole, and I do have roosters, so I didn't want the act of mating to tear it more. I kept her on a towel in a dog crate and spritzed the wound with Vetericyn a couple times a day. It took about a week for the hole to close up.

 

[cconroy]

The exact same thing happened to one of my hens. You should consider her environment and if there's anything that may contaminate or aggravate the wound to complicate healing. In my case, there were flies out at the time, so I brought her in to be sure they didn't get into the wound - maggots can kill a bird quick. I also wanted to keep her from dust bathing and kicking stuff into the hole, and I do have roosters, so I didn't want the act of mating to tear it more. I kept her on a towel in a dog crate and spritzed the wound with Vetericyn a couple times a day. It took about a week for the hole to close up.

Thank you!!

Her feathers definitely keep the wound covered. I did order some vetericyn as well. Thankfully no flies out yet here! We keep their coop/run pretty clean, but maybe we will clean out the coop and add new pine shavings this weekend.

 

[cconroy]

Thank you!!

Her feathers definitely keep the wound covered. I did order some vetericyn as well. Thankfully no flies out yet here! We keep their coop/run pretty clean, but maybe we will clean out the coop and add new pine shavings this weekend.

This is a more recent photo I just took before bed for the girls. Sprayed it again! Hoping it heals nicely. She seems to be in good spirits!

 

[fowltemptress]

It's remarkable how well they handle injuries, isn't it? The wound looks nice and clean - I'm rooting for a quick recovery!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We let our girls out for the first time today in the back yard. Our dog was pretty relaxed with them. One of our hens is super friendly so my husband picked her up to bring over to the sun. Our dog got excited and jumped up and managed to pull some feathers out. At first we didn’t think anything of it, but then we saw the feathers had some fat on them. Upon inspection, her skin tore. It looks bloody, but it isn’t bleeding at all. We used some microcynAH on the wound. Chicken skin is so thin! Just curious if we should separate her tonight and any other recommendations! These are some photos. She’s walking around the yard just fine eating all the good stuff right now. I think the wound looks worse than it is from that angle because it doesn’t look that bloody from the other angles

For a wound hidden under feathers like that I would swab it daily with Chlorhexidine. A very small amount of triple antibiotic ointment can be applied as well.

Do keep an eye on it as suggested, flies will lay eggs on wounds and maggots can emerge in less than 24hrs given the right conditions, maggots will damage the tissue and cause infection, so do check that wound at least daily.

 

[cconroy]

For a wound hidden under feathers like that I would swab it daily with Chlorhexidine. A very small amount of triple antibiotic ointment can be applied as well.

Do keep an eye on it as suggested, flies will lay eggs on wounds and maggots can emerge in less than 24hrs given the right conditions, maggots will damage the tissue and cause infection, so do check that wound at least daily.

We just checked on her this morning- it looks so good, like it’s already starting to heal. We did spray is again with the spray I have. One of our good friends also has chickens and it’s happened to him before. Just keeping an eye on her. She seemed chipper as usual this morning coming out of her coop. Thankfully it’s still quite chilly at night here, so flies haven’t come out yet! I will make sure to have some triple antibiotic on hand. We just ordered another anti microbial spray for poultry as well.

 

[cconroy]

It's remarkable how well they handle injuries, isn't it? The wound looks nice and clean - I'm rooting for a quick recovery!

It looked great when we just checked it out this morning. Like it’s already starting to heal. She’s her Norma happy self

 

[Sophia Pincheon]

We let our girls out for the first time today in the back yard. Our dog was pretty relaxed with them. One of our hens is super friendly so my husband picked her up to bring over to the sun. Our dog got excited and jumped up and managed to pull some feathers out. At first we didn’t think anything of it, but then we saw the feathers had some fat on them. Upon inspection, her skin tore. It looks bloody, but it isn’t bleeding at all. We used some microcynAH on the wound. Chicken skin is so thin! Just curious if we should separate her tonight and any other recommendations! These are some photos. She’s walking around the yard just fine eating all the good stuff right now. I think the wound looks worse than it is from that angle because it doesn’t look that bloody from the other angles

Simply experience with one of my turkeys, chickens do not bleed a lot so be careful will blood loss, our horse vet was able ro come out and stich her up all the way into the muscle. Over 2 years ago and still going strong

 

[Quail345]

Vetriycin on the wound. I had a Cornish that tore its thigh on wire. It is now completely healed