5-21-23
This morning I discovered Fiona--one of our Brahma hens--standing alone in a dog igloo (it's mostly there for decoration--they live in a covered run. All the other 34 hens looked fine but Monty, our rooster, seemed a little agitated. I went to check Fiona because I noticed she wasn't moving, just standing with her head down a little. Note: it's never good to see a chicken standing stock still during daylight hours, at least in my experience.
As I bent down to look at her I could see she was missing some feathers on her neck. So I gently picked her up and discovered she was injured and it looked like the work of a possum who hadn't been able to finish the job.
As the first picture shows, the wound was not fatal but obviously bad. Flesh was missing, some of the muscle and fat was visible, and blood has begun to coagulate in and around the wound.
This photo show the wound after rinsing it repeatedly with warm salt water and clipping most of the feathers involved in and around the wound. I took my time with this, carefully lifting away the small neck feathers before clipping them, one or two at a time. She seemed quite comfortable as long as I was slow and gentle. I did not want to remove blood clots but I did make sure everything was rinsed over and over again with warm salt water--I've had the best results in the past with this method: It reduces swelling, repels bacteria and helps dry wounds.
This is the side view. It looked terrible but the more I cleaned, clipped and rinsed, the better it looked and the more Fiona perked up.
My rule of survival is: if the animal is eating and drinking (or shows an interest in it), and is pooping, they are probably going to be ok. In this case Fiona had good color--comb, wattles, clear eyes--not watering or glazed looking, and she loved the special food (oats, yogurt, chicken supplements). After she perked up a bit I gave her a full bath, which she sank right down into. She's had baths in the past and loves them. Then a careful blow drying until she was nice and fluffy again. Finally she was put in "the chicken hospital"--a large dog kennel in our storage room where she can recover in quiet and semi darkness for a few days. When she does return to the main flock her neck will have white zinc oxide powder on it to cover all redness. I might or might not bandage her. We'll see.
Here she is recovering. I hope this was helpful to someone out there. I'll post an update when I get a chance. Thanks for stopping by.
This morning I discovered Fiona--one of our Brahma hens--standing alone in a dog igloo (it's mostly there for decoration--they live in a covered run. All the other 34 hens looked fine but Monty, our rooster, seemed a little agitated. I went to check Fiona because I noticed she wasn't moving, just standing with her head down a little. Note: it's never good to see a chicken standing stock still during daylight hours, at least in my experience.
As I bent down to look at her I could see she was missing some feathers on her neck. So I gently picked her up and discovered she was injured and it looked like the work of a possum who hadn't been able to finish the job.
As the first picture shows, the wound was not fatal but obviously bad. Flesh was missing, some of the muscle and fat was visible, and blood has begun to coagulate in and around the wound.
This photo show the wound after rinsing it repeatedly with warm salt water and clipping most of the feathers involved in and around the wound. I took my time with this, carefully lifting away the small neck feathers before clipping them, one or two at a time. She seemed quite comfortable as long as I was slow and gentle. I did not want to remove blood clots but I did make sure everything was rinsed over and over again with warm salt water--I've had the best results in the past with this method: It reduces swelling, repels bacteria and helps dry wounds.
This is the side view. It looked terrible but the more I cleaned, clipped and rinsed, the better it looked and the more Fiona perked up.
My rule of survival is: if the animal is eating and drinking (or shows an interest in it), and is pooping, they are probably going to be ok. In this case Fiona had good color--comb, wattles, clear eyes--not watering or glazed looking, and she loved the special food (oats, yogurt, chicken supplements). After she perked up a bit I gave her a full bath, which she sank right down into. She's had baths in the past and loves them. Then a careful blow drying until she was nice and fluffy again. Finally she was put in "the chicken hospital"--a large dog kennel in our storage room where she can recover in quiet and semi darkness for a few days. When she does return to the main flock her neck will have white zinc oxide powder on it to cover all redness. I might or might not bandage her. We'll see.
Here she is recovering. I hope this was helpful to someone out there. I'll post an update when I get a chance. Thanks for stopping by.
