Chicken injury- no mites

[morganrose356]

Hello everyone! Me and my husband have owned chickens for two years now with no injuries or illnesses until today. I found my RIR hen missing feathers and plucked pretty severally/ bleeding from being plucked. We have no idea what the initial injury could have been as no predators were in the coop and no other chickens are harmed. She had been broody lately and removing feathers under her stomach herself but I do not know if this would cause her to be attacked. Currently, she is in a dog crate in our guest bathroom with lights off, wound clean, wound spray on, and neosporin on top of it with food and water. We did check for mites as well but none were found. What could have caused the initial injury? Additionally, she was perfectly fine this morning. However in the afternoon we first noticed our other chickens with bloody beaks from picking at her. Please see picture attached of wound 10 minutes after treatment.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she was becoming broody, and maybe got attacked over not wanting to leave a favorite nest box possibly. What part of her body is the bleeding area? Is that near her vent? Is there a prolapsed vent? Cannyou get another clear picture? Chickens normally will peck at red or blood. Saline or a wound spray are good to spray or dab on a wound. When dry, then apply antibiotic ointment. If she has a prolapsed vent that was attacked, that needs to be kept moist with vaseline, honey, or other mild cream or ointment.

 

[morganrose356]

It sounds like she was becoming broody, and maybe got attacked over not wanting to leave a favorite nest box possibly. What part of her body is the bleeding area? Is that near her vent? Is there a prolapsed vent? Cannyou get another clear picture? Chickens normally will peck at red or blood. Saline or a wound spray are good to spray or dab on a wound. When dry, then apply antibiotic ointment. If she has a prolapsed vent that was attacked, that needs to be kept moist with vaseline, honey, or other mild cream or ointment.

She is pecked from her vent to right near her legs. However she is not bleeding or torn up near her vent. We have done wound spray twice in the past 18 hours and will do it 3 times a day until the skin is healed. Currently after drying from spray we are adding Neosporin to keep moist and for ointment. Is there a better antibiotic ointment for her? Here is a picture after her bath of washing wound as soon as she was patted down with a microfiber towel. I should be able to get an even better picture in an hour or two.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is the skin where she is pecked removed or intact? It looks like she has an enlarged lower belly from water belly or internal laying, or may have a large abdominal hernia. Is this hen normally picked on or low in the pecking order? You can use plain Neosporin, triple antibiotic, or bacitracin ointment twice a day. I would place her on a clean towel or puppy pad. If the skin is gone, she may need Telfa non-adherent bandage on it along with the ointment. You could hold that on with gauze, loose vet wrap nonadherent tape, or a loose strip of Tshirt wrapped to keep the Telfa on. But if the skin is still there, I would not use a dressing.

 

[morganrose356]

It looks like a layer of skin is gone. I believe outer epidermis was picked through, however inner dermis skin is still in tact. However, She doesn’t appear to have water belly when I was applying ointment, at least by touch. She laid her egg yesterday, so I do not believe she laid internally. However I will have to check as she has yet to lay one today. She’s been drinking water and has eaten a bit as well.

 

[Eggcessive]

Well, I would try to use the Telfa pad to keep her dermis from sticking to her pad or towel bedding. Her belly looks pretty enlarged, but it may just be the picture with the feathers all gone. I would give her her usual feed, but some egg or tuna for some extra protein to heal. Once she has healed it will be extremely important to prevent the others from pecking her.Do you think she may have been starting to go broody, or maybe just was occupying a nest box that another hen wanted? Is she normally picked on? Let us know how her skin heals.

 

[Eggcessive]

You also could get some medi honey or manuka honey to use on her skinned belly. Amazon and Walmart have some that can be ordered:
https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Medihoney-Wound-Dressing-Sciences/dp/B007EBRA6A

https://www.walmart.com/ip/MEDIHONE...MI7bP_9aSRjAMV3Ur_AR10SyxwEAQYASABEgLK4_D_BwE

For telfa non adherent pads:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Telfa-Ou...MI8JupiaWRjAMVLjcIBR2-CwyQEAQYAiABEgK9b_D_BwE