Hole in hen that secretes smelly grease. Vet has never seen anything like it!

[Angel25]

I recently purchased two white Orphington hens, around 18 months old.
We noticed as soon as we brought them home that one of the hens had an odd black patch on her side. She was eating, drinking and pooing fine so we left her to settle for a few days before investigating. It looked like a puncture wound ao I immediately took her to the vet.
The vet had a look and said it was really weird and she had never seen anything like it! She has a hole but its ocmpletely closed (no wound, its just skin), she thought magbe it was an old wound that had healed up in a strange way.
The weirdest part is the sticky black grease, which smells horrendous, that it secretes! The vet cleaned it up and said it seemed like the sort of grease you'd expect from a gland. We continued to clean it afterwards but it jsut keeps coming!
She is completely healthy otherwise and it doesn't seem to both her but i'd hate for the flies to think it was tasy and it does get all over he lovely white feathers.
Has anyone seen anything like this or have any idea what it could be? At the moment we are keeping it packed with wound powder and purple spray. I contacted her previous owner and she said she had never noticed it before.

 

[LaFleche]

This could be a wound caused by overgrown rooster spurs.
They are often overlooked and fester for a while until getting noticed and treated.

 

[Angel25]

She did live with a rather large rooster! How would you recommend treating it? The vet only recommended keeping it clean.

 

[LaFleche]

She did live with a rather large rooster! How would you recommend treating it? The vet only recommended keeping it clean.

As a I am not a vet and did not see her wound (how deep) in person, I can only describe to you what I did after discovering an old pocketlike festering wound under the wing of one of my favourite hens years ago.

I soaked her in warm water with added Rivanol solution, then dried her off and gently removed the smelling black plug. Desinfected the newly opened hole and filled it to the brim with clean Microgur which is a very fine kind of diatomaeceous earth. Every few days I added some more but never soaked her again nor pulled the new plug off as there was no smell nor swelling. It dried off and healed extremely well only leaving a small scar.
But I only could do it this way because her abdominal cavity was unscathed and no intestines or organs visible.

 

[Angel25]

Thats great to know, thank you. That does sound very similar. Her abdominal cavity is definitely unscathed and no organs are visible (the vet had a good poke and said it was completely sealed).

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree, it might be an older spur injury or abscess. What is the name of the wound powder prescribed? Did the vet flush the wound with any type of antiseptic? It sounds like that may be something to help it heal from the inside out, even if it is saline or weak Betadine. Many times we then use a plain Neosporin or similar antibiotic ointment once or twice a day.

 

[LaFleche]

Any update?