Missing Skin and A Chunk of Muscle!!!

[ibuild2586]

My chickens were attacked by my dog yesterday. Two of them are still alive, but one is very badly injured. She has a 3" patch of skin and feathers torn off her back as well as a chunk taken out of her muscle. It got down around zero degrees last night so I think the wound froze too. They made it through the night and she is eating and drinking inside the coop. The other one doesn't have any noticeable wounds but is laying down and sleeping.

Can a chicken recover from a wound like this? How can I treat this large open wound?

 

[PolkaDot77]

My chickens were attacked by a dog last summer and one suffered a similar incident near her vent. It was completely ripped open from a dog bite and I thought for sure he wasn't going to make it. I got this stuff called Vetricyn from the feed store and was absolutely amazed with the results! She recovered nicely from the wound and lived. The spray is a bit expensive but I use it all the time now (I even spray it on cuts and scrapes on me) and it saved my chickens life.

Would you be able to bring her in for a few days? You should probably bring them both in to keep track of how they are doing and keep them warm and healing. Make sure they both rest enough and don't move around too much so they can save their energy for healing.

Good luck! Hope she makes it

 

[Wyandottes7]

If you haven't already, clean the wound out with some warm water. Apply some antibiotic ointment without any "caine " ingredients or painkillers. I'd bring her in if possible, so that you can keep an eye on her. If you see signs of infection, like heat, strong smell, or discoloration, get some antibiotics like Penicillin.

 

[ibuild2586]

Thanks for the advise. I am going to pick up some Vetricyn. I see that there is a wound & antibiotic one and a wound & skin care one. I am going to start with the antibiotic. Any reason I should get the skin care too? I rinsed her today the wound is worse than I thought. Flesh behind her leg and flesh behind her wing almost no feathers on her back and not much skin. She did produce an egg today and she is eating and drinking. Set up a hospital pen inside for them. I am amazed she is still going!

 

[StruckBy]

I would go with Blue Kote on the wound as well as the oral. Honestly, I've had better luck using just Blue Kote than just oral. We've had a few pretty major injuries from dog attacks over the years, including having MASSIVE chunks taken out of our khaki duck. (If it would have been our first dog attack, I would have put her down on the spot to save her suffering but she seemed fairly calm so I decided to give her a chance.) She is forever more called Wobbles but seems fine. She actually doesn't even really wobble anymore (one leg was partially torn off...if humans had that kind of healing powers hospitals would be out of business).

 

[PolkaDot77]

I'm glad to hear that your chicken is hanging in there and amazed she was able to lay an egg even after all that! I'm not familiar with different versions of Vetricyn, my local store only caries one kind. I'm sure the antibiotic one or one designated for wounds will work just great though. It's pretty amazing stuff! I'm glad to hear she is still eating and drinking. You might consider giving her some plain yogurt with apple cider vinegar. That's like the chicken soup of sick and hurt chickens. She sounds like a fighter. Please keep us updated!

 

[ibuild2586]

Well, it appears that everyone is finally back to comfortable. After a week inside and getting back to the coop for a couple weeks, the chickens are finally back to laying eggs. Used the Vetricyn while the chicken were inside. Eventually it just seemed better to let it scab over. The one is still missing some feather patches but it seems to be healing back in. My neighbor even found the missing chicken under his boat one day and was kind enough to return it to the coop.

 

[PolkaDot77]

Glad to hear everyone is doing well! Now you can breathe a sigh of relief too. Happy New Year!

 

[ibuild2586]

Yes I can!!! Happy New Year to you too!