Wound on hens side

[Steigler24]

Hanging out with my flock today and noticed this wound on my buff orpingtons side. It was crusty but not bloody with a tiny bit of purulent drainage from the center of the wound. No smell.

Her name is Ginger and she's been acting completely normal.... dust bathing, eating, pooping and preening. I'm guessing our rooster got her while mating.

We cleaned it off, put antibiotic ointment and blu-kote on it. I just don't know if there is anything else to do. I'm wondering if the blu-kote was a bad idea on a buff hen because she seems more perturbed by her side being purple and keeps trying to preen the color off the few feathers it touched.

That said our plan is to keep her inside away from the rooster and our other hens for now and clean her side/reapply antibiotic ointment as needed.

The wound itself is about 1inch around but the middle area is open to the muscle.... should we worry about finding a vet to get it stitched?
Should we try to wrap her in a bandage or is it alright to leave it open?

For now she's free ranging my living room and terrorizing my Great Pyrenees. Tonight she'll sleep in our chicken hospital/brooder in the kitchen.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Louise Waffles]

She does looks over mated, and like the rooster's spur got her. She should probably have on a saddle to let her feathers grow back and protect her skin from the spurs.
I had this problem with one of my hens, and I just kept it clean and kept an eye on it. It will heal. Let her visit her flock daily to keep them familiar with her. Reintroducing them isn't fun for anyone.
Of course, if it starts to show signs of infection, get her to the vet.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would probably give it another good cleaning tomorrow with something like betadine, chorhexidene, or hydrogen peroxide (only use it once) to make sure there is no more pus. Then keep plain neosporin on it twice a day. BluKote is intended more for scratches, not deep wounds. If you have a piece of polar fleece or a stretchy old sweat or T-shirt, you can make her a one piece hen saddle that should cover the wound. Take a 7 inch by 9 inch rectangle, and cut 2 slits in it for the wings about 1 1/2 long. Once it is on you can trim to fit. Dull or trim the rooster's spurs so that this doesn't happen again. Here are some pics of what I mean:

 

[Steigler24]

I would probably give it another good cleaning tomorrow with something like betadine, chorhexidene, or hydrogen peroxide (only use it once) to make sure there is no more pus. Then keep plain neosporin on it twice a day. BluKote is intended more for scratches, not deep wounds. If you have a piece of polar fleece or a stretchy old sweat or T-shirt, you can make her a one piece hen saddle that should cover the wound. Take a 7 inch by 9 inch rectangle, and cut 2 slits in it for the wings about 1 1/2 long. Once it is on you can trim to fit.  Dull or trim the rooster's spurs so that this doesn't happen again. Here are some pics of what I mean:

 

I forgot to mention we did clean it with hydrogen peroxide before using the antibiotic ointment. We've tried saddles on this hen but she always rips them off somehow. I'll try making the one piece style and see if she'll tolerate them.

I feel so bad about how she looks because she's definitely overmated but I think we also have a feather eater. I thought nine hens would spread the load with the rooster but it hasn't been enough. Half of them have bald backs and the rest have fluffy broken feathers from the picker.

I hate feeling like I let them down. I know they'd probably be better off without the rooster but we have hawk troubles so he helps with guard duty and my husband and I are too attached.

Roosters name is Steve and he's a big austrolorp. He's also a huge jerk to me (but not my husband) but seems to be growing out of the ankle attacking phase. One of those accidental roosters your supposed to plan for but we just couldn't do it. Sigh.

The feather eater is still a mystery. I think I've narrowed it down to two hens but I'm not sure yet... we're home this week on a mini vacation so we're finally able to work with the chickens.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since Steve is young, he may eventually mellow at at overmating. You might want to separate him in a pen for awhile while your hen heals, or for several hours a day to give then hens a break.

 

[Steigler24]

I'll try separating him for a while each day. We have several hens who look over-mated with both back and head feathers pulled out. It didn't seem this bad last year but they were able to free range. Now they're penned up most of the time since we have a hawk problem. We're working on making our run bigger in the mean time.

We put Ginger outside with the flock for about four hours today. I had made a few aprons a while back with snaps on the elastic bands. It made them easier to put on the chickens but she always managed to rip it off. I guess she's too smart for snap button things so I sewed the straps in place and she's been wearing it since yesterday. I cleaned her side with some warm water this morning and reapplied some bacitracin ointment. Cant really tell how the wound looks with the blu-kote in place, I probably shouldn't have used it on this type of wound... but no drainage on the bandage I cleaned it with and no smell. I'll know better for next time.

She seems to be in fine health otherwise. Squawked up a storm this morning when we let her out of the hospital pen. She apparently did NOT want to lay in there. Stormed around the house for a while until we took her outside and then made a bee-line for the nest boxes. P.O.'d our broody hen that's for sure! But she ate all her food and is pooping normally. Even chased one of the submissive hens around when she was out. Now she's loose in my living room and after investigating for a while she's jumped up on the couch and is alternating between snoozing and giving the cat the stink eye.

 

[Steigler24]

 

[Steigler24]

Update on my buff Orpington. Her wound seems to be healing nicely. About half the size it used to be. We've been cleaning it twice a day and then putting bacitracin ointment over the wound. Shes been wearing a fleece lined saddle and it covers the wound. During the day we put her outside with the flock for 6-8 hours but we've been keeping the rooster partitioned in a separate section of the run during this time. He's a bit miffed to be separated from his girls but they all could use the 'time off'. Then at night we bring her in and she stays in the hospital pen. I don't really think she needs to be sleeping in my house but I don't want to put her with the rooster until she's healed.... and she's much quieter in the house than he is!!

Here are some pictures...
Now:

Then:

Miserable neglected chicken:

Thanks everyone who helped and gave us ideas.