Wound

[Natale N]

Hi friends,

I’m new here and Facebook wouldn’t let me post what I wanted to to seek out guidance. I have an almost year old Easter egger hen. I live in Ohio and our weather has been kind of brutal this week. I have kept our chickens in their coop most of the week. Unfortunately, we don’t have an outdoor enclosed run, they do have a very large outdoor fenced in are. I did let them out a few times this week to get a break from being in the coop. I noticed this hen seemed kind of off, her comb and wattles were slightly pale. I went into the coop yesterday and noticed something on her left breast are. I pushed aside some of her feathers and found a pretty decent size (what looking like) healing wound on her. I have no idea how this happened- no predators and no other injuries from what I have seen from my others. I immediately brought her in and put her in a pen in a spare room. She’s eating and drinking, poop has been both watery and solid. I put poultry cell in her water for an extra boost and she got scrambled eggs this morning for extra protein. The wound itself is solid, no odor, I almost suspect a burn because of the yellowish colored skin around it but I don’t know how that could be. She’s moving around and vocal. Unsure about
Laying but will soon find out. Any suggestions on wound care. It’s been cleaned and I sprayed silver honey on it last night and this morning.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is it over her crop or on the opposite side? If you take another picture farther back we can see. Is there any leakage from her crop? Could a predator get to her through wire fencing? What I use for wounds is either saline or wound spray, followed by drying and covering with Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment. But I might bring her inside to a cool area while treating, so it doesn’t get frostbite. Do you have any metal feed cans, or something similar that she could have slept on during the freezing weather?

 

[Natale N]

Is it over her crop or on the opposite side? If you take another picture farther back we can see. Is there any leakage from her crop? Could a predator get to her through wire fencing? What I use for wounds is either saline or wound spray, followed by drying and covering with Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment. But I might bring her inside to a cool area while treating, so it doesn’t get frostbite. Do you have any metal feed cans, or something similar that she could have slept on during the freezing weather?

It’s the opposite side of her crop. I’ll take another picture. No leakage from what could tell but it is pretty close to the crop. I’ll do some further inspection. A predator could get through the fencing if it was desperate enough, so it’s possible but I’m having a hard time with that since she was the only one impacted. No metal in their coop other than some small galvanized cans so they dust bathe, no sharp edges on those and they really have been avoiding them from what I’ve seen. She is inside as of yesterday in a pen in one of our spare rooms. I will do the antibiotic ointment. I appreciate your reply and will post another picture.

 

[Natale N]

This is from today it’s the best I could do given the location without putting too much pressure on it and making her uncomfortable. No leakage from the crop

 

[Eggcessive]

I’m going to tag a couple of others, @Wyorp Rock and @azygous for opinions of this wound. Could it be a spur injury from a rooster mating, or possibly a skin cancer lesion? Are your chickens secured at night or can a predator just climb in over a fence? Make sure to keep the wound moist with the antibiotic ointment.

 

[azygous]

I would guess it's a skin cancer. Feathers will loosen and fall out from the lesion and won't grow back.

But to be sure, I would soak to soften, debride (remove the scab) and apply a moisturizing antibiotic ointment - Manuka honey, coconut oil, or antibacterial ointment. Don't let the wound dry out. You want to prevent a scab forming. If a scab forms again and it's thick and black like this one, then it's likely not a wound, but cancer.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd treat as a wound and see what happens.