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Wounded Chicken Chicken Man
Hey, /an/. My mom has some chickens on her property - they provide her with eggs and such, but she really thinks of them as pets more than livestock.

Recently something got into her chicken coop and killed one, wounded another - the remaining three got away without a scratch. The wounded one is currently living inside a plastic storage tote in her living room.

Now, I don't know a whole lot about chickens, but looking at this one - which has pretty much lost all the skin on her backside - I'm pretty sure this is an unrecoverable injury. What does /an/ think? I'll post a couple of photos of the injury.

(she looks a little odd because she's wet, we gave her a bath to try to get a good idea of how bad the injury was).
>> Wounded Chicken Chicken Man
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Top view. Literally it looks like something got hold of her tail feathers and ripped them, and all the skin they were attached to, off. I don't see how new skin can grow where there is literally no skin at all, but I'm no vet.
>> Wounded Chicken Chicken Man
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Last pic, and most graphic. As I said, Mom thinks of these chickens more as pets than livestock - that said, she is not against ending the suffering of the bird if there's no hope.

The slightly greenish patch is due to a natural healing salve that she put on the chicken - I asked her if she was certain it was going to be okay to put that on the chicken, and she pointed out that it's not likely to make her any worse... which is definitely true.

the chicken doesn't seem to act very much like she feels injured, but... she's a chicken. They're not known for expressing a lot of emotion other than panic or not panicking.
>> Anonymous
Oh man get that poor thing to a vet. I hope she makes it through.
>> Anonymous
Kill the poor thing, put it out of it's misery!
>> Anonymous
am i bad for thinking that looks delicious?


uh.. advice. right.
is it possible to bandage it up?
>> Anonymous
If you have access to an avian vet, take her there and follow their advice.
For now, I think try scrubbing the area with Betadine or hydrogen peroxide if you don't have betadine. If she appears in pain, make sure she doesn't hurt herself any more or hurt you while disinfecting.
Try using some Neosporin spread over the area, and use nonstick pads and Vetrap to make a sort of diaper, leaving the vent clear so she can potty and lay eggs if she still has to.
Use medical tape or ducktape to secure the vetrap to itself depending on how active she is at removing the bandage.
This is what I think should work for awhile, or at least till the skin heals over enough to use smaller bandages and the feathers start growing back.
>> Barksalot !!bUy38Am5hmk
If you're not taking her to a vet, I suggest you buy a red 500ml (won't cost more that $20) bottle of Betadine antiseptic and drench the area with it. You could buy one of those empty spray bottles with adjustable nozzles. Look for any damage underneath all her feathers.
She was probably attacked by a dog since foxes tend to go for the neck, and dogs go for the ass - both are weak points.
If you insist on using some "healing salve" nonsense, she will certainly die. Keep her warm and make sure she can still hear the other chickens through a window, since totally isolated birds tend to die easier. I don't like her chances, especially if you don't use Betadine and keep her spirits up with her favourite foods such as boiled eggs or vegetable/fruit scraps. Quality non-fish meat cat food may also work.
Oh, and NEVER use a bandage - leave the area open and drenched with Betadine 3 times a day.
>> Anonymous
Fuck that. If it's in pain: snap its neck.
>> Anonymous
I'm a former vet tech, and I agree with leaving this open to the air and using betadine & antibiotic ointments. I'd cleanse it at least daily with a spray, no wiping it.

That's pretty much all a vet would do. Leaving it open to air allows it to dry out and form a scab, whereas bandaging allows a warm, wet area to become infected.

It looks really horrible, but it's not much worse than a scabbed knee. It's going to dry out, scab over, scab will come off once the new skin granulates, the feathers will likely never come back, but it's not at all fatal unless infection sets in.
>> Anonymous
We had a chicken with big wound like that on her side. She healed up just fine. We didn't even bring her in the house, we just washed the wound really good, and used some sort of antiseptic spray(I'm sorry, it was so long ago, I forgot what kind it was) on it twice daily, and we had her sleep in a pet crate away from the other birds. It took a few months for it to heal, but she looked fine afterwards, the feathers grew back and everything. Of course, she mostly just lost skin, and not quite as much flesh as this hen seems to have lost.
>> Anonymous
if they can live without their heads this can't be too bad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken
>> Anonymous
and while you're waiting for Biddy to heal up, get to work on weasel-proofing your chicken coop.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Your chicken will be all right.

Here are some pictures of a chicken that was wounded far worse and lived for years afterwards.
>> Anonymous
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Here's another one. We called her the "holy chicken". She belonged to our neighbour until one of their stupid dogs got ahold of it, and we took care of it.
>> Anonymous
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Mike the headless chicken is here
>> Anonymous
I'm in the mood for fried chicken thanks to this thread.
>> Anonymous
>>241914

You might want to look in the mirror and make sure you haven't turned into a nigger or anything...
>> Anonymous
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>>241699


I can help!
>> Anon
My mother's shih tzu got out of her fence and attacked several of my hens. Being used to the big animals, they hid in their usual places and she cornered them, ripping the shit out of them. Wounds looked worse than your chicken's. Being the semi-feral brats they are, I managed to spray some antiseptic on their wounds before they decided they were done with me and they're healing just fine on their own.
I have a rooster inside now that also got attacked by the dog (the damned thing climbs the fuckin fence) he's inside, getting similiar treatment. The reason he's inside is because the other chickens bothered him. They tend to heal better if the wound is left to the air, but with summer around the corner you have to watch for flies too.