My dog got into the hen house somehow and killed three of my chickens and injured two. The two that are injured are Golden Sex-Links. One has a couple puncture wounds to neck and was a bit shocky last night but doing better today.
The other on is the one I am writing to question about. She has a gapping wound almost the length of the back of her neck (maybe an inch or inch and half long). My intial thought was to kill her, but she did not seem to be in terrible pain or suffering and was actually quite alert. So I made the decission to break out the sewing kit and with the help of my daughter put in about 12 stitches to close the wound. Despite what you'd think, this did not seem to bother the hen at all. She only reacted to one poke about half way through. So the wound closed up very nicely and we put both hens in a cage indoors (getting colder here in Idaho) and the one I stitched up immediatly showed interest in food and water (that sounnds like a good sign to me).
Since the first bird with the puncture wounds was shocky, I chose to not put her through being stitched up (even though she could use one or two). I figured the tramua of that would only worsen her shock.
So...did I do the right thing? Is there an antibiotic I can administer to help prevent infection in both birds? How long do you think the stitches should remain in? 10 to 14 days like a human?
Chickens mauled by dog
I always recommend this, but 3antibiotic neosporin with a lot of black pepper in to make a paste. Put that over top the wound.Don't know about stitches, I'd think sooner than that, but someone should post soon who knows better. You wouldn't necessarily have to take them all out same day if you're not sure.
I had to stitch up my horse's eye once.. I left the stitches in for 2 weeks. I would think you don't have to be in too much of a rush to remove them.. after all, humans pierce their ears with thread! LOL
I'm a total newbie to chickens.. so I'm only going by my experience on horses.. I'd think chickens would heal faster. I've worked on horses for many years...
So sorry to hear of your disaster.. A dog killed a chicken I had.. it's horrible..
PS.... puncture wounds are the worst.. Do not close them up. They need a drain.. They need to heal from the inside first..
You probably already know that...
I had a Cochin hen eat too much grass and got an impacted crop. I had to surgicaly remove the impaction (i used an xacto knife) and i sewed her up with black sewing thread it was all i had and she did fine and the thread just kind of came out on it's own but that was cotton thread.I treated the wound with antibiotic ointment about twice a day.
You know that hen never flinched and when i opened her crop my son was holding her down she was trying to eat what i was takeing out (SORRY if i grossed anybody out).
The skin on birds is very thin and tears easily, wounds usually look much worse then they actually are. I clean them out with pressurized saline (for contact lenses), a little spritz of anitbiotic (bactine works) and then either tape it closed over the feathers or use super glue. Leave a tiny space so it can drain if it needs to.
With puncture wounds, you more or less clean them out and hope for the best, if they have not hurt anything vital, they will heal, but it never hurts to use an antibiotic like neosporin (I don't use neo if I am going to glue, it won't stick as well)
Wow Harmonyplace. That's amazing. I never would have thought to do that. Now I know. Thanks for the info.
Your welcome it was my first surgery but she just kept eating and it got bigger and bigger.
I had my son help me hold her still and i only cut maybe a 2 inch hole just big enough to get out the contents and she never even acted like it hurt (strange) But she was just struggling to re'eat what i was takeing out (GROSS) i just used a regular sterilized sewing needle and black thread.
She healed up real nice and i kept the antibiotic ointment on there and the threads kind of just came out on their own. I wouldn't recommend this to somebody with a qezzy stomach though it was ICK!
Started the birds on a antibiotic you mix in the water yesturday. They seem to be doing well, with no signs of infection. Both are eating drinking and well...pooping. There is amazingly no sign of swelling what so ever around the stiched up area, if anything it has shrunk. Two sides of wound appear to be adhearing to each other already.
Harmonyplace, that is really a cool story...I mean what did you have to loose in trying. I am assuming you also had to open the crop. What did you use to close this internal incission? I also used black cotton thread and it makes sense it would work it self out. How long did your bird take to heal up from this?
My bird showed no sign of pain either except one little jump and cluck on the third to last stitch.
This is not a first for me...kind of. I had a bird with a cut on her leg 2 months ago that we did not notice until it had gotton infected and swelled so bad the cut spread all the way around her leg. She would not use that leg.
Again I figured what do I have to loose so my daughter held her while I made in incission both above and below the split to remove all the dead infected flesh, used hot sterille water on a sterile gauze 4x4 to draw out infection, applied hydrogen peroxide until clean and wrapped with Neosporin in a preassure bandage.
After 1 month segregated from other birds she was ready to return, her leg slightly deformed but now usable. Out of 34 birds (at the time), she was our first hen to lay an egg and has every day since). She runs up to me everytime I go in there to see what I am doing now.
I have had hens for several years and when faced with a injured or sick bird who is not alert, able to hold themselves up, cold, etc. I have no problem putting them down. But in my recent cases and it sounds like Harmonyplace's these birds although injured badly, seemed viable. While I can not justify spending money at the vet office for a hen, I also feel I have to try to play home doctor. In all of these cases, the birds would have died anyway, so if you are not sucessful you are no worse than you began. But if you are sucessful...you get a very loyal hard working bird lie the one I fixed the leg on.
I should point out I am a EMT and have a good basic understanding on how the body works...but of course chickens are different, so it causes me doubt.
I sewed them both in the same manner it's been about 4 years ago and the old mind tends to hang on to the creepy parts and leave out certain parts of the procedure. But i remember it being very easy to do and i just couldn't watch that chicken starve to death. Yea i help when i know i can and put them down when i know it's best. I've found most wounds easy to treat and i've never lost a bird to an infection as long as you treat it apropriately they all seem to heal.
Your question of how long it took to heal i don't remember sorry bout that.
Years ago, I had to stitch up some goats and some chickens. I had read somewhere that sewing thread contains dye's that could potentially cause infection by itself.
Instead, what was recommended was getting a white horse tail hair and using that as stitching material.
We had a big Percheron draft horse at that time, and he had some white tail hairs. (hehehee)
Yup, I used them and it worked great. Just make sure the hair you use is clean. I washed the hairs I pulled, and no it didn't even phase him, and then sun-dried them. I then placed the hair's in a clean, small jar and always had some "suture" on hand.
CS
amazing story, thanks. Sorry for your loss. I have a Jack Russell that did the same thing to some of my girls several years ago. I know better than to trust her now. Hope your hens heal well.
We (fuzzychicken and I) have a turkey that had a big gapping hole in her. She is fine now but really started to heal when we used this herbal spray that a friend had reccomended. We will find out what it is called and post it.
WOW - you guys are all remarkably brave.....I don't know if I'd be able to do "surgery"!!!
When you have chickens you do what you have to do and never think about it with me it's just the instinct to do what i can to save the bird or other animal.
I once gave CPR to a baby rabbit he was born on the wire bottom he was blue and no breath or heart beat i took him and blew warm air on him and massaged his little chest with a tiny pumping movements and blew tiny puffs of air in his nostrils and he began to breath and a little heart started beating i took him in and wrapped him in a warm towel and that afternoon i gave him back to his mama.
That's cool Harmony.. It is surprising what we will do when faced with those situations! You have a good point there.. What do you have to loose? That is what we taught in CPR Classes.. doing something is better than doing nothing.
You are such an inspiration Harmony!