Unsecure chicken perches

[SleepyFairy]

I've just noticed that one of my pepperpots PeeWee has a large open wound on the top of her thigh. It looks awful Reluctant to take her to vet which sounds awful but they are so expensive and will just poor drugs into her. Was wondering if there was a way to treat her myself with a hibiscus scrub and some sort of wadding or am i being ridiculous????

 

Lost my last chicken to the vet in the summer due to impacted crop and they charged me a fortune

 

Jules x

[SleepyFairy]

Was also thinking will she recover from this type of wound or is it best to put her straight out of her misery

[Groovychook]

Poor thing

If I was you, I think I would get her to a vet... is there another practice in your area that you could try?

Hope that you manage to get some better advice.

[spratly0]

With my limited experience it is possible to recover. I have a pepperpot who was attacked by the others and lost part of her back It has been a year long journey but she was stitched by the vet and her feathers are now returned. Right from the stitching - bless her - she has continued to lay eggs is still very friendly and back in with the others as if nothing ever happened.

It is heartbreaking to see but they do seem to have the ability to recover well.

I would give her a chance

 

As for the wound itself we used a lot of purple spray and a little 'jacket' for protection from the others i'm sure someone with more experience can offer more advice.

[Redwing]

Clean it up and put a layer of stockholm tar (from horsey shops) on it

 

Dont muck about with it after that and keep the chook separate until it starts to look better

 

 

She wll be sticky, smelly and messy but it has a chance of healing, if its very deep purple spray may not do the trick unless you also get her injected with antibotics

 

She still may get an infecton though so keep an eye on her

 

You may need to bring her in at night to keep her warm

 

Where are you? perhaps there is an Omleteer nearby who can help

[SleepyFairy]

Thanks all for your advice.

 

 

Yesterday I bathed her wound with antiseptic Hibiscus solution from the vets. It was all yellowy and so deep and I thought I'd see what she was like today and if the same, take her to the vet (we have a vet hospital here open every day - yay!). So I went to check on her this morning and its amazing how different it looks. It's almost like its scabbed over?!? Its gone all burgundy in colour and is hard and no longer looks open. Does anyone know if this this sounds normal? It looks as though it is healing to me.

 

I'm in St Anne's in Bristol so if there are any willing and experienced Omleteeeers near would be very grateful for a second opinion

 

She seems happy enough, is eating well, interacting with the other girls and even laid yesterday!

 

Keeping fingers crossed but am very optimistic about her progress

 

Last thing - was thinking of putting a blanket over Eglu to help insulate in this weather as arn't they only tested up to minus 10 degrees? I think its been colder than that here at night.

 

Thanks again for everyone's advice and kind words

 

Jules x

[Redwing]

Well thats good news, sometimes things look a lot worse than they really are!

 

She will certainly be happier with the others just do watch closely that they dont peck at the wound and check for any signs of infection

 

Otherwise I would leave it alone unless it gets very dirty or starts weeping, it sounds like she will be fine

 

I moved from St George last year but am sadly too far away to help now!

[Chucky Mama]

That sounds much better. Don't let it seal over too quickly though. Keep bathing and picking scabs for a few days. If there is any infection in there which there is bound to be, it will need to be able to ooze out and if it seals up quickly the infection will be trapped in and may form an abcess. If you can leave just a little bit that fluid can ooze out of it would be good.

[KatieandFig]

Keep flushing it out with a syringe too, as much into the wound as you can as this is all the vet will do. Is it eating and drinking?

[SleepyFairy]

Just to let you all know that PeeWee is doing really well I took her to the vets a few days after the event happened as she started isolating and looked a bit peaky and they put her on antibiotics. She's eating well, laying every other day and the wound looks as though it's healing. Yay!

Thanks again to all of you for your advice.

 

Happy days

 

Jules x x x