WOUND CARE FOR INJURED BIRDS
From the National Poultry News
As poultry owners, we're very familiar with the
proverbial "pecking order" and the fights that result
from it. Too often those chicken wars, or others,
will cause injuries in the flock - flesh wounds - and
we're left to take care of our injured birds. Here
are some hints that I hope will help you in the
moments where you have a flock in need of nursing.
Since many poultry wounds are caused by a peck, a
spur, a claw, or something else dirty, germs often get
deep into the wounds during the injury time. We try
to get them all out during the cleansing of the wound,
but sometimes we're just not as good at it as we'd
like. The result is a weepy wound. But it's
necessary for the healing of the wound that we
do our best to prevent that situation.
Iodine is great for initially cleansing most wounds
because of its strong antibacterial benefits, but in
the case of deeper wounds one has to be careful. A
good habit is to cleanse the wound with hydrogen
peroxide (which bubbles out bits that we can't see),
then follow that with what I call "Iodine Tea".
Iodine Tea, a solution used frequently at vet
clinics to irrigate (wash out) wounds is just enough
iodine mixed into warm water until it's a tea color.
You then use that in a syringe without the needle to
strongly squirt into the wound several times. That
ensures that the iodine is getting deep into the wound
to kill bacteria.
After cleansing the wound thoroughly, it's best to dry
it out so that the dressing you use next will adhere
to the wound better.
I recommend keeping a wound open and dry (especially
in the summer time) so that the air can get down into
it. Most of your bad wound bacteria are anaerobic (in
other words, they hate air - love the lack of air)
and they thrive in closed conditions.
There's an old addage "dry wound-wet dressing, wet
wound-dry dressing" that applies. Especially with
chickens in the winter, one normally has
to be wary of using wet ointments because the birds
can chill easily.
Small spots of it are certainly acceptable, however.
Because of the nasty nature of chickens, most wounds
are wet (weepy) so we do dry dressings like Furox
spray (yellow powder, otherwise known as furoxazone)
or blue lotions like Anti-Pick lotion, or other
livestock lotions which dry to a blue film.
Some people are concerned with the openness of a wound
and consider stitching as an option. The problem with
SOME stitching, however, is that it creates a pocket
and closes the wound up from air.
Because of that, it is always best to let a
Veterinarian or someone experienced do that work.
Often a vet will leave a drain tube in a deep
wound so that the resulting pus has an outlet. In
any case, stitched wounds require a very careful
Often when skin dies, the resulting dead (necrotic)
skin has to be abrided (cleaned off) because there's
really no need for it and it begins to break down. It
is also common for there to be infection inside the
wound that isn't obvious from the outside. If that
happens, you have a serious situation which can result
in blood infection and death of the bird. So, you can
see, that if you are dealing with an injury of that
magnitute it would be best to get a vet or experienced
When a wound is open, you have the chance to be able
to examine it more easily and less chance of anaerobic
infection. Actually, you would be surprised just how
large a wound can heal with feathers and all!
On a personal note, I once saved a hen from the jaws
of a chow. She had a wound so deep on her back that
you could see the entirety of one side of her spinal
cord wrapping (I'll never forget the silver sheen).
She was a lucky girl, but it was a large wound.
When using wet ointments, flies found the wound and
left their eggs deep deep in the ointment. When they
hatched, I had a nasty surprise and an even nastier
task. When the wound was recleaned, I took the old
standard vet advice and used a dry would dressing
instead, aerosol furox so that it would get deep into
the wound, and from that point onwards
the wound healed fantastically.
This wound was a good 2 inches long, 1.5 inches wide,
and at least an inch deep. The hen feathered up
completely and led a very happy chow-free life til her
last days here at the house. Chickens heal from wounds
You can do the same with your injured chickens. It
doesn't take a surgeon or a master-poultryman to take
good care of a wound. It just takes a little
understanding of how wounds work, a close watchful
eye, and a willingness to take the bird to a vet if
you intend to keep it and if the wound is more than
you can handle easily.
Hopefully with these tools, now, you'll be able to
face a poultry wound with more confidence and more
success. I wish you all the best with your flock.