# Wound& molt or feather loss from attack?



## Shann0 (Sep 19, 2013)

Hey all, Today I got home and noticed from afar one of my leghorns I got this past May was missing some feathers on her right side/neck area (mostly down feathers). I discovered upon closer inspection that she had a wound. Is this feather loss from the attack or something else? It looks like the feathers were cleanly ripped out, the skin is not red or inflamed and no actual sign of injury without looking closer and moving some feathers back. Any ideas? She seems to be acting fine. Free ranging with the others, eating, drinking etc. what do y'all think? Should I see if the wound will close up on its own and just clean and dress it to keep away infection? Or cull her? Don't want her to suffer but she's honestly not acting like it. Wound was not bloody either? Weird. She was fine this morning at 7am when I let everyone out on my way to work. Thanks in advance


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That is not a fresh wound. That has to be at least a week old. 

The feather loss that she has is not from an attack but from plucking. Either by others in the flock or by her.

Even though it looks well on its way to healing it would be wise to flush it either with saline or Betadine. You are in an area where flies are still active and the concern is that they have been at the wound. Then thoroughly coat the muscle and skin edges with antibiotic ointment. If you can keep that from drying out more it should granulate in and the hole will close. If not then she will always have the hole. 

Next, Blu Kote her. I mean really Blu Kote. That hopefully will keep the others from plucking her.


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## Shann0 (Sep 19, 2013)

Thank you for the advice, I'll get to work. I thought that it looked like a wound in the healing process but I was so surprised that I hadn't seen it. I'm pretty observant and have horses and dogs so I'm always keen to health. First time with chickens though so i guess I wasn't as keen as I thought. First thing I noticed was feather loss. :/


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Chickens are very good at hiding a problem. Its their only defense when it comes to predators. That's why we're supposed to pick them up and do an assessment from time to time. In busy lives that's not always easy, especially when a lot of birds are involved.


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## Shann0 (Sep 19, 2013)

I've yet to have pecking/feather pulling problems in my flock. Since obviously either she or the others are pecking her will this encourage the learned behavior in the flock? I'm going to pick up some blue kote today to give it a try. I guess once it is applied if I don't see any new feather loss I should be ok. Should I separate her for awhile? I have a small flock (9 birds) so I'm concerned about messing up the flock dynamic by removing her. They free range during the day and are closed up at night, although I did not let them out this morning.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

From that hole there would have been a lot of blood. That's all it takes for the others to start picking at her. Her skin is not red so I'm not quite certain what to tell you on just how all of those feathers disappeared. It is possible she's molting but I just don't know.

Every flock is different. The Blu Kote should remove any temptation to pull feathers. The wound is the biggest concern at this point. It does not look like the others have been at it since the edges are healing but you still have to think about the fly problem. Hopefully keeping that wound moist with the ointment will hold the flies off. I would say cover it but that's easier said than done. If you think you can cover it with vet wrap then give that a try.


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## Shann0 (Sep 19, 2013)

I have yet to go through a molt with my birds. Is the bald spot behind the wound what molt will typically look like? I looked at some pictures on line and it looked more patchy to me. She is about 7-8 months old. Would the stress from the attack encourage an early molt?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Every bird is different. Some molt so slowing only the extra feathers laying around would alert you to someone molting. Some shed almost all of their feathers. 

But you won't see it in such a solid mass like hers. Her whole body should be sparsely feathered.


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## Shann0 (Sep 19, 2013)

Ok that's what I thought. Thank you for your knowledge. I cleaned her wound with diluted chlorahex solution as I didnt have any betadine around and dressed it with triple antibiotic around the edges of the wound and put SSD (silversulfadiazine) cream on her featherless spot. I hung a few fly bags in the coop, but I haven't had a big problem with flies lately and I move their coop every three days. So I moved it again last night to get away from any droppings. I entertained trying to wrap it with some vet wrap but the location is a tricky one and I didn't want to stress her by tying down her wing. I'm picking up "picker stop" on my way home today as none of the feed stores near me carry blu kote? Hopefully it will work well.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You can't do much more than you've already done. The only thing I noticed is that you didn't mention coating the exposed muscle. The cavity should be obviously noticeable. You don't want nice and neat at this stage, you want max coverage.


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## Shann0 (Sep 19, 2013)

Right I guess I didn't phrase correctly, I dressed around the edges of the wound to promote new tissue but I also completely slathered the cavity and surrounding area. Thanks for all your help.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Good luck with her. I know how concerning issues like this can be.

I had a new Momma hen skin her newly hatched chick right down to the skull once. It took several weeks of treatment but it eventually went on to be healthy adult with a full head of feathers.


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## Shann0 (Sep 19, 2013)

Wow!

Hopefully she will heal up, she was my first to lay me an egg and the only one beside the rooster that I named. 

I'll update on her progress over the next few weeks.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

She should be fine. The wound was not infected. Now the mystery of the missing feathers needs to be resolved.


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## Shann0 (Sep 19, 2013)

Update: 
Hen is mostly healed up, the wound is actually hard to find now to clean/medicate and her feathers are growing back. All of the "under" feathers are back and her "outer" feathers are coming in nicely, all of the quills are starting to protrude and I'm keeping her covered in the no peck cream. No one in the flock seems to be messing with her at all, they are a pretty good bunch. Thanks for all your help, Robin!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The only thanks I need is to know that she's doing so well. I'm very pleased about that. The feather growth will make her less of a target too.


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