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Growing skin back on a chicken

 
Leigh Martin
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I'm looking for some advice on how to get skin to grow back on a chicken thigh.
The bird is 2 months old and was attacked by a spotted gennet at night.
found it the next day and maggots had already hatched. the entire skin on the thigh was mostly off or partially dangling.
I had to cut off some of the skin and remove maggots - prefer maggots over septic wounds.
Disinfected the wound and treated with silbecor - often used for 3rd degree burn wounds, and covered wound with bandages to keep the visible muscle moist and movable.
Bird has recovered and has full mobility, already putting weight on the leg, walking and climbing and jumping and flying.

Now I'm wondering what would be the best way to regrow the skin, and whether there is some kind of medicine that can assist.
I'm slowly opening up the dressing and allowing it to dry out and scab section by section.
My worry is that if I dry out the entire wound that the scabbing would crack and result in decreased mobility and muscle atrophy.

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Leigh Martin
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This chick is back in action.
Yesterday I removed the breathable plaster as I noticed that a lot of tissue had started growing in the deep wound area.
Wound is now covered with an iodine salve to minimize potential infection and keep the muscle from drying out completely.
Chick has full mobility and use of the leg.
I’m still keeping it separate from the flock as they would likely peck at the scabbing.
She has become a little bit of a house chicken and identifies with me, often jumping up and nesting in the fold of my arm, but will hopefully return to full chicken mode
C3A8F2AE-0D03-4B0B-B884-7772A608252B.jpeg
iodine salve applied to the chicken thigh
iodine salve applied to the chicken thigh

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Kevin Harbin
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Sounds to me like you've got this covered. Best of luck!

Children, Rabbits, Chickens, Bees

 
Leigh Martin
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Thanks Kevin.

The inevitable happened today and there is a fairly large tear in the scabbed over area. Keeping an eye on it and treating with silbecor.
This will probably happen a few more times before some form of elasticity returns to newly forming skin.

Not the clearest photo. Will send picture updates as time passes
33F8B780-931C-4907-86F9-4209DABB5B65.jpeg
how the wound looks now
how the wound looks now

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Leigh Martin
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Skin on the chick is hardening and starting to scab over nicely!
No new tears in the hardening skin.
Chick returned to general population chicken today.
I observe that she speaks a lot more than the other chickens. Got used to waking up to the constant chirping.
She follows me around the garden and comes when I call. We did form some kind of bond... or she sees me as the mother of mealworms.
I thought I lost her or the gennet got her (again) this evening, then found her roosting with the rest of the chickens in the fig tree.
So plenty of progress with the climbing there!
E5C48B29-6016-45D9-B0BF-6726DA25E814.jpeg
wound healing nicely
wound healing nicely

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Juniper Zen
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Leigh, that is amazingly quick healing. Thank you for keeping us updated and including photos, which are so helpful for learning.

Zone 9b

 
Leigh Martin
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Some new pics on skin healing.
Scabbing is getting quite hard. I’m paying specific attention to one area that seemed to have internal muscular damage.

Might decide to close it up to soften the scabbing and check out that area better, but it could also just be that it is less red than other areas because tissue grew over the mercurochrome that I had initially put on.

Was also thinking that I don’t have an initial picture of the wound, but if you could imagine a skinless drumstick for food purposes... it looked like that (plus maggots)

The bird was dubbed Xena - warrior princess, but I call her cheep-cheep, cause she talks a lot!
Maybe for the same reason chickens meow?
And she has a very identifiable sound.

She no longer runs to me when I call, but comes closer than other birds, so I’m guessing that means she has reintegrated well into chicken life. She has full mobility, though she limps a little, can find a way to get 2m (6feet) up a tree to roost!

Still monitoring on a daily basis and treating with septadine (an iodine based salve)
355B6FF3-B3A5-43B8-9494-4CEBBE2A66A4.jpeg
Scabbed area looking smaller. Skin growing back
Scabbed area looking smaller. Skin growing back
35BB27AD-C895-410E-9D96-49A337E68068.jpeg
Back view of skin reattaching at the top
Back view of skin reattaching at the top
7D37A4B6-88C5-47EB-9F7F-EB0A5E655F59.jpeg
Skin where there was scarring before
Skin where there was scarring before
973343B3-48E6-46AD-97F8-629C8685B2D8.jpeg
Inner front of not so happy area
Inner front of not so happy area

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Leigh Martin
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Found a pic from the no skin phase, when she couldn’t stand up on the leg.
Outside time was lying under the roses.
She also had a dog guardian
5186D1CA-990B-47B2-B8D4-6C619122388A.jpeg
Under the roses
Under the roses
72594DFA-7CD1-4B7A-8EC4-6B2D9AE4DA0E.jpeg
Koos the chicken protector
Koos the chicken protector

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Susan Wakeman
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Thanks for sharing the pictures. I had a chicken mauled by a fox, bad neck wound, bound it up and it healed very quickly. The same chicken needed toe splints for a few days only. Still laying welll.

https://susanwakeman.wordpress.com

 
Leigh Martin
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We have skin!

Some of the scabbing gas started coming off.
Think I’m starting to see skin.
The bird has rewilded and returned to the flock.
She no longer comes running to me, but I can still distinguish her ‘cheep’ and will still let me pick her up.
Trying to keep the wound somewhat moisturized and checking to see that the scabs coming off is not exposing open wounds that could be prone to infection.
90A4F159-F22A-4EB5-B29C-755DDCB422BA.jpeg
New skin towards the foot
New skin towards the foot
14E914BB-36FB-4AC4-AFB1-F72BEA4EED72.jpeg
Wound presenting smaller
Wound presenting smaller

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Leigh Martin
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Some actual news skin showing.
This is from yesterday. It is looking better still, will take some new pictures.
4CF91AFB-0C17-41F4-A48B-D62F297A2F48.jpeg
New skin in the section between the scabs and the feathers!
New skin in the section between the scabs and the feathers!

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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That's excellent results! I have come to this thread kinda late, but for future readers, here is another option using herbs on a dog that is documented by a veterinarian.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Leigh Martin
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Feathers starting to grow back and the last of the scabs
7BFCDD2B-41BE-446C-B7A2-904DA6148375.jpeg
[Thumbnail for 7BFCDD2B-41BE-446C-B7A2-904DA6148375.jpeg]
36AC1C2D-D425-4106-A85D-41E3AE64D80D.jpeg
[Thumbnail for 36AC1C2D-D425-4106-A85D-41E3AE64D80D.jpeg]

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Leigh Martin
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This will most likely be my last update on the skin healing. The last scab has fallen off, and I’m quite impressed with the progression of healing. I’m also still mostly surprised, because beyond the chicken’s will to live, I didn’t initially think that the leg was salvageable, but we did it!

One last scrape to heal, surprisingly feathers have grown back on a large portion of the skin, new feathers have grown, and the chicken is almost indistinguishable from the others, except for her extra chirpy nature.

5BCB2313-1492-4A44-8C38-408A8CD75585.jpeg
Feathers growing back
Feathers growing back
4E748B58-7244-4527-AA3F-93D8820394AE.jpeg
Redness shows area where skin grew back
Redness shows area where skin grew back
602D2FD6-A171-4B7B-A3D7-FCC409219466.jpeg
Happy chicken nurturer
Happy chicken nurturer

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Juniper Zen
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Thank you again, Leigh, for keeping us updated on her progress! I will be more confident in my future chicken first aid thanks to you.

Zone 9b

 
See Hes
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Fantastic story.

Here in Thailand the chicken would have been most likely ended up in a Soup (without the infected leg)
Also that the Thai Chickens are pretty aggressive and never would thank you by creating a bond to it's rescuer would leave only that option.

I am very interested how your chicken is now boded to you?
Is there any sign that she comes trustfully running towards you, or more the  "Oh heck, there she comes again and want to hurt me with these bad tasting and smelling creams." reaction.



In modern times the only right way forward is to come back to nature.

 
Leigh Martin
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See Hes wrote:

Here in Thailand the chicken would have been most likely ended up in a Soup (without the infected leg)
Also that the Thai Chickens are pretty aggressive and never would thank you by creating a bond to it's rescuer would leave only that option.

I am very interested how your chicken is now boded to you?
Is there any sign that she comes trustfully running towards you, or more the  "Oh heck, there she comes again and want to hurt me with these bad tasting and smelling creams." reaction.





Thanks for your query.

My initial consideration was to kill the bird, but I could recognise in her the will to live, which is why I gave it a try.
The chickens that I breed are quite wild if they are not handled, but become rather tame if handled often.

The chicken has rewilded completely at this point and I cannot distinguish her from the other chickens.
The leg has completely healed and refeathered so I cannot even distinguish her by the wound.

She is slightly more talkative than the other chickens when I go in the coop to close up in the evening and I can identify her chirp.

Try harder, fail better... stay golden.
Eventually everything connects, keep doing the things

 
Tony Hillel
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For what it's worth, we have always dusted wounds with corn starch.  It forms kind of a plaster, and hides the blood so the other chickens won't peck at it, and it seems to speed up the healing process.   Separate them for the first couple of days, then cut them loose, and it's always fine.

Really bad attacks from hawks or other predators, we will superglue closed and then corn starch.   It works really well.   Leave a few spots for it to seep out, but it will heal faster than you think.

Good job letting her heal up!
 
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