A week ago I noticed one of our Littles, CJ, a summer 2013 hatchling, had a bad gash under her wing. Of course it was from one of the stupid boys. I brought her to the porch and gave her a nice treat while I rinsed out the wound with saline solution and then applied Vetericyn spray. She seemed fine until today when I saw that the ouchie seemed deeper and as I poked around a little it started oozing.That was it - no oozing in the coop. And, and I knew this couldn't be good - she was limping. I brought that sweet baby immediately into the CCCU, (Chicken Critical Care Unit) - aka, our bathroom. I have a fully stocked chicken first-aide kit that includes all the regular essentials and just this morning my new shipment of Young Living Essential Oils came in. I knew it was time to break out my brand new bottle of oregano oil.
Sweet little CJ was such a good patient! She sat on a towel on our bathroom counter and let me dig and trim and clean. There was quite a lot of ickyness that needed to be debrided. She was calm and still the whole time - until I rinsed the gaping hole with sterile saline solution. This wound was bloodier than any of the others I have dealt with. Once I was able to see better I realized why my little hen was limping - her bone was exposed! I don't know yet if the infection has progressed to the bone or if it is just really uncomfortable.
I mixed a butt-load of non-pain relief (that's VERY important!) triple antibiotic ointment with one drop of oregano oil. I applied the TAO into the gaping hole. With this much damage to the flesh I knew I wanted to cover it for a couple of days to help regain it's suppleness. On a plain square piece of gauze I loaded coconut oil and one more drop of oregano oil and covered the wound. Finally I wrapped sweet little CJ with an odd shade of pink vet wrap.
She's now resting quietly in the shower on a nice fluffy towel. She'll eat but isn't interested in drinking too much. Even though she has trouble getting around, and being held seems uncomfortable - I think she's going to be just fine. She's alert and bright. Happy healing CJ!
