Another dog injury, post euthanized questions

So yesterday I came home to a frantic significant other, the dog that was politely herding earlier decided to play a bit more rough with one and was playfully trying to play with the downed chicken. She asked me to put it out of it's misery, I found that the chicken was split up the front, it's lungs were exposed but the chick was still breathing slowly and moving it's head some.

Afterwards, I kept/keep second guessing it; the chick seemed paralyzed been I read about "shell shock" and tonic immobility and not sure if the chick was salvageable. I could clearly see inside but it looked like it was just snagged, like surgical precision and amidst the outdoors looked spotless still.

So questions, first survivable? The chick was ~6 month, most of ours are squatting so let's say this one was a pullet. If she could reasonable survive, how long would it take in isolation to heal properly. If she could stand I can see recovery possible so that's why the temporary paralysis has got me second guessing. I'm not expecting a vet answer so maybe more what would you do?

The dog... he was honestly playing, he's been around them trying to herd and play for the past few months. Gardening ~50ft away this time and well this situation is upon us after ~10 minutes. He's not vicious so we've read that there should be good hope for training; most what we've read is from this forum so any quick tips or individual tricks, no need to repeat (trying to be forum conscience especially since I'm new here)

And lastly, kind of a general one tying into the first question. Is there any clear, "he's a goner" yet currently still alive in case something happens again?

Thanks,
Reed

If it was split up the breast or neck, you weren't seeing any lungs. The lungs of a chicken are set deep into the ribs, along either side of the spine (a couple inches down from the shoulder joints). You may have been seeing parts of the crop, esophagus, trachea, or simple connecting tissues.

Skin splits on most parts of the body, minor puncture wounds, cuts, bruises, and breaks are usually survivable. Skin splits on the neck, dislocations, major puncture wounds, and major openings to the body cavity usually require veterinary attention and/or euthanasia.

If your hen had only a skin split (even a large one) it was very likely survivable, though if it was on the neck, vet care would be something I would consider necessary. If her esophagus, trachea, or crop were damaged, she would not have, or would have needed serious vet care.

Skin splits with major trauma/shock usually require 2-3 weeks of confined care to heal.

She was split from base of the neck down the front fairly far. Looking at a diagram I'd guess (2nd guess) that it was the crop exposing through, it was fairly large white mostly ball shaped portion outside the body and was expanding & relieving slowly. To me vet=pet, so vet visit for chicken is out of the question for me; I want to be ethical and these are for eggs this year and next but I want ethical livestock. How would I seal the chicken back up? Stitches, liquid skin? With the chances of hitting something internally I'm honestly thinking duct tape over butterfly sutures.

Did she pass away? If she is still alive you should post a picture of the wound so we can see what is going on. Hope you're chick's okay...

ReedMFarm said:

She was split from base of the neck down the front fairly far. Looking at a diagram I'd guess (2nd guess) that it was the crop exposing through, it was fairly large white mostly ball shaped portion outside the body and was expanding & relieving slowly. To me vet=pet, so vet visit for chicken is out of the question for me; I want to be ethical and these are for eggs this year and next but I want ethical livestock. How would I seal the chicken back up? Stitches, liquid skin? With the chances of hitting something internally I'm honestly thinking duct tape over butterfly sutures.

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If the crop was unharmed, then super glue probably would have fixed the issue. If it was, say, chin to crop, I would say a vet's opinion would be required (or cull), but from the birds crop down to the bottom of it's keel, it's all simple meat, so there's nothing major to injure in the breast area, and it can be glued back with no huge problems. Gluing isn't an awfully big deal; I've done it on a 2 week old before (that particular one WAS split chin to crop, but at the time I just said "what the heck, nothing to lose" and did it).

Though I will say it's possible the crop was punctured. Crops should not be expanding or moving in any way; they are pure tissue with no muscle whatsoever. Essentially, an internal lunch box for storing feed on it's way to the gizzard.

LeafBlade12345 said:

Did she pass away? If she is still alive you should post a picture of the wound so we can see what is going on. Hope you're chick's okay...

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Sorry, she was put down with a 12 gauge a few minutes after discovery and put out for the buzzards which quickly cleared the scene of all evidence; concern for quality of life and quick judgement call. Might have been a mistake but at least a lesson learned for the future. We found another one dead in the run yesterday, my flock has dwindled from 14 to 11 - 1st fatality was a hawk before caging off the top of the run - and no eggs thus far.