Hi guys. :/
We had our first fox attack today.
I heard the chickens screaming and saw my dog chasing them. At first I thought it was him chasing them because I'd forgotten to feed him last night and this morning (my memory is rubbish) and I brought him in and chastised him. I found one of my Anconas on the fence with tears in the flesh on her back and feathers missing, as well as 3-4 groupings of feathers of various areas of my yard. One chicken (of 17) is still missing.
I chased the fox off twice and it took me 4 hours to round up all of my chickens into their fox proof coop until I could make sure that the fox had given up. It hasn't come back in several hours now. A friend brought over her Irish Wolfhound to help deter it and that seems to have helped. I realized that what my dog must have been doing was trying to help round the chickens up. He'd never been aggressive to them before so it was a surprise to me when I saw him barking at them and chasing them into the front yard. He's only a pug - and was perhaps a third of the size of the fox - so he was unlikely to be helpful in keeping it away.
The injured Ancona has at least two tears to the flesh on her back - but no actual puncture wounds that I can see. Many missing feathers. Her legs and wings seem fine apart from a cut on one toe which looks like she caught it on something when she was fleeing. She is eating and drinking but is quiet in the way that suggests pain (unsurprising).
I'm wondering how I should best treat her wounds. They're still wide open at the moment. I have quite a complete chicken first aid kit including sedatives, painkillers, antibiotics (sprays/pills/creams), chromic gut sutures and all of the dressings anyone could desire. I have given sutures before and know how - but I am wondering if I should leave them open to prevent an infection under the skin.
My first instinct is to flush the wounds with a saline and betadine preparation, then flush them again with isopropyl alcohol and spread Manuka honey over and through them for the time being, leaving them open to drain any possible infection. Should I close them? Should I go straight for the antibiotics? I think that her wounds are superficial enough to where she will survive them assuming that I an find off infection. She doesn't appear to be shocky at all, just in pain.
In the meantime I've just let the chickens back out of the coop so they can get at their waterer and have a drink and a forage before bed while my son plays outside (he's almost 5). A friend cautioned me, saying that she thought a fox might try to kill a 5 year old. This seems HIGHLY unlikely to me and if anything his presence would likely deter a fox from coming after the hens again.
I will try to get photos of my Ancona's wound as soon as I can get her to come to me - she's hiding in the back of the brooder from me.
We had our first fox attack today.
I heard the chickens screaming and saw my dog chasing them. At first I thought it was him chasing them because I'd forgotten to feed him last night and this morning (my memory is rubbish) and I brought him in and chastised him. I found one of my Anconas on the fence with tears in the flesh on her back and feathers missing, as well as 3-4 groupings of feathers of various areas of my yard. One chicken (of 17) is still missing.
I chased the fox off twice and it took me 4 hours to round up all of my chickens into their fox proof coop until I could make sure that the fox had given up. It hasn't come back in several hours now. A friend brought over her Irish Wolfhound to help deter it and that seems to have helped. I realized that what my dog must have been doing was trying to help round the chickens up. He'd never been aggressive to them before so it was a surprise to me when I saw him barking at them and chasing them into the front yard. He's only a pug - and was perhaps a third of the size of the fox - so he was unlikely to be helpful in keeping it away.
The injured Ancona has at least two tears to the flesh on her back - but no actual puncture wounds that I can see. Many missing feathers. Her legs and wings seem fine apart from a cut on one toe which looks like she caught it on something when she was fleeing. She is eating and drinking but is quiet in the way that suggests pain (unsurprising).
I'm wondering how I should best treat her wounds. They're still wide open at the moment. I have quite a complete chicken first aid kit including sedatives, painkillers, antibiotics (sprays/pills/creams), chromic gut sutures and all of the dressings anyone could desire. I have given sutures before and know how - but I am wondering if I should leave them open to prevent an infection under the skin.
My first instinct is to flush the wounds with a saline and betadine preparation, then flush them again with isopropyl alcohol and spread Manuka honey over and through them for the time being, leaving them open to drain any possible infection. Should I close them? Should I go straight for the antibiotics? I think that her wounds are superficial enough to where she will survive them assuming that I an find off infection. She doesn't appear to be shocky at all, just in pain.
In the meantime I've just let the chickens back out of the coop so they can get at their waterer and have a drink and a forage before bed while my son plays outside (he's almost 5). A friend cautioned me, saying that she thought a fox might try to kill a 5 year old. This seems HIGHLY unlikely to me and if anything his presence would likely deter a fox from coming after the hens again.
I will try to get photos of my Ancona's wound as soon as I can get her to come to me - she's hiding in the back of the brooder from me.
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