Dog attacked my hen...what do I do

[Jea918]

Tonight my sweet Money Penny flew the coop and my pooch got ahold of her. It doesn't seem that anything is broken. She is stressed. He pulled out quite a few feathers and left a large wound on her back. I cleaned everything up with soap and water and some peroxide. I coated the wounds in Neosporin. I placed a bandage on her large wound and then wrapped it in gauze. The muscle was showing...and it looks terrible.

Am I doing this right??? This is my first year raising hens. Is there anything else that I should be doing for her. I will make her some sugar water and offer her some food in the morning. She is in the house and resting in a crate with a towel...

Any suggestions would be so appreciated.

Thank you!!!!

 

[azahn]

I hope she is doing better this morning. If she is not bleeding, I would remove the bandage and keep applying antibiotic ointment daily, but it needs air to dry so a scab can form. If she recovers (keeps eating, drinking, pooping the whole while) your problem may be the other flock members that want to peck at the area. If that winds up being the case, you may need to fashion a little jacket for her . My rooster survived a pretty good mauling from a new puppy, so don't give up, but get her back with the crowd as soon as possible. Good luck and keep trying!

 

[arikli]

Out of curiosity how is your hen today. You seem to do the right thing. When this happened to me my vet suggested chlorhexidine. It worked great.my little guy look like she was a goner but the next day she was her normal self. Hope yours gets better soon.

 

[Jea918]

This morning, I cleaned her wound again. But before doing so, I gave her some feed, nuts, and water. She drank a lot and ate some and she pooped. She still seemed a bit stressed. I bandaged it again for the day until I knew what to do. It's a decent size wound and it didn't bleed much yesterday. The skin/feathers were off. She let me doctor her up and went back to sitting on the small roost that I fashioned for her and put in the dog crate. I figured that I'd give her another day before I put her in the run for a little while. I don't want to leave her in there full time yet because they will most likely peck at her wound on her back.

I hope the poor thing makes it...she's a good bird.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Chickens go into shock pretty easily after such a stressful event. Just let her rest inside in her crate in a quiet place at least for today, encourage her to eat/drink. Maybe offer some mashed, hard boiled egg. You might want to get some Blu Kote to apply to her wound for when she goes back out. It helps "hide" the wound from the other chickens as well as acting as a disinfectant. She should heal up well. I recently had a hen with a large hole torn on her side, under her wing, down to the muscle. After cleaning it I just applied Blu Kote each day for about 3 days until it started to dry up. I also gave her Baytril for 5 or 6 days since this wound was a couple days old when I found it. Healed up perfectly.

 

[arikli]

Well when I used the chlorhexidine I did not need to bandaged let it dry so no infections can grow. Watch for flies number one problems vet see are maggot so don't be in a hurry to put back in coop until you know it's good. Some suggest blue kote if that is right to put on wounds so other birds don't peck. That is up to you. Chickens are resilient and heal fast. My chickens muscles were exposed and the skin grew back in days. A couple of weeks later her feathers covered it aga8n. Try not to stress keep the little guy in a quiet spot to heal. Again Good luck. Raising chickens is alot harder than I thought especially as a pet.

 

[Jea918]

Can I use Vick's vaporub instead of Blu Kote? I read that somewhere else and used it on one of my hen's wings when they were figuring out the pecking order....they definitely didn't peck her after that!!!

 

[civettecruzado]

hello jea918,
my duck was very badly injured last night, could you help me help her? PLEEAASE. my first time owning ducks, i dont know what to do. she is a fighter and i want to help her in anyway i can

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

hello jea918,
my duck was very badly injured last night, could you help me help her? PLEEAASE. my first time owning ducks, i dont know what to do. she is a fighter and i want to help her in anyway i can

It would be best to start your own thread here in this section - include as much information about the specific injuries your duck has and even consider taking/sharing some photos of the injuries. We need more information before we can advise you as to how to help your duck.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Can I use Vick's vaporub instead of Blu Kote? I read that somewhere else and used it on one of my hen's wings when they were figuring out the pecking order....they definitely didn't peck her after that!!!

I would not use Vicks, it may be very irritating to a wound and won't do anything to hide it from the other birds. It may discourage pecking but I would not put it on a wound.