Hey all,
I found a chicken on the side of the road in a ditch while I was walking my weiner dog. We both thought she was a dead animal but she was still alive. So i ran back to my house and got my car and grabbed her.
The first day I gave her a bath and didn’t see anything but a small puncture wound. This was Thursday. The next day I gave her another one to really look at her wounds. I found a big chunk taken out of her back between her wings right behind her head.
I don’t own chickens, I’ve always wanted them as pets but don’t know much about them.
So I did a lot of research and I clipped away the feathers that were stuck to the wound and washed it with gentle pet soap and water. Then I used vetracyn to clean it out. Then I used a very very diluted hydrogen peroxide solution and have been using neosporin (without painkiller) since then to pack the wound and I’ve been doing a body wrap as her dressing. There are also a few scrapes on the side of her body under her wing.
I am wondering if there are any other wounds, these are the only ones I’ve found but I wasn’t sure if I should put her through the stress of giving her another bath and poking and proding.
The first few days she was eating well even pellets of feed. I was feeding her watermelon and eggs mainly and the pellets. Then she stopped eating the pellets and was only eating the watermelon and egg like 2 days ago. Now she’s only eating the watermelon and i got some dried meal worms at a feed store and shes been loving those today thank god.
But she isn’t drinking water and her stool is green and very watery. Where I live its been almost 80 degrees every day and one day I was worried she had heat exhaustion because she was keeping her beak open so I put her in front of some fans and moved her inside.
I’ve been using a dog crate and towels as her little home for now. I’ve let her walk around on our covered/fenced deck so she can stretch her legs. She seems a bit wobbly, she can walk around and jump up on stuff but she is definitely not feeling fully well.
Her wound smelled infected a couple days ago and yesterday it smelled much better and I did another hydrogen peroxide diluted wash.
Her coos have been sounding a little muffled, I know green stool can indicate respiratory stress. So I bought VetRX and plan to give that to her this evening via beak/dropper and I also bought the antibiotic Duramycin and syringes just in case.
I don’t see any worms in the stool and her comb doesn’t seem pale but I am worried about her sound she’s making (its not constant its every 10 minutes or so)
She laid an egg the morning after I found her but she hasn’t lain since. I am assuming either from stress or dehydration or age since I don’t know how old she is.
I am really committed to making sure she makes it. I assume it was a hawk attack. My biggest fear is internal damage that I can’t see. She cuddles with me and sleeps easily she’s been a delight to hangout with and my calling in life is to rescue animals, I’ve done it my whole life just never a chicken! So please help me figure out what the next steps to figuring out if she needs antibiotics. I’ve also seen Coccidiosis could be the cause and I don’t know how long she wa son the side of the road in the ditch, she was snuggled up in there but was exhausted and in pain. She may have drank from a puddle I just don’t know. When I found her, her wounds were completely dry and not bleeding. I found one maggot egg in her feathers and removed it.
I am thinking of giving her another bath tomorrow just to do a more thorough check and make sure there weren’t any other wounds or issues but am afraid of the stress/causing more respiratory issues (if that is indeed whats going on)
Can post photos if needed!
I found a chicken on the side of the road in a ditch while I was walking my weiner dog. We both thought she was a dead animal but she was still alive. So i ran back to my house and got my car and grabbed her.
The first day I gave her a bath and didn’t see anything but a small puncture wound. This was Thursday. The next day I gave her another one to really look at her wounds. I found a big chunk taken out of her back between her wings right behind her head.
I don’t own chickens, I’ve always wanted them as pets but don’t know much about them.
So I did a lot of research and I clipped away the feathers that were stuck to the wound and washed it with gentle pet soap and water. Then I used vetracyn to clean it out. Then I used a very very diluted hydrogen peroxide solution and have been using neosporin (without painkiller) since then to pack the wound and I’ve been doing a body wrap as her dressing. There are also a few scrapes on the side of her body under her wing.
I am wondering if there are any other wounds, these are the only ones I’ve found but I wasn’t sure if I should put her through the stress of giving her another bath and poking and proding.
The first few days she was eating well even pellets of feed. I was feeding her watermelon and eggs mainly and the pellets. Then she stopped eating the pellets and was only eating the watermelon and egg like 2 days ago. Now she’s only eating the watermelon and i got some dried meal worms at a feed store and shes been loving those today thank god.
But she isn’t drinking water and her stool is green and very watery. Where I live its been almost 80 degrees every day and one day I was worried she had heat exhaustion because she was keeping her beak open so I put her in front of some fans and moved her inside.
I’ve been using a dog crate and towels as her little home for now. I’ve let her walk around on our covered/fenced deck so she can stretch her legs. She seems a bit wobbly, she can walk around and jump up on stuff but she is definitely not feeling fully well.
Her wound smelled infected a couple days ago and yesterday it smelled much better and I did another hydrogen peroxide diluted wash.
Her coos have been sounding a little muffled, I know green stool can indicate respiratory stress. So I bought VetRX and plan to give that to her this evening via beak/dropper and I also bought the antibiotic Duramycin and syringes just in case.
I don’t see any worms in the stool and her comb doesn’t seem pale but I am worried about her sound she’s making (its not constant its every 10 minutes or so)
She laid an egg the morning after I found her but she hasn’t lain since. I am assuming either from stress or dehydration or age since I don’t know how old she is.
I am really committed to making sure she makes it. I assume it was a hawk attack. My biggest fear is internal damage that I can’t see. She cuddles with me and sleeps easily she’s been a delight to hangout with and my calling in life is to rescue animals, I’ve done it my whole life just never a chicken! So please help me figure out what the next steps to figuring out if she needs antibiotics. I’ve also seen Coccidiosis could be the cause and I don’t know how long she wa son the side of the road in the ditch, she was snuggled up in there but was exhausted and in pain. She may have drank from a puddle I just don’t know. When I found her, her wounds were completely dry and not bleeding. I found one maggot egg in her feathers and removed it.
I am thinking of giving her another bath tomorrow just to do a more thorough check and make sure there weren’t any other wounds or issues but am afraid of the stress/causing more respiratory issues (if that is indeed whats going on)
Can post photos if needed!
I'm not a breed expert so wouldn't be able to tell you what she is. If you want to possibly find out, take some clear, well lit (natural light is best) profile photos of her and ask on the "
