Hawk attack. Graphic pics *Updated pics 3/30/15

[Outpost JWB]

Also want to add, if she is producing eggs, you can cook them up and feed them back to her. That is what I do when I am medicating any of mine.

 

[Nate19]

Sorry to hear of the hawk attack. I read thru this thread and it looks like you have received very good advise & are headed in the right direction

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You had asked if anyone had seen bone exposed. I have! Couple years ago I had a partridge cochin attacked by DH's English Setter (bird dog-I know! Don't ask! LOL!) Anyways, the hen "Fur Foot" had organs and bone exposed. I thought for sure she was as good as dead. The dog attacked her back end area. Her tail was gone & all around the tail area were gashes some as big as 1/2"-punctures from the dog's teeth. I simply used hydrogen peroxide cut with water to cleanse the wounds daily & triple antibiotic ointment. I also used iodine-sometimes. I had her isolated in a dog crate outside. I didn't give her any meds, but that is just because she showed improvement. My advice to you, that I didn't see mentioned yet, is watch for maggots-not sure where you are located. My incident occurred during a cold time here, so I didn't have to worry about that. The wounds will turn blue & black from bruising. At one point, I thought Fur Foot had gangrene. And I was almost ready to cull her. (Glad I didn't). She even had a strange odor to her. The wounds developed hard crusty scabs that later fell off. In the end, about 4 months later, she had made a full recovery. Please keep us updated with your hen.

Its those Ohio Cochins! Tough birds! I'm raising 2 of them currently (bought 2 "blues" but I think I got a black and a splash.) Hope they don't have a similar hard time to your poor hen. Glad she made a full recovery.

 

[ChickieKat]

Thanks so much for all of the encouragement. I gave her just shy of one tenth of a ml of Pen G, so not an overdose, thankfully. I will repeat it tonight and for a good 7 days total.

I am not worried about maggots, as it is in the single digits here and there are no flys around at all. We do have he occasional fruit fly in the kitchen, but they are rare in the winter.

Good to know about too much dairy and probiotics. I will cut back on those and start scrambling her eggs. I am still a little worried about feeding her solids with the hole that was in her crop. Maybe I will mix some egg yolk with water to make a mash of her regular feed and give it to her as a really runny slurry. That way it wouldn't taste as much like raw egg.

 

[ChickieKat]

Also glad to hear of another hen with exposed bones (and organs!!! Holy smokes!!) that made a full recovery. I really think the wing is unlikely to come back to full use if she gets any movement at all, but it doesn't drag on the ground, just hangs beside her.

 

[ChickieKat]

One more question, if I am using the Wonder Dust, should I still be regularly cleaning the wound or just let the dust do its thing? I can't exactly soak that area and I don't want to disturb it too much, and she also isn't getting anything in there as she is confined.

Oh and how long should I keep her totally quiet and only able to stand and turn around? Should I let her loose to walk around our very tiny half bath or keep her tucked under the basket to keep her more still? My husband is worried about her not really walking. She does walk around a bit when I check on her 4-5 times per day, but that is all the exercise she is getting.

 

[Akrnaf2]

In this type of wounds disinfecting is no enough! You most put an antibiotic ointment on the wounds.and evan give here some antibiotics orally. the wound can get a bacterial infection!

 

[Outpost JWB]

I put mine in a large dog crate for isolation or quarantine purposes. She should have room to walk around and such. She just needs to be kept away from others to avoid pecking and also keeping the germs from her wounds.

 

[Outpost JWB]

In this type of wounds disinfecting is no enough! You most put an antibiotic ointment on the wounds.and evan give here some antibiotics orally. the wound can get a bacterial infection!

FYI, I am not finding fault in @ChickieKat giving the antibiotics. I was simply trying to convey how resilient chickens are. They can bounce back from much more than we would ever expect

 

[ChickieKat]

She is getting injectable antibiotics and will be inside until she has recovered enough to go outside in the dog kennel in the coop, which I am guessing is a few months at the least. I am really taking it one day at a time for now though as it has still only been 3 days and her shoulder is completely laid open. It really is more gore than I have seen in any wound I have seen here on BYC when I search and I am in complete shock that she is still with us.

I think I am going to let her out to wander in the bathroom for a few hours and see how she does while I am home today and keep her under the basket for tomorrow while I am at work. She doesn't tend to dump her bowl of water, so I think she will be ok for the 7 hours that I am gone tomorrow. Here's hoping!

 

[ChickieKat]

So I just fed her soaked feed and she went crazy for it, but I heard the strange gurgling sounds again when she swallowed... I don't know what to make of it, so I only let her have a few spoonfuls and am going to see how she does on that. I did leave her in there free to roam around a bit with the leftover watery oatmeal and a dish of plain clear water. Crossing my fingers that the gurgling is harmless.