Hawk Attack Injury - damaged tendon? 1 week later, not sure what to do...

[QT4]

Stripes is about 8 weeks old. She was fine until last Saturday when a red tail hawk attacked her. She has a good sized flesh would under her left wing. We cleaned that, treated it with Neosporin, and isolated her in a crate. Over the last few days she has been getting up and moving around. She stands, hops, and balances with her wings. She is doing very well overall, but cannot move her leg into position. It just stays stuck straight out behind her. She does have some movement in her toes (none at first, but can sometimes grip a finger now), and when we try to reposition her leg, she peeps and flutters as though in distress. We cannot afford a vet visit on this $2.00 chicken, but also would hate to cut her life short since she has survived so well so far. Is there anything we can do?

Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

The wound under the wing is on the left side, and her left leg is lame?

It's possible her hip was injured. I'm strapped financially, too, and couldn't afford a vet's visit, but it didn't really matter because no one was interested in working with a chicken. So I came on here and learned a lot.

I'd recommend going to CVS or a grocery store (Walmart may have the best prices) and getting a bag of Epsom salts. Some people have healed their chickens only from epsom salt baths. My rooster's healing from a coyote attack was noticeably accelerated just from the salt baths. And the most significant part of his healing repertoire was raw honey. I used Manuka honey for his extensive wounds, but you can use a jar of local raw honey, too.

It's affordable and incredibly, wonderfully effective for healing wounds.

Do the salt baths a few times a day for five to minutes at a stretch, but no longer. I don't think a longer bath accelerates the healing.

How's her appetite?

P.S. The epsom baths will flush out any wounds you haven't yet discovered, and it can really help with her injured hip and leg. It's remarkable how much it helps heal chickens.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I also wanted to encourage you to make sure she gets lots of visits with her friends. Choose a less active hen and at least let them see each other. Their emotional well being can impact their healing experience.

 

[QT4]

Yes, injury from the hawk attack is on the left side, upper leg/mid body area.

She is eating, drinking, and seems happy when we visit her. (She's back in the basement where she started as a tiny chick.) We haven't brought her out to the coop since the attack because we are afraid of the others pecking at her.

My biggest concern is if we should try to force her leg back into position, or just let it be. Will it possibly move back into position without help? It doesn't seem to be broken, but it is stiff and stuck back. We weren't sure if she would even survive the wound, so didn't worry too much about the leg being stuck back, but now we are worried that leaving it back will be worse.

 

[QT4]

I also wanted to encourage you to make sure she gets lots of visits with her friends. Choose a less active hen and at least let them see each other. Their emotional well being can impact their healing experience.

Thank you. I read through your log on Henry. So glad to hear he's doing well!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

The epsom salt baths are an excellent treatment for her, and I would be vigilant about them. I'm not sure what to do about the leg's position. My feeling is that you won't be able to move it without breaking something, so I'd let it be where it needs to be right now, which seems to be extended to the back.

With Henry his ankle was swollen and rock hard with absolutely no flexibility, not even a little bit of movement. It was a long healing process, but gradually it started to soften and move, ever so slowly.

Massage was critical to his healing. Just gently rub her leg and hip. Small compression and releases, nothing aggressive, done a couple times a day.

Does her ankle flex at all? Can you gently move the hip?

Definitely give her some time with at least one of her friends, and bring her outside into the daylight. You can sit in a chair and read a book while she socializes.

 

[QT4]

We gave her a magnesium salt bath yesterday and tried to gently relocate her leg following the directions on Poultry Podiatry. Not sure if it did anything. We can work it up to almost normal position, but her knee is very stiff and her toes curl up instead of spreading flat like her non injured foot. She is trying to stand more often and occasionally starts to pull her leg into normal position, but she isn't successful - so will just lay down with it extended behind her.

We took her out to visit her friends yesterday too. Our young rooster immediately tried pecking at her, but he got in trouble and mostly stayed away after that. We helped her over to the food dish so she could eat and hang with the others for a bit. We are going to try this each day moving forward.

Overall, still very concerned and not sure what the final outcome will be, but her determination to get up and the small movement of her leg has us hopeful!