Hello all,
I thought I’d share how one of my hens was attacked by a raccoon and her recovery process in hopes of providing aid to those who may be experiencing the same scenario and may also be searching for help. I did not have access to an aviary veterinarian; therefore, I tried my best to heal her based on the advices from my peers and articles I found on BYC. I was pleasantly surprised at how resilient my poor Daisy was during her recovery process and how well she’s healed.
Daisy was attacked in the middle of the night while we were preparing for bed. We heard her screams and immediately ran to the coop then scared the raccoon away. We then discovered half of her thigh was chewed off. We brought her into the basement, washed her wound with a mixture of hibiclens(antimicrobial solution) & baby shampoo, then packed her wound with triple antibiotic ointment and sprayed blue kote on top. I also began giving her a mixture of gatorade and water to replenish her electrolytes. She was extremely weak for a couple days and her wound started to smell. Her wound had an abundance of dead muscle and skin tissue to which I removed. I also started injecting her with 0.5cc of penicillin G procaine for five days. She began to regain energy and started eating normally after the second day of the penicillin injections. Over the next few months I kept her in the basement away from the others to prevent further injury and dressed her wound twice daily with just triple antibiotic ointment and self adhesive bandages. When weather permitted, I allowed her to roam in the yard. Once her wound started to scab I began packing it with a one to one ratio mixture of antibiotic ointment and silvadene cream 1%. You can only purchase silvadene cream behind the pharmacy counter as it is not not available over the counter without a prescription. Locally owned independent pharmacies are more lenient towards selling the cream without a prescription especially once you voice your circumstance.
We trapped the raccoon a few days after the attack and released it into a forest about 30 minutes from our home.
It’s been ten weeks since Daisy’s attack and she has now been reintegrated into the flock. Attached are pictures of her progress from start to finish. My sweet Daisy is finally happy and healthy again!
