A fox got a hold of ine of my girls yesterday evening, leaving an open bite wound under her wing.

[LoLoGarrett]

A fox got a hold of ine of my girls yesterday evening, leaving her with an open wound under her wing. I had no idea what to do to treat her. I left her alone last night to allow her to calm from initial shock. Her eyes did not look good and was not sure she would make it through the night. Surprisingly her eyes look much better this morning, she has a slight limp. Upon inspecting her open wound again this morning, I noticed she bleed more during the night. Trying to figure out how best to treat her and protect her from getting an infection, I sprayed bactine on a piece of gauze and placed gauze over her open wound. I then used a sticky wrap to keep gauze in place. From reading articles afterwards it looks like the bactine is a big no no. Now what? I hate to go back out and mess with her wound any more today, as I dont want to make her pain worse.

 

[azygous]

Here's what you do in the event of a predator attack to treat the survivor.

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite or puncture makes indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/ 250mg once a day for ten days.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

 

[LoLoGarrett]

Here's what you do in the event of a predator attack to treat the survivor.

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite or puncture makes indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/ 250mg once a day for ten days.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

Here's what you do in the event of a predator attack to treat the survivor.

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite or puncture makes indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/ 250mg once a day for ten days.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

Thank you so much for this advice. Running to feed store to get syringe, spray and saline! Taking bandage off!

 

[LoLoGarrett]

Thank you so much for this advice. Running to feed store to get syringe, spray and saline! Taking bandage off!

The feed stores were closed for Easter Sunday, but I did get a hold of saline and a turkey baster! I have her a warm bath in saline water and flushed wound with the baster. After bath I spritzed saline on the wound and then placed neosporin on her. She seemed to enjoy the bath and seemed to feel a bit better. This evening she is just standing by the coop door looking miserable. She at least ate and drank a good amount of water, which I had added calcium and magnesium powder to. Will get my hands on the amoxicillin tomorrow morning. Hopefully she will feel much better by tomorrow morning. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Kiawaki]

Hi, I have a similar problem. A fox attacked yesterday and I lost one hen but came in time to rescue (hopefully) one roo. I can't find any open wound or sign of a broken bone, but he can't stand up by himself, keeps trying and falling over. He wants to eat and drink, but can only take a little. Yesterday I mostly insulated him and kept him in the dark. I gave him some water and food, most of it in the evening, and after drinking quite a bit his breath started gurgling. That made me suspect some water got into his lungs. It's still gurgling today and I noticed his comb is quite hot. I just gave him some amoxicillin trihydrate which I had handy (but is somewhat out of date). I was considering giving him some milk instead of water, but am worried that if it can really get into his lungs it would be worse than water. This is all I can say for now. Any advice?

 

[LoLoGarrett]

Hi, I have a similar problem. A fox attacked yesterday and I lost one hen but came in time to rescue (hopefully) one roo. I can't find any open wound or sign of a broken bone, but he can't stand up by himself, keeps trying and falling over. He wants to eat and drink, but can only take a little. Yesterday I mostly insulated him and kept him in the dark. I gave him some water and food, most of it in the evening, and after drinking quite a bit his breath started gurgling. That made me suspect some water got into his lungs. It's still gurgling today and I noticed his comb is quite hot. I just gave him some amoxicillin trihydrate which I had handy (but is somewhat out of date). I was considering giving him some milk instead of water, but am worried that if it can really get into his lungs it would be worse than water. This is all I can say for now. Any advice?

I am so sorry for the loss of your hen and now your stress over your Roo. I hope you’re able to find the problem and get him taken care of And that he can heal from this. I wish I knew what advice to give you but did want to let you know how sorry I am and my best wishes.