Assumed hawk attack

[Cierrascoop]

I was out of the house running errands today and my husband came to me when I got home and notified me that something got one of my chickens not long ago. I go to the scene where my silky rooster is playing dead in the leaves. Likely stressed. He's totally fine now. I'm assuming a hawk had attacked my olive egger because he said as soon as he came out it was gone. Her feathers were all over and she was there standing. She's still walking, eating, drinking but limping. So I checked her wound and under her wing is totally raw. No feathers or skin. And a puncture wound. I cannot take a photo because to hold her and take the photo is impossible, but it is bad looking. I have no idea how she is acting so normal aside from her limp...what can I do? Is there any hope to get her back to normal?

 

[Aunt Angus]

Get her some electrolytes or sweetened water and keep her in a dark, quiet place (preferably indoors) to stave off shock. The wound needs to be cleaned, but it's hard to say what else to do without seeing it.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Pictures really are needed, especially with a puncture wound. Put her somewhere dim and room temperaturish and if she let's you without too much struggle, wash the wound gently to see how the damage is

 

[Eggcessive]

Puncture wounds can become abscessed in a day or two. I would use hydrogen peroxide one time on the puncture wound to foam out any bacteria. One the other wounds, and after the first time with the puncture, use chlorhexidene, saline, or a wound spray such as Vetericyn, and when dry apply plain antibiotic ointment twice a day after cleaning. Keep your chickens secured in their coop and run incase it comes back. If it was a raccoon or cat, it will be back. Hawks usually go after the bantams or chicks, but they can kill on the ground. Gamecams are great for seeing what is coming around the coop.

 

[Cierrascoop]

Pictures really are needed, especially with a puncture wound. Put her somewhere dim and room temperaturish and if she let's you without too much struggle, wash the wound gently to see how the damage is

I did wash the wound out and put triple antibiotic on it. I know, I wish I could get a photo but I just can't tonight. It was really hard to wash it out and put medicine on it alone. At least not until tomorrow after my oldest daughter gets home. She probably could take a photo for me and help me re-evaluate the wound and clean it again.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I did wash the wound out and put triple antibiotic on it. I know, I wish I could get a photo but I just can't tonight. It was really hard to wash it out and put medicine on it alone. At least not until tomorrow after my oldest daughter gets home. She probably could take a photo for me and help me re-evaluate the wound and clean it again.

Okay. Keep an eye on it, but don't go poking and prodding if she shows she doesn't like it. In the morning, see if you can take a sniff

 

[Cierrascoop]

Okay. Keep an eye on it, but don't go poking and prodding if she shows she doesn't like it. In the morning, see if you can take a sniff

Note taken, thank you! I appreciate it

 

[Cierrascoop]

Puncture wounds can become abscessed in a day or two. I would use hydrogen peroxide one time on the puncture wound to foam out any bacteria. One the other wounds, and after the first time with the puncture, use chlorhexidene, saline, or a wound spray such as Vetericyn, and when dry apply plain antibiotic ointment twice a day after cleaning. Keep your chickens secured in their coop and run incase it comes back. If it was a raccoon or cat, it will be back. Hawks usually go after the bantams or chicks, but they can kill on the ground. Gamecams are great for seeing what is coming around the coop.

I did put peroxide on the entire wound. The raw part and the puncture wound. Nothing fizzed up much at all. I am thinking it was a hawk. We haven't had any issues for a while since all of my birds got big and we got a very large roo. But, it's the only thing that makes any sense to me.

 

[Eggcessive]

Don’t use the peroxide again. It can help once with a puncture wound, but it will prevent wound healing with more use. Let us know how she is tomorrow. Try to get ber drinking fluids, and offer some scrambled egg and a bit of wet chicken feed.

 

[aprillbailey]

I was out of the house running errands today and my husband came to me when I got home and notified me that something got one of my chickens not long ago. I go to the scene where my silky rooster is playing dead in the leaves. Likely stressed. He's totally fine now. I'm assuming a hawk had attacked my olive egger because he said as soon as he came out it was gone. Her feathers were all over and she was there standing. She's still walking, eating, drinking but limping. So I checked her wound and under her wing is totally raw. No feathers or skin. And a puncture wound. I cannot take a photo because to hold her and take the photo is impossible, but it is bad looking. I have no idea how she is acting so normal aside from her limp...what can I do? Is there any hope to get her back to normal?

I would find the closest avian vet in take your bird to see it exotic pet that don't play around with those things I worry everything could get infected and nope any kind of boo boos any kind of anything and it's of that visit because then I worry a lot about you know I don't know where you live but I'm from New York but I live in South Texas and there's it's so hot here all the time that it's bacteria is insane and so everything gets infected so I would be very very worried but I'm guessing that since you're not seeming to be afraid maybe you live somewhere it's much much colder I don't have to worry about that stuff non-stop like we do but I still say taking it to the vet is the best you can do I have peacocks as well and this particular peacock was 9 months old yells and started acting like like he's walking like he was a ball down drunk Non-Stop and no I've been raising happy healthy beautiful inside birds for 30 years different kinds of macaws cockatoos African Gray's parents canaries finches you name it I love birds so anyway I have never heard an avian vet tell me that they will not see my bird I said I have a peacock that that said oh we can't see your peacock and I go you're the only avian vet near me you're going to see my peacock he said those are very big I go it's a damn baby and why are you afraid of a damn bird you shouldn't be of that if you're afraid of a bird I was just very very upset because I did not know it was wrong and I've been I did everything I could think of to find out what was wrong I know he wasn't sick his eyes were clear his nostrils or clear everything was good I did notice that he looked like he got a little dizzy a few weeks before it just like him like a brick and because I knew he wasn't sick because when birds get sick it's extremely hard to get them healthy again how was explained to me it's their hearts beat very very fast and they breathe very very fast so if any kind of infection gets into their bodies it whips through them very very fast so they're by the time you notice that there's a symptom it's too late or the symptom you might notice might be that they're dead seemingly having had nothing wrong with them but I always would insist on the rare occasion than anything happened one of my birds that they do the animal by autopsy because I want to know I need to know and every time it was a bacterial infection and there were no symptoms even hours before and that's how I found out that that's the way that birds are. a lot of small animals that have fast respiratory systems and their hearts beat faster like bunnies and squirrels things like that. 1they have the same problem except that birds are more fragile so yeah so you really should get it looked at just so you know just so everybody knows cuz I didn't know and I until I had had birds for 15 years that that was the case so just a lil fact, the hearts beat faster they breathe faster bacteria therefore any kind of bacteria virus or infection run as soon as it gets into their body it destroys it but broken you can fix infection sickness I mean if it's a wound that's that's infected you can fix that as long as it doesn't go into their blood really quickly but you know and I said I brought it so at the end of me yelling at the vet he agreed to see him ,my peacock.I was like he's only 5 months old I lied he was 9 months old nonetheless my thinking was look I have to chase him down and and you know it was just heart-wrenching to watch him not even be able to stand for 2 seconds and fall and roll all over and he'll end up on his back and just stay that way because he can't control his body and Injust checked his everything! everything ! that I know to do I even put his toes to the edge of the table and he whipped them up and put his feet down on the table flat which is exactly what they're supposed to do his pupils dilated evenly when I held him by his sides and he flap this Wings they were even not one side was stronger than the other there was nothing wrong with the bird and so I was a very angry when that was like No And so anyway he did see him it turned out to be one of his vertebrae wasn't growing in his spine as fast as the other ones and I was like but he's 9 months old he's about to have his last growth spurt his last real growth spurt and then his bones are going to set and he's like yeah and he said what he did was he gave him he goes I'm going to give him an almost lethal dose of steroids? calcium, and cortisone. As well a as a light slight sedative because the last thing we want is to pump him for the steroids and give them all this energy when he can't even stand up without hurting himself and believe me it was absolutely heartbreaking to watch him try to walk while I was doing all these different things and i was I know to do checking all these different things that I know to check I had him in a small Coop so that he couldn't flap his wings around and things like that you know? I couldn't have him in a position to be able to hurt himself so I put him in a coop that he was very comfortable in but did not like of course couldn't hurt himself so here I have this perfectly healthy bird that could not walk or move without falling right on his face and rolling over. One stupid vertebrate the one vertebrae in the middle of his spine that was not growing fast as fast as the others but it was growing and I said to him what did I do to make that happen he said you didn't do anything this is a birth defect. I said but why now after all this time and he said because he just now got to be big enough that his legs can no longer hold up his weight and I said you know I did notice that I thought that he looked a little dizzy and stumbled the other day but I thought he just stumbled. it was a good thing that I brought him when I did because that was the exact time he needed to go he was literally about to start his last big growth spurt. they fill out after that but they don't get taller and such. they're bones they get as big as they're going to get taller and such. He said he's going to sleep for the rest of the day because if this is going to work and it's a 50-50 chance, if it's going to work you'll notice a difference right in the morning if there's no difference immediately there isn't going to be. Then he actually said this to me he said if this does not work I'm not going to euthanize a perfectly healthy animal I go I don't know what the hell made you think I would let you euthanize my perfectly healthy animal I go I would figure out a way to make his life happy for him even if it meant that I had to make sure that he was in like a sling or something. anyway , you know the next morning when I came out to feed them, he was for the first time in 2 weeks standing! he was wobbly but he was standing! and the reason that I had him in a coop was because I didn't want to popping around getting hurt stumbling around getting hurt and I have two other peacocks and the chicken and one regular chicken that and then the rest are my silkies but of course the silkies didn't bother anyone but the other two peacocks and my chicken, second they sensed weakness they just wanted to go right after him and so I picked him right up and put him in the coop and close the door cuz I have a giant aviary in it are several different coops all of them I keep the doors open too so they can go in any one that they want an open they all have hen house heaters and things like that and and so for his own safety he had to be kept in the smallest Coop I had which really isn't that small but it was for a peacock but I had to make sure that he couldn't flop around run around fall all over his face I had to make sure that he was safe while I did what I could do at the house to remedy any problem I could find but the second I saw him I knew he wasn't sick. But I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong I will tell you that you can fix broken you cannot fix sick usually . Just for a quick update he is still a little wobbly and he does not have enough control over, or strength in his feet, to be able to perch so he gets up on top of the the coops and he just lays down to sleep instead of perching like he used to but I just the other day but let him out to see how we did and and I wanted him to work on you know getting his his feet stronger and so I would bring him out every day and we would do like physical therapy and I was like I think he's ready because he needs to work on this Wing strength and his leg strength but I think he can stay out now while he does that and he was so happy to come out and if I had waited even if you more days I would have lost him and my animals are everything to me second only to my beautiful children. Please if it's in any way possible take him to a vet if the vet says no take it anyway because they'll see it just to make you stop putting up a fuss and they're waiting room I told them he was 5 months old when he was 9 months old because when I said why wouldn't you see a peacock you're an avian vet and he said well because they're so big I go he's only 5 months old because they are significantly larger for 5 to 9 months but I figured once I get there he's not going to turn me away he had already hung up on me once and I called them back and I was like hang up on me again and we'll have this conversation face to face I promise you you don't want that to happen I'm not not nice when it comes to my babies being injured he's like well he might have some kind of sickness you should keep him with in the other birds and I was like nope he's not sick he is not sick and he of course talk down to me like you know people tend to do when they think they're smarter than you and I'm like yeah I'm pretty sure that I was syringe feeding finches whole clutches worth of finches every hour on the hour before you were born so just do your damn job and don't talk down to me I'm like every single test that you're putting him to through I did I go actually I could give you some advice and show you some other ones that are very helpful it's much to my surprise he listened and anyway he even did the the toes against that you've been the toes down the tip of the toes and you put them against the table and just push slightly forward and everything in nature even human babies they will put their feet up flat on the surface because they don't want to fall everything in the world is born with a fear of two things falling and Fire unfortunately when it comes to the Animal Kingdom they are also instinctually born with a fear of man and that is very upsetting to me although having said that I have walked up to baby deer before with their mom and pet them sometimes they just know sometimes they don't care I helped a very big very heavy I mean this thing weighed like 300 lb when I found out how much you weighed which means he more than he was more than twice my weight and I still got he got hit by a car and he had these tusks that were just gigantic I thought he was beautiful and everyone was like don't do that don't try to help him don't I'm like why the hell would I not try to help him he's just got hit by a car by some douchebag who kept going didn't even stop to and he's failing around in the street I go no no I'm going to get him into my car and I'm going to take him to the vet that that also said that he wouldn't see him and then I was like well it's in my car you can either look at them willingly or I can just bring him in here and let him loose and he so he agreed to look at him and and he said that we could either do a knee replacement or let it heal on its own and he would be walked with a limp and I was grateful that that was all that was wrong and then I realized what he was trying to tell me if we do that he won't be able to outrun the next car he won't be able to outrun the next predator and so I started crying and I was like okay so put him down and he's like well if I euthanize them no one can eat him but we can bring him to like a shelter where they will do all the and I said have you lost your mind hasn't this beautiful creature been through enough you're going to euthanize him and I'm going to make sure cuz I'm going to stay with him he's like but he's going to hurt you and I was like we you people please get over yourself what the hell difference does it make what's he going to do Gore me so I get a boo boo so what this is a life of a living breathing beautiful animal the two are just so far apart on the scale that it seems stupid to me to even mention that of course you could gourd me of course he could hurt me I weigh 120 lbs and he weighed just over 300 of course he could hurt me at any time and he tried a couple times but I'm fast thank God anyway so he was euthanized and cremated and I don't know I guess I just told you that story because I'm just kind of trying to push the the vet thing like I mean that's what they went to school for that's what they're there for if it's a matter of money almost all that's will let you make payment plans now especially a specialist about like an avian vet and don't let them tell you no I don't take no for an answer I won't take no for any answer if my animal is injured you're going to see it whether you like it or not as a vet that takes care of if you're an avian vet or an exotic pets that you have no right to tell me no about anything or bring in there that's how I see it and I'm not afraid to say so and I absolutely will show up so that may not be very nice of me but nice goes out the window after I asked if I asked the first time nicely if you're going to tell me no you're going to let my animal die then we're going to have a problem well I should say they're going to have a problem cuz I'm not going to let it happen anyway you should take it to the vet before it gets an infection that you won't even see and it could get into its blood and if that happens like I said the heartbeat is super fast on birds so they spread the bacteria throughout their whole body and brain so fast and that's why when that's why I say I have a saying we can fix broken we can't fix sick and so that's why and I say that a lot actually because my husband will Grumble about how much we paid for vitamin E for little baby chicks that we just got you know stuff like just stuff like that and not in the reason is because they need it and that's what they're going to get when we took on the responsibility of that animal that the life of the animal became your obligation and responsibility and that's how it that's just how I feel about it but I'm rambling because I'm upset I'm sorry I'm very upset about the Hawk. I know it's nature but I tell you what I built a giant Aviary in the back of my my house back a little bit and it has a roof it has not chicken wire but still tiny squares for because it's like predator-proof it's also cemented in and it's huge so as far as they're concerned they have all the room in the world so maybe I don't know your situation or how you have it set up but if you have a spot where you keep them specifically maybe consider getting a top for it just that reason. the reason I put a top on mine is because before I got my silkies a friend of mine had said that a lot of his bantams were killed by a chicken hawk and and then it was just a few days later that I decided that I wanted birds and I'd never seen or heard of a silkie before but once I did, I fell in love and when I obsessed on something I obsess wholeheartedly! my children are very glad that I found the silkies because my children were always my focal point but hey you know we have to be good mommies we have to be good role models for the kids so that they get it and we have to do everything that we can for our pets we chose to take them we chose that obligation we chose that quote unquote burden and so you have to take that obligation very seriously. I'm thinking that maybe in this case I'm thinking,vet. And I 100% with all of my heart and soul do wish a full recovery a full and healthy recovery with no long-term damage but please please take it to the vet and don't take no for an answer