Attacked by predator - now with severe shock?

[LindaCT]

1) Rhode Island Red hen, not quite a year old.


2) She is lying with her eyes closed, hardly moving, legs out to one side. She seems pale. (She is also in the middle of what looks like a very bad moult.) Shivering a bit. She does squawk a little bit when I pick her up.


3) Since this morning after a predator attack at about 10h00 (about 4 hours ago)


4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No.


5) There is an open wound on the top of one wing but it doesn't seem to be bleeding. Not sure how deep it is. No blood on her other feathers.


6) My assistant said there was a large predator-type bird busy attacking the chickens when she arrived. This hen was hiding in a compost heap (comprised mainly of branches) crying loudly and appeared stuck. My assistant chased away the predator, got the other hens into their coop and then managed to get the injured hen out just as I got home, which was when we noticed what looks like a shallow wound on the wing. The wound appears as if the blood had clotted already.


7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all: She seemed to swallow some of the rescue remedy from a little syringe but won't open her beak by herself.


8) How does the poop look? Not applicable, she hasn't pooped since I put her in the box.


9) Treatment so far: Bactroban ointment on the wound, some dissolved rescue remedy (tablet crushed in water). Keeping her warm and quiet in a large cardboard box in the kitchen with a heater (it is winter here but not really cold).


10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Treat completely myself if possible, if it is shock she would be better off kept quiet as far as I know?


11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. Can't post pics yet.


12) Describe the housing/bedding in use. At the moment she is in a cardboard box with newspaper at the bottom and wood shavings. (Normally she sleeps in a coop on a perch.)


This is the first time anything bad has happened to any of my chickens, I got them in August last year. She is one of 6 RIR hens who have been supplying us and my parents and brother with eggs. She was my broodiest hen (raised 2 bantam chicks this year just for fun) and has just had what looks like a very bad moult. Today after a predator attack she seems to be in very bad shock with a wound on her upper wing.


I do not know just how bad things can get, if this is normal or if there is something else wrong.


Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Also, I am not sure if this post is coming out quite right, it doesn't seem to have any spaces between paragraphs.

 

[Judy]

There isn't much more you can do, I'm afraid. You are right to separate, keep her in a quiet place, maybe a little darkened, and give her time. If she starts eating and drinking, it may turn out to be mostly shock -- yes, they do get quite shocked, and can almost look dead. When they are so shocky, it's very hard to guess whether there are internal injuries or something like a broken leg. If she gets up and is restless, it might be time to go back with the flock, especially if they can't see the wound on the wing, but she needs to calm down first, which could take hours. I'd put a little dish of water and some attractive food by her, for mine that would be a scrambled egg -- if you haven't already. You could try some liquid on the side of the beak after an hour or so, to see if it will get her started drinking, if she's not already. Let her pull it into her mouth so it won't go down her windpipe.

A vet would be expensive, and if there are serious internal injuries you could be looking at hundreds or worse if he wanted to operate -- and operating on a chicken does not go too well; it is very tricky to anaesthetize them, and you'd really need an avian vet. Most regular vets won't treat birds.

I hope it does turn out to be mostly shock. I've had it go both ways, when I found a chicken who looked like that.

 

[LindaCT]

Thanks for that! I haven't put any food or drink in the box yet, but will check on her every half an hour or so. A few minutes ago when I went into the kitchen (my mom phoned to ask how she was) and she heard my voice she made the normal crooning noises they make - but she is lying there quite still and keeps her eyes closed. I gave her more water and rescue remedy with a syringe (she squawked about being picked up) and when I put a tiny bit of plain, cooked oatmeal in her beak she ate it.

 

[LindaCT]

(cross posted from Predators section, just for follow-up. Some things refer to things I wrote in that thread. I hope this is ok, am still very much a newbie here)

Update: I had to put her down tonight.

I am writing down some brief observations just in case it helps anyone else to come to a decision in these circumstances. The predator attack definitely caused bad nerve damage that left her unable to control her movements properly. She would never have been able to resume a normal life.

She seemed stronger on Thursday, had recovered from the initial shock (see above post) and was not complaining. She crooned at me each time she heard my voice. I fed her with a syringe every few hours. Her wound was healing OK (it did not look infected, no smell etc) and I continued with the Bactroban.

Today I realised I was mistaken about her eyes, she was only opening her left eye and not her right. I then figured that she might be blind. And although she could sort of stand, when I was feeding her, she was unco-ordinated and struggled to get into a comfortable position. Her neck swung down and to the left.

Today she no longer crooned when she heard my voice. She complained and struggled when I picked her up to feed her. I had to cuddle her close to hold her still and open her beak for the syringe. This afternoon she was looking uncomfortable and seemed restless. I fed her and decided that it might be time to let her go.

This evening she stated crying and thrashing around quite stongly and she was clearly in distress. I called my folks and gave her some rescue remedy in a syringe. My dad came round in half an hour to help put her down with sharp secateurs, he brought a security guard who was happy to have some meat to take home to his family. I cuddled her, carried her out and put her in his hands. They say she didn't struggle.

I noticed that a pigeon or dove had also been taken by a predator in our garden this afternon. My other girls have been confined to their coops, I am going to only be able to let them out under supervision from now on, which they hate.