Attacked by Racoon, Severe Injuries, Emergency, Plz Help

[OG Anomaly]

I like it! He deserves credit for getting a lot right on his first build. I'm not sure of the interior coop dimensions, is it 4 x 8 and the wire enclosed part 8 x 8? Usually its best to have at least[ because chicken math happens] 4 sq ft per bird of enclosed floor space [excluding nest boxes feeders, etc] and at least 10 sq ft per bird in the run and roughly a foot of roosting space per bird. So for that reason I would consider cutting an opening to install the nest boxes on the outside so as not to reduce your floor space. I would love to have your son's set up. What I would think about doing in the future is enclose the whole 8 x 8 area for a walk-in coop - keeping the current coop as is for other uses, ie temp isolation for reintegrating an injured hen [sound like something you might need?] Simply put - the more room you can give them, the fewer management /behavioral problems you will have. What he has can work, perhaps a vent is needed down low to create some passive ventilation allowing the moisture and ammonia laden air to escape thru the vents under the roof.

Leghorns in general are not known to be the most calm and cuddly of breeds.

A pullet is a female chicken less than one yr. old. A one yr she becomes a hen.

How is 'Hen' doing today/

Aww, thanks, I'll tell him!
The enclosed part is about 4'x6x'4'-ish, might be a little bigger, the 'open' [art might be more like 6'x6'x6'...I'm just eyeballing it, lol. Haven't done the math to figure out sq ft, but we have 9 birds, 8 using it.

The electric fencing is cool, I'll look into it, thanks!

She's still doing well, preening more & more, but not eating solid food yet.
Since she doesn't seem to be suffering for it, I'm going to wait. I'll keep spoon feeding her, but will keep offering her other stuff. I think her throat is sore (someone else mentioned that) and maybe that's why she doesn't want solid stuff...? Hoping she'll be like she was about eating the fluids & just start one day when I offer it to her, haha. We haven't gotten out to get the meal worms yet, but we will.

She also doesn't keep her good eye open for long...I was thinking maybe she needs to adjust to the spatial differences, or it could possibly make her dizzy? If I walk around holding her, she'll open it, or if she hears the other birds squawking, she'll open it, but otherwise, keeps it closed.
Now that the swelling is down, I'm even more sure she's lost her right eye. There isn't a 'bulge' under her lid and she still hasn't opened it. It's still draining slightly. The muscles around it work (I can see it twitch/move once in awhile). I'll get some pics and post in a bit, it's dinner time here

I wasn't sure if it was ok to put the nest boxes outside, I always see them inside, so that's good to know

Turning the whole thing into one big coop would be great, but yes, that will be a future project. We'll see how it goes with the ones we've got first, lol We might be getting some live traps to try & catch the raccoon, hopefully this weekend. So far tho, everybody's been safe.

I'm gonna eat & will get those pics! Have a great night!
I need to learn more about this whole 'integration' process as well

 

[OG Anomaly]

She still looks awful, but she's doing much better.

 

[biophiliac]

I think she looks a bit better. Your assessment of how she feels is more significant.

but not eating solid food yet.
Since she doesn't seem to be suffering for it, I'm going to wait. I'll keep spoon feeding her, but will keep offering her other stuff. I think her throat is sore (someone else mentioned that) and maybe that's why she doesn't want solid stuff...

I would try moistening her normal pellets or crumbles with water to a consistency like oatmeal to see if she finds that more palatable. I have also offered plain unsweetened yoghurt which they seem to love.

Just curious - was hen the only one injured? If so, you know by now how lucky you were.

 

[biophiliac]

Just saw this thread. DK if it might prove useful depending on what happens with her bad eye....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/eye-infection-yellow-mass.1189432/#post-18792380

 

[Abriana]

So glad she is doing so much better. I know that feeling of relief when you realize your chicken will be okay. I thought my hen Lindsey had HORRIBLE canker, it was huge and didn't look good. Panicking, I put some medicine on it with a Q-tip and she quickly pulled back. When I reopened her mouth it was gone. It was a piece of corn. I laughed so hard!

 

[Leighe]

Your son not only has done a great job for his first time, but I love that he wants chickens and wants to provide a home, even cooler that you are being lulled over to the "chicken side", lol. Outside nesting boxes make it easy on you because you can go collect eggs without going into coop and bothering chickens. But again, you have to make sure it is secure because a raccoon can use quite a few different locks. Type in raccoon proof locks or predator proof locks.....or I'm sure BYC has great posts on it. Hen looks great compared to the first day! She's probably going to end up bein your girl, lol.

 

[OG Anomaly]

I think she looks a bit better. Your assessment of how she feels is more significant.

I would try moistening her normal pellets or crumbles with water to a consistency like oatmeal to see if she finds that more palatable. I have also offered plain unsweetened yoghurt which they seem to love.

Just curious - was hen the only one injured? If so, you know by now how lucky you were.

Was reading that eye problem link, thanks for sending my way, some really good info in there
They said that because it's hard for the birds to see, with only one eye, they sometimes won't eat because they can't... 'target' it, lol, not sure what the correct term is here

I was tapping her food dish, and the bowl I put her liquid in, when I fed her, trying to get her to associate the sound w food, in case she turned out to be completely blind...but I quit doing that when her other eye opened up...guess I should start again...I'm going to have to see if there's anyone on here with a partially blind bird & what they do, if she continues to refuse to eat on her own.
I'll also try a slurry food/mix tomorrow & see what she thinks.
I just figured since it'd been so long since she'd eaten, it was better to give the Nutri-Drench and know she was getting good/extra nutrition for awhile.

We did lose 2 others, and yes! We are very lucky it wasn't worse! I'm sure we interrupted the attack & that's the only reason we didn't lose more.
I'm still amazed at how resilient they are!

Do you know if a chicken can catch a cold from a cat? lol I know humans can. so I was curious. Our cat (Henry) keeps wanting to lay with her & lick her, lol, but he has a cold & I've kept him away.

I don't know if I'd let him lick her even if he wasn't sick, lol.
He's a super sweet cat and doesn't even kill things! He'll play with something he catches, but when he was a kitten/juvenile he killed a couple of his 'toys' and he was so sad! He just kept looking at them & licking them, trying to get them to play more, (it really was sad). After that, he'd still chase them & play with them, but now he's gentle with whatever he catches and will eventually let it go!
I've never seen another cat do that, he's something else. He's a horrible mouser, hahaha, but we love him.

 

[OG Anomaly]

So glad she is doing so much better. I know that feeling of relief when you realize your chicken will be okay. I thought my hen Lindsey had HORRIBLE canker, it was huge and didn't look good. Panicking, I put some medicine on it with a Q-tip and she quickly pulled back. When I reopened her mouth it was gone. It was a piece of corn. I laughed so hard!

Well that's a good mistake to make! So glad she was ok!
Thanks for the well wishes!

 

[OG Anomaly]

Your son not only has done a great job for his first time, but I love that he wants chickens and wants to provide a home, even cooler that you are being lulled over to the "chicken side", lol. Outside nesting boxes make it easy on you because you can go collect eggs without going into coop and bothering chickens. But again, you have to make sure it is secure because a raccoon can use quite a few different locks. Type in raccoon proof locks or predator proof locks.....or I'm sure BYC has great posts on it. Hen looks great compared to the first day! She's probably going to end up bein your girl, lol.

Thanks! Yeah, he's a good kid! (I gotta quit calling him that, haha, he's 24!) He even reads books! Haha
I'll be sure to tell him you liked the coop
His buds helped him a lot, but he really enjoyed doing it and it gave him some confidence and experience with the tools, so I'm happy about that-we have some work needs to be done on the house

Nooo! I'm Not coming over to the chicken side, Hahaha, don't say that out loud! LOLOLOL JK!

Outside nest boxes would be much easier! We'll definitely do that, and I'll look up predator proof locks as well.
I know raccoons are supposed to be smart, but I didn't know they could open locks! It makes sense tho, with their tiny 'human' hands!

Glad you think Hen (short for Henrietta the Living, lol) looks better too!
Idk what we're gonna do with her after this...it's going to be interesting.

One of the girls keeps trying to get into the house!?
I have a sliding door in the back that I kind of tilt at an angle, so that cats can get in & out in the summer, and she keeps sneaking in!! LOL But don't try to pet her! haha
So, now the cats are mad because they have to be let in And because I'm spending all my time w a chicken
They'll get over it

 

[Top Rooster]

Was reading that eye problem link, thanks for sending my way, some really good info in there
They said that because it's hard for the birds to see, with only one eye, they sometimes won't eat because they can't... 'target' it, lol, not sure what the correct term is here

I was tapping her food dish, and the bowl I put her liquid in, when I fed her, trying to get her to associate the sound w food, in case she turned out to be completely blind...but I quit doing that when her other eye opened up...guess I should start again...I'm going to have to see if there's anyone on here with a partially blind bird & what they do, if she continues to refuse to eat on her own.
I'll also try a slurry food/mix tomorrow & see what she thinks.
I just figured since it'd been so long since she'd eaten, it was better to give the Nutri-Drench and know she was getting good/extra nutrition for awhile.

We did lose 2 others, and yes! We are very lucky it wasn't worse! I'm sure we interrupted the attack & that's the only reason we didn't lose more.
I'm still amazed at how resilient they are!

Do you know if a chicken can catch a cold from a cat? lol I know humans can. so I was curious. Our cat (Henry) keeps wanting to lay with her & lick her, lol, but he has a cold & I've kept him away.

I don't know if I'd let him lick her even if he wasn't sick, lol.
He's a super sweet cat and doesn't even kill things! He'll play with something he catches, but when he was a kitten/juvenile he killed a couple of his 'toys' and he was so sad! He just kept looking at them & licking them, trying to get them to play more, (it really was sad). After that, he'd still chase them & play with them, but now he's gentle with whatever he catches and will eventually let it go!
I've never seen another cat do that, he's something else. He's a horrible mouser, hahaha, but we love him.

I've had all blind chickens and partially blind chickens, for my all blind chickens,they were the sweetest chickens I've ever had, they'd sit on my feet or lap and softly coo, I miss them so much. Feeding them was hard though, they knew the sound of food when I'd shake it so theyd start to peck at the ground to eat when nothing was there so I'd have to slip the food under there pecks and eventually they'd get the hang of it and ate, I had to separate them from other chickens because they weren't functional with other chickens. One night I had shut them in there dog crate and raccoons opened it and ate them, I was more sad when they died than any other chicken because they were so sweet. As for my partially blind chicken named Oreo she does fine with everyone else, she knows how to eat and where to eat and how to get in the coop and such, the only thing different is she's just more cautious and jumpy and easily scared, but thats it she does fine overall. She went blind in one of her eyes when she was a chick and got pecked in they eye bad.