Attacked by Racoon, Severe Injuries, Emergency, Plz Help

[OG Anomaly]

Hardest part was that just the day before, I had to say goodbye to my oldest German Shepherd, who suffered from congestive heart failure. They are buried next to each other in our back pasture. Was an awful week.

Aww, that just stinks! I'm so sorry.
I know death is a natural part of life, but knowing that, doesn't make it any easier to say good bye.

 

[Kiki]

Hardest part was that just the day before, I had to say goodbye to my oldest German Shepherd, who suffered from congestive heart failure. They are buried next to each other in our back pasture. Was an awful week.

 

[luvmigirls]

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I guess my questions are...1) How can I tell if she has internal injuries?
2) Should I even put Neosporin/antibiotic ointment on her?
3) Is there another disinfectant I should be using, other than the Dakin Solution (which worked amazingly)? Hydrogen Peroxide was also suggested (as well as some brand name stuff), but none available at the time.
4) Are chickens more susceptible to infection than other animals, like cats or dogs & how hard is it to heal if it does get infected?
5) If she ends up being blind in both eyes, should we put her down/euthanize her because of that (or are there any blind chicken stories out there)?
6)What's the best way to house her during recovery? I'm afraid to let her walk around because she can't see & because of fear of infection of the open wounds on her head...?
Thank you so much for help, so sad for our girls. :'(

I FEEL for you. I've had similar attacks.
I use idodine and peroxide the first 4 days.
i use antibiotic ointment yes to cover to keep dust out.
chickens ive found are very resistant to infection as long as there is DRAINAGE. (had a chicken bit by a fox, the lower holes sealed before the top ones. So i had to POKE open the lower holes again so the pus could DRAIN.)
I have a rooster that is blind in one eye and is happy as can be.

House her separately, keep it WARM in there, clean her wounds Daily, clean bedding every day to thwart mites. bleach her water and food bowls and dry completey every day. she will be prone to 2ndary infections (ie mites, mereks, droopsy) for at least a month. so daily care is needed.

the outcome, she will love your company so much more. you will enjoy healing and help her through this disaster.

FIX your coop. use hardware cloth wire.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

So sorry for both of the losses you suffered last week. Remember, you did all you could. Hope this week is a little better.

 

[GldnValleyHens]

Raccoons are awful. We had problems with them in our last chicken coop, and all was left of one hen was her legs.....
Now, in Illinois, we have hawks. Everyday, one or more flies low past our coop, and tried to get the girls a week ago, and luckily they were all alive, huddling under the porch or in the goldenrod behind our coop. They are relentless, and our Silkie, bantams, and Polish pullet are all at risk. ( Our beloved Polish pullet Lacey was killed last year by a red tail) We have to lock up them every time we leave, leaving only the wise ones who survived last year's attack out.

 

[abraga]

LAST UPDATE

Well, it's done.

She'd begun having small intermittent seizures and along with all her other problems, I decided the kindest thing I could do was end her life.

I had read a thread/post in the beginning of all this, on the correct way to break the neck (it was described perfectly) but couldn't find it again.
I decided to try YouTube, after having read another post that mentioned watching videos there, and I couldn't believe it, but yes they had videos on several different methods. The ones I watched were short, direct, and respectful of the bird. It may sound macabre, but I'm thankful they were there.

I'm still a little shaky, I wanted to get this done asap and not think about it for awhile... I've never had to kill something that I'd spent time with and cared for before. The very few times I've personally euthanized an animal in the past, it was always a wild one who'd been so seriously injured it was obviously going to die anyway but they were suffering so much I wanted to help them end it asap. In the past, I've always taken them to the vets to be euthanized. Just last week we had to put a beloved cat down. RIP King Henry.

Anyway, I chose (what I think is called) cervical decapitation. My son was there as well. For a number of reasons I felt it would be good for him to learn from this experience as well.

Unless someone requests it, I won't go into too many details, but I think it went as well as it could for a first timer.

One last Big Thank You to all who helped! Either by sharing your knowledge, support, anecdotes of your own, or all of the above. It made a very stressful situation easier to deal with and I learned so much.
Wishing you all the best and especially for happy healthy chickens and families

I am so sorry. I have followed this thread from the beginning, every bad day..every victory...your story with your hen has been sad, frustrating, exciting, hopeful and heartwarming. The 1st thing i did every morning was fo check this thread and follow your story. I read the end of your story last night..i was so sad for you and your hen. I have thought about you and your hen all day. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us..bless you.