Badly Injured EE ***Updated with pics, graphic***

[tharrell]

I recently bought 2 adult hens, and a young EE pullet from a lady because all my chickens have been taken by predators. One of the hens was taken the other night, and we have since done everything we can do to make the coop predator proof. The problem is now that the other hen is gone, the hen that is left (a large white cochin) has been pecking the EE like crazy. I kind of figured that they would figure it out, but it was getting very aggressive. I finally just took the EE inside and put her in with some 4 week olds. Upon looking closer, she is pretty severly wounded. She has a deep wound on her upper neck, her upper wings are torn apart, and her entire rear end is bloody and beat up. I took her to the sink and tried to clean the wounds as well as I could. I then sprayed everything down with Bedadine (sp) and then applied Neosporin to all the wounds and tried to rub it in the best I could. She seems to be eating and drinking fine, and pooping as well (I was worried her vent was injured). Do you think she has any hope of making it? I plan on keeping her inside until all her wounds are 100% healed. Does anyone have any advice? I also now feel bad because the cochin is all alone. I'm so lost right now.

 

[emilyweck]

Naughty, Naughty Cochin!

You did the right thing by taking her out of harms way. Hopefully you caught it in time. Just give her a few days of peace and quiet and see how she does. Keep her dressed with neosporine. Can you totally isolate her in a dark, quiet spot where she can just recover?

The cochin will be fine alone for a bit. How old is your pullet? I am currently keeping my 6 week old out of the coop from my 15 week old EE's because they attacked her. I wouldn't put the pullet back in there without it getting a little bigger. Maybe introduce it with another chicken so the cochin isn't totally focused on the EE.

Just my opinion. I'm sure someone else will have more ideas. Good luck and so sorry about your EE. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery.

 

[jywel417]

Keeping her separated while she heals is a good idea so is keeping the wounds as clean as possible. Neosporin and betadine are great ideas but don't use peroxide on her at this point since it can slow the healing. It might not be a bad idea to go to your local farm store and get some kind of antibiotics you can put in the water and treat her for 5 days or so just to help prevent infection from popping up since it sounds like she has some impressive wounds. If needed you might be able to call a local vet for a phone consult at no charge. I know the vet I work for does not charge for phone consults and we are often able to help people, sometimes even those we have never seen, and help get their animals back on their feet.

 

[tharrell]

Thanks for the advice! I have a really close working relationship with my vet because I breed and show dogs. Do you think my regular vet will be able to help me with a chicken??? Perhaps this is a dumb question. If it is I am very sorry!

 

[jywel417]

Possibly? It really depends on the vet. I am lucky enough that while I work at a small animal hospital two of the vets are exotics vets and so they treat birds and one of our vets does wildlife for free so we also treat birds of prey for the local raptor center. I would say that your vet might be able to treat chickens if they have experience treating birds. . .

 

[sweetie54]

this is what i had to do once!!!My chicken was to close to the edge in the pen at night and a raccoon put its little hand through the chicken wire and grabbed one and wrenched its leg and broke it!!!!!!! I ran out there like a wild mountain woman and yelled at it and it ran off!!!!! But the next day when i got home from work the poor chicken was limping and she smelled really bad,like she was gonna die soon so i took her in the house and filled up the kitchen sink with warm water and just a little dish soap and gave her a bath everyday!!! After awhile she really liked it too!~!!! lol and i put bactene on it everyday!!! After a few weeks she was better and the smell was all gone!!! Now i call her hop along and she likes me to pick her up all the time now too!!!! So when i put the others away she waits for me to pick her up and put her in the pen!!! lol I think shes working me?????

 

[emilyweck]

I would just call your vet and ask his advice. If he can't help, no harm no foul. How is she doing today?

 

[tharrell]

She seems to be doing ok. This whole time she hasn't acted like she is hurt at all. I'm about to clean all her wounds again, and see if they look any better or worse. My vet is closed for the weekend so I will put in a call on monday. I know they do exotic birds, and how different could the anatomy really be?

 

[emilyweck]

I'll be waiting to hear how it goes on Monday. Great job, meanwhile!

 

[tharrell]

Ok, I just gave her a nice soapy bubble bath, dried her up, and applied the bactine and neosporin again. I took pictures of her wounds after the bath. Her back was mostly plucked like that when I got her. The new wounds are the ones that are more red looking. The pictures are kind of bad but you get the idea.

These are the neck wounds:

On the wing area:

Top View:

Butt area: