Bantam hen taken by hawk RETURNS -and needs help!*UPDATES in comments*

mlheran

Songster
12 Years
Mar 21, 2007
547
15
161
Sonoma County, California
1) What type of bird, age and weight.
Black bantam Cochin pullet, named Fifi, under a year old, normal weight.

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
She was taken by a hawk Friday at dusk -no sign of her all day Saturday despite my hopeful brush-beating- when I let the birds out of the coop this morning Fifi was in with them! I can only guess that she might've returned to the coop late Saturday afternoon and I didn't notice her in a dark corner when I locked them in at sunset (I came down with a fever yesterday), but I could've sworn I checked everywhere as I was so worried about her.

3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
- Her right wing definitely looks to be broken. It was hanging at her side and she wasn't pulling it up.
- She has a scratch under her left eyelid. It doesn't seem to be on the eye itself, just running under/along-side the eye. Seems shallow.

4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
I'm pretty certain it was a small hawk attack. All day Saturday my birds hid under the house and deck, and when they did come out a small hawk swooped out of the trees at them. I have since revoked their free-range priviledges and confined them to their coop & run.

5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
I've put a small plate of her normal feed before her, along with some fresh carrot greens, and some water mixed with Polyvisol. I haven't seen her eat or drink on her own, but I gave her a couple dropperfuls of the water mixture and she swallowed it with no problems.

6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Haven't seen any, but I've only had her in since this morning at 7:30 (it's now 1:15pm).

7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
- I got some vet wrap at the feed store and wrapped her wing against her body -I'm not sure that it's tight enough to prevent her from moving it if she was feeling normal, but I didn't want it to be too tight to restrict her breathing. (I also checked, and there were no wounds or visible bones).
- Cleaned the scratched eye area and applied a small amount of antibiotic ointment meant for eyes. I got it at the feed store, but I can't remember the name.
- She is isolated under a heat lamp.

8 ) 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?
I'm hoping to take care of this myself and would greatly appreciate any advice you could share! I'm also really annoyed that none of my chicken books show how to mend a wing! :mad:

9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Here's how she looked after I got her all wrapped up. She's responsive, but seems to be tired -I'm just not sure how I could tell if she's just resting or if she's getting worse!

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Just the day before the attack she looked like this -I really hope she'll be like this again!!
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Any help is welcome!!
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I can only say to give her vitamin/electrolyte because i read that on here. She probably needs to rest a few days and relax. I'm glad she made it this far. It must be so stressful for you, but try to just enjoy having her back. Alot of people on here know about wing injuries, so hopefully you will hear from them soon. Good luck to you and Fifi.
 
Sounds like you thought of every thing.

GOOD LUCK WITH HER!

Sounds like she may be in Shock.
I had a white silkie hen that I saw a hawk swoop down on.
She shrank to the ground and puffed up and all the hawk got was tallens full of white feathers. I ran a grabbed her but she was in shock and died 2 days layer I think it weakened her heart.

I SO HOPE YOUR HEN WILL BE FINE, KEEP US UPDATED.
 
Your doing what you can...keep her warm and stabilize that wing--which it seems you have. I give aspirin but no everone will recommend that. Just watch her close and keep her hydrated and heatlhy to keep her immune system up to allow her to heal.

Glad she's home.
 
UPDATE

So far, so good. Or at least she's maintaining. I still haven't seen her eat or drink on her own, and she hasn't pooped yet.

Many thanks to those who've replied! I'm going to keep on as I have and see how she does.

Would any sort of pain reliever help her? And if so, how would I go about dosing a bantam? I don't want to introduce another potential complication or stress on her system, but if she's in pain I'd like to help her.
 
she needs her fluids (dehydration is a REAL risk as birds in shock/ill often refuse to drink and dehydration will kill her quicker than the ailment)
...put electrolytes (or even pedialyte in a pinch) into her waterer and dip her beak in regularly or dribble alongside her beak to get her drinking on own. It will need to be of a tepid warmth and not cold.
 
Does she have room to get out from under the heat lamp if she is to warm? I could not tell from the picture. Sounds like you have everything under control. Hope all is well tonight.
 
dlhunicorn - I've had Polyvisol (all I have on hand) in her water and have been giving her about 1-2cc of in in a syringe/dropper every hour or so when I check in on her. Should I be more frequent in watering, and/or more of it?

Freebie - Yes, the isolation pen is about 3' on each side and the light is focused in one corner. She has moved around to where she is most comfortable.
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Thank you!!
 

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