bantam hen won’t open her eyes after possum attack

[MrsCIAbbott]

Our 3ish year old frizzle bantam was attacked by a possum last night. Luckily it’s warm here so the windows were open and I heard her screams right away, shined a very bright flashlight on the possum while my husband went to scare it off.

She has no wounds that we can see, but there were lots of feathers everywhere. She can walk and stand well, and is talking back to me. Last night one of her eyes would open, and I’ve seen one of them crack today, but I haven’t seen them open in the past 8 hours or so. Her comb and waddle were pale this morning, but I’ve been feeding her Pedialyte drops on her beak every couple of hours and it appears to have a little bit more color. I will say she is the bottom of the pecking order and very broody, so her comb had been looking on the pale side recently just from her “brooding”, we have to force her out of the nesting box a lot to get food and water (we don’t have a rooster). Also as I went to take picture she just took a poop (only one in the past 8 hours) but it looks normal?

Things I have tried:
-pedialyte water
-added aspirin to water according to dosage from a different post, but she hasn’t been wanting to drink enough from dropper to do anything
-indoor isolation
-cooked oatmeal and water soaked bread (will not eat probably because she can’t see, but I did try to gently spoon feed her)

What else can I do? Should I do some sort of heating even though it’s pretty warm about 70+ F? I can go to the farm supply to get vitamins once my husband gets home to look after our toddler, but since she’s barely getting anything from the dropper I'm not sure it will help.

 

[NatJ]

I'm going to suggest you just let her sleep tonight, collect information, and try things again tomorrow. If she was just stressed, or if she has injuries you didn't see, she will need sleep to help recover.

You've been making sure she gets some fluids--good!

For tomorrow, maybe try getting a bit of ordinary chicken feed wet: chickens often seem to really like it that way. She might eat a bit, or you might be able to put bits in her beak. (And if she doesn't eat it, just give it to your other chickens before it has time to go bad.)

The fact that she has been broody does make this more complicated to figure out--because just sitting around, eating and pooping only rarely, is perfectly normal for a broody (except for the closed eyes), but would be concerning in any other chicken.

Temperature: at 70+ degrees, I would not try to change it. Getting her too hot could also cause problems. With her feathers, and being in the house (no cold winds/drafts), that's probably a good temperature to have.

I will say she is the bottom of the pecking order and very broody, so her comb had been looking on the pale side recently just from her “brooding”, we have to force her out of the nesting box a lot to get food and water (we don’t have a rooster).

I don't know how often you've been forcing her out to eat and drink, but once a day can be enough, and twice a day is certainly sufficient.

Also, some broodies will hop off and eat when you're not looking. You can feel her crop--if it's got food in it, she already ate, so no need to bother her.

(That doesn't have much to do with the current worries, just relates to broodiness in general.)

 

[Sonya9]

I would mix a raw egg up with some water and a little sugar. Give her drops of that to raise her blood sugar and provide some nutrition. Not sure why she is not opening her eyes, maybe shock? Keep her someplace quiet and low-light.

I also wouldn't give any more aspirin. If she has internal injuries you don't want to be thinning her blood.

 

[chickenenthusiasts5698]

I would also put her somewhere quiet dim and cool and let her recover for tonight and see how she feels tomorrow. I can only imagine how shook up she is.

 

[MrsCIAbbott]

I would mix a raw egg up with some water and a little sugar. Give her drops of that to raise her blood sugar and provide some nutrition. Not sure why she is not opening her eyes, maybe shock? Keep her someplace quiet and low-light.

I also wouldn't give any more aspirin. If she has internal injuries you don't want to be thinning her blood.

Thanks, I already threw out the aspirin water since she didn’t like the taste and didn’t want to drink anything since I offered that. I’ll try the raw egg water before we go to bed, just got her to a quieter/darker room for the night.

 

[MrsCIAbbott]

Our 3ish year old frizzle bantam was attacked by a possum last night. Luckily it’s warm here so the windows were open and I heard her screams right away, shined a very bright flashlight on the possum while my husband went to scare it off.

She has no wounds that we can see, but there were lots of feathers everywhere. She can walk and stand well, and is talking back to me. Last night one of her eyes would open, and I’ve seen one of them crack today, but I haven’t seen them open in the past 8 hours or so. Her comb and waddle were pale this morning, but I’ve been feeding her Pedialyte drops on her beak every couple of hours and it appears to have a little bit more color. I will say she is the bottom of the pecking order and very broody, so her comb had been looking on the pale side recently just from her “brooding”, we have to force her out of the nesting box a lot to get food and water (we don’t have a rooster). Also as I went to take picture she just took a poop (only one in the past 8 hours) but it looks normal?View attachment 2280983View attachment 2280984View attachment 2280985View attachment 2280986View attachment 2280987

Things I have tried:
-pedialyte water
-added aspirin to water according to dosage from a different post, but she hasn’t been wanting to drink enough from dropper to do anything
-indoor isolation
-cooked oatmeal and water soaked bread (will not eat probably because she can’t see, but I did try to gently spoon feed her)

What else can I do? Should I do some sort of heating even though it’s pretty warm about 70+ F? I can go to the farm supply to get vitamins once my husband gets home to look after our toddler, but since she’s barely getting anything from the dropper I'm not sure it will help.

2days later update:
She has been moving around more and receptive to the water dropper if it’s plain water. Still hadn’t eaten anything that I’m aware besides, maybe a drop or two of egg yolk sugar water today? And some pedialyte yesterday.
One of her eyes is cracking open and she appears to be trying to look around with it, and the other appeared to be pretty sealed shut, but they both look less swollen than in the original pictures, so I’m thinking she may have suffered some eye injuries in the attack that caused them to swell closed. This evening we cleaned both eyes gently with qtips and saline solution, there was nothing crusty coming up, but I was able to open the other eye a little and it looks to be normal color under there, so hopefully as she heals it will continue to open more. She was given more water from the dropper and she ate about a teaspoon of applesauce from me swabbing it on her mouth with a q-tip, then she sort of licked it off, the q-tip, so I’ll take that as a win. Her comb is still red, and she’s walking and talking, so that feels like a good sign as well.

 

[NatJ]

Great to hear she has improved. I hope she continues to get better!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@MrsCIAbbott are you in the US?
You may want to see if you can get some Amoxicillin to help with infection.
Clean out her eyes with saline, use warm compresses to help work both eyes open if you need to. Terramycin eye ointment can be found at feed stores like Tractor Supply - put the ointment in the eyes a couple of time a day after you clean them out. Plain Neosporin can also be used in the eyes.

Can she eat at all on her own? Try making her a wet soupy mash out of her feed. Hydration is very important, so keep pushing fluids.