Bear mauled chicken

nicolevg

Songster
May 30, 2021
71
110
113
Tehachapi, CA
I need your help, y'all, and your input on what I should do for one of my girls that was badly clawed at by a bear last night.

Last night, we had our first successful bear attack (well, successful for the bear). We thought we'd done enough to deter them (we live in the southern Sierras), as they've never gotten in our coop, unlike our neighbors who lose chickens to at least one attack a quarter. But this time, since all our neighbor's chickens have been eaten and they haven't had a chance to get more chickens, the bear was determined to get his Thanksgiving dinner one way or another and was very persistent at getting into our flock.

Thankfully, with the way my husband designed the coop, a bear's body cannot easily fit in the coop or run, and we used hardware cloth and good thick solid wood in the coop's construction. But still, the bear managed to open/lift the nesting box lid (because I didn't lock the dead bolts like I should've) and paw at our birds. Our good little rooster gave his life defending his girls, and the bear was able to claw out and eat 2 of the older non-laying hens. None of the other 7 hens were harmed except for one of our year-old RIR. She has a DEEP gash on her back that, 20 hours later, was still bleeding a little and oozing. (I didn't even notice anything had gone down at the coop until probably 18 hours after it happened, so she was wounded and clotting on her own for hours before I got to her). Per other threads I read here, I cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide (3%) and paper towels, which didn't seem to phase her at all. Then I used some silver sulfadiazine cream (1%) that I had from when one of my kids burned his arm. Then I put a gauze pad on to cover the side-by-side puncture wounds and bandaged her up with gauze. She is now sleeping in her own kennel in our garage right next to the rest of the flock that's in another kennel.

I wish I'd taken a picture to attach here. I'll attach some when I dress her wound again. Basically, the bear's claws took off the entire dermis right in the middle of her back, probably the size of a silver dollar, like where a hen saddle would go to protect her skin and feather when being mounted by a rooster. There was also a smaller puncture wound right next to the large wound that looked like it went fairly deep but not as deep as the large wound. I'm not a vet, so forgive my terminology. But the large wound went all the way down to that fascia-looking layer that separated the skin from the muscle. It looked in-tact and like the claws didn't puncture that layer. But I'm worried because such a large patch of her skin was removed. It looked like it was clotting and healing well (no rot or gross looking flesh, no bad odor, etc), and her comb and wattle never got discolored, just a little floppy before I gave her some water. But it started to perk back up once she was better hydrated. Also, her personality and attitude seemed to be totally fine and normal, just a little traumatized obviously from what happened. But she was very docile and sweet when I tried to help her.

So what do you think I should do? I planned on calling a vet, but they don't open till Monday. Should I take a look at her wound tomorrow and then dress it again? Or should I give it a little more time to heal before taking another peek?
 
Pics will def help, but the usual protocol is to isolate her in a dark, quiet place and give her electrolytes to hopefully prevent shock. Open wounds should be cleaned with warm water or hibiclens or something similar and slathered with antibiotic ointment. But if it's deep (certainly sounds like it is), it might need something more.

Also - that bear will likely be back. I've managed to keep the bears at bay (central Sierras) with really hot electric netting. My neighbors... not so much.
 
Pics will def help, but the usual protocol is to isolate her in a dark, quiet place and give her electrolytes to hopefully prevent shock. Open wounds should be cleaned with warm water or hibiclens or something similar and slathered with antibiotic ointment. But if it's deep (certainly sounds like it is), it might need something more.

Also - that bear will likely be back. I've managed to keep the bears at bay (central Sierras) with really hot electric netting. My neighbors... not so much.
Yes, the electric netting was just purchased this afternoon. The 2 lines of electric fence line we had around our paddock where our coop is wasn't enough. It certainly doesn't help that our neighbors have no electric fencing of any kind and no hardware cloth, only chicken wire.

I'll add electrolytes to all their waters in the morning. Or do you think I should go out there right now and feed her some electrolyte water? All the chickens are in kennels in my attached garage right now sleeping. I planned on carrying the healthy ones down to the coop/run each morning where they can spend the day, and then bring them back to the garage each night for the foreseeable future until the bears go somewhere else and we can put up the electric netting.
 
Yes, the electric netting was just purchased this afternoon. The 2 lines of electric line we had around our paddock where our coop is wasn't enough. It certainly doesn't help that our neighbors have no electric fencing of any kind and no hardware cloth, only chicken wire.

I'll add electrolytes to all their waters in the morning. Or do you think I should go out there right now and feed her some electrolyte water? All the chickens are in kennels in my attached garage right now sleeping.
Is she drinking? If so, I'd just put it in her water.

And I'm in the Northern Sierras. Don't know what I was thinking - lol!

Im so sorry this happened. We had a bear break into my car about a month ago to get at my recently purchased goat feed. I didn't sleep for a few nights, and I stayed in the livingroom with the window open so I could hear if anything went awry. The bear then flattened my neighbor's fence and got in his apiaries. The fence was flattened in 5 more places by what was probably the same bear over the last month, but my chickens and goats have been left alone. I moved all animal feed (except the hay) into my laundry room.

Be sure to check that fence nightly. Mine puts out 10k and HURTS. I'm certain that's been the difference. Many folks also suggest baiting the netting.
 
Is she drinking? If so, I'd just put it in her water.

And I'm in the Northern Sierras. Don't know what I was thinking - lol!

Im so sorry this happened. We had a bear break into my car about a month ago to get at my recently purchased goat feed. I didn't sleep for a few nights, and I stayed in the livingroom with the window open so I could hear if anything went awry. The bear then flattened my neighbor's fence and got in his apiaries. The fence was flattened in 5 more places by what was probably the same bear over the last month, but my chickens and goats have been left alone. I moved all animal feed (except the hay) into my laundry room.

Be sure to check that fence nightly. Mine puts out 10k and HURTS. I'm certain that's been the difference. Many folks also suggest baiting the netting.
Baiting the netting... I'll have to look in to that.

Yes, she's drinking water well. When I first gave it at first, she went to town! Acted like she hadn't had any water in awhile (maybe she hadn't!). I'll research the signs of her going into shock, because at least at the moment, she seems totally fine to me. Then again, I'm new to chicken behavior still, especially trauma-related behavior.

Yes, the bears have been terrible this year! They've gotten our bees twice in 2022 (even after we put up the electric fence. Apparently it wasn't high voltage enough), and our neighbors (who used to have pretty much every sort of chicken and exotic fowl imaginable) have been attacked probably a dozen or more times already this year to the point where they no longer have any outdoor animals on their property.

We'll definitely be upping the voltage at night once our young children are asleep and the bears are out.
 
Baiting the netting... I'll have to look in to that.

Yes, she's drinking water well. When I first gave it at first, she went to town! Acted like she hadn't had any water in awhile (maybe she hadn't!). I'll research the signs of her going into shock, because at least at the moment, she seems totally fine to me. Then again, I'm new to chicken behavior still, especially trauma-related behavior.

Yes, the bears have been terrible this year! They've gotten our bees twice in 2022 (even after we put up the electric fence. Apparently it wasn't high voltage enough), and our neighbors (who used to have pretty much every sort of chicken and exotic fowl imaginable) have been attacked probably a dozen or more times already this year to the point where they no longer have any outdoor animals on their property.

We'll definitely be upping the voltage at night once our young children are asleep and the bears are out.
Sounds like she's NOT in shock, so that's great! Is she eating? Pooping? Active as possible with a torn open back?

The bears have been bad here, too, because of the wildfires, I've heard. Pushed them into more settled areas. But not nearly as bad here as for you! Holy moly!
 
She has a DEEP gash on her back that, 20 hours later, was still bleeding a little and oozing.

Per other threads I read here, I cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide (3%) and paper towels, which didn't seem to phase her at all. Then I used some silver sulfadiazine cream (1%) that I had from when one of my kids burned his arm. Then I put a gauze pad on to cover the side-by-side puncture wounds and bandaged her up with gauze.

Yes, she's drinking water well. When I first gave it at first, she went to town! Acted like she hadn't had any water in awhile
If she's drinking with gusto, then likely she's not in shock.

Electrolytes are fine to give for a couple of days, but do provide some fresh plain water as well.

Photos of the wound would be helpful.
Initially cleaning with Peroxide is fine, but here forward, if the wound needs to be cleaned, then Chlorhexidine would be a better choice.

Most wounds don't need to be dressed or covered unless the bird is picking at it. Sounds like you have tended to it well.

Chickens can heal from severe wounds, so hopefully given some time, she will be o.k.

I'm sorry for your loss.
 
If she's drinking with gusto, then likely she's not in shock.

Electrolytes are fine to give for a couple of days, but do provide some fresh plain water as well.

Photos of the wound would be helpful.
Initially cleaning with Peroxide is fine, but here forward, if the wound needs to be cleaned, then Chlorhexidine would be a better choice.

Most wounds don't need to be dressed or covered unless the bird is picking at it. Sounds like you have tended to it well.

Chickens can heal from severe wounds, so hopefully given some time, she will be o.k.

I'm sorry for your loss.
Ok, that's good to know about the shock and drinking water. She's been drinking an amount of water I'm very happy with this evening. Sounds like she doesn't have shock. I'll give some electrolytes to all of them tomorrow morning to help all their nerves, then fresh water again later in the day.

Yes, I read about not wanting to use hydrogen peroxide after the first wound dressing. I'll get some Chlorhexidine for just in case.

Once I dressed the wound, I noticed she was turning around preening her tail feather (well, what's left of them). So I think I'll leave her wound covered for at least a couple weeks until it heals/scabs over, and then I'll see what she does with it and reassess it from there.

I also just had a thought: I have this really amazing herbal salve I make that I put on all my kids' cuts and scrapes (& mine as well). It's olive oil infused with dried comfrey, plantain and yarrow, and mixed with a little bit of beeswax and vitamin E. I'm thinking I might put some of that on the next time I dress her wound depending on how it looks. I may put on more silver sulfadiazine first and then the comfrey salve later. According to Google, comfrey is safe for chickens topically just like it's safe for humans topically. If it works on her like it works on my family, she'll have a nice new layer of skin forming over the wound in no time.
 

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