Brawl in the hen house.. hen down.. but not out..advice wanted ..

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I'm afraid I agree with everyone else. That does not appear to me to be anything other than a predator attack.

Check the rest of your birds carefully for other injuries. We have unfortunately discovered last fall that we have mink. It has come back repeatedly and we continue to fail in our attempts to catch/kill the danged thing. Personally I need a nice pair of mittens.

While I live wildlife and have lived in the same area all my life I had never seen nor knew that mink were still around in southern WI. Due to our continued trouble and the number of birds we've lost to predators in the last two years, while we do love wildlife we will not stand idly by while our birds are killed. I love wildlife just not when they're eating our animals.

We have personally had problems with rats mink fox opossums raccoon and although not fully confirmed coyote and possibly hawks or eagles. That being said of course birds of prey are protected. Our worst culprits have been the rats mink and fox without a doubt.

We have only one bird that has survived a mink attacking it. He was a cockeral at the time and we went out to our coop and found blood sprayed everywhere! Like arterial spurts. His comb was paper white and he seemed to be about to fall over dead. Literally having a hard time staying standing. We did find out another rooster in with him had also been attacked but survived although he developed a pocket of infection. His injuries we're mild and his feathers his them.

The cockeral(a bantam) on the other hand looked like his head had been in a meat grinder. While his comb was almost completely intact he was covered in thick blood clots and there were small cuts all over his head and face. His neck was badly wounded but the bleeding had almost completely stopped as we brought him in. (It was freezing temperatures- and I feel that's what saved him as blood clots more readily in cold weather.) Rats had dug tunnels into that coop and the mink had used their tunnels with possibly just a little work came up right next to where those boys slept on the floor. After the attack we went out and put the birds on the roost every night that slept on the floor. We also continued to fill the rat holes in and killed the rats(which is still a small ongoing battle although not in that coop any more) we layed cinder blocks along the inside wall of that coop where the holes were being dug. That is our only coop that doesn't have a foundation.

Amazingly that cockeral survived and and we still have him. He did not develop infection but it was days before he could see his face was so swollen and he's still flighty especially when roosting. He's a sweet gentle boy now though. We hadn't planned to keep him but after it all we couldn't part with him. His father was my oegb roo and his mother our golden laced sebright. He looks like a golden oegb with black spangles. It was almost a year before we saw the mink and realized what happened to him that fateful night he almost died.

He was very luck indeed and so was your girl. I hope she pulls through for you.
 
Hi Kerry! I'm so sorry to read about your hen.
Hello fellow Canadian! :frow I live about 3 hours from you. I've been in your area. I don't remember, does Fort Q'Appelle or a close surrounding town have a co-op?
It's good she's eating a bit. If she isn't eating much, depending on the co-op and how good their livestock section is...they may possibly carry packages of 'stress aid." It's an electrolyte/vitamin premix that's fairly inexpensive ($6 range) It lasts a while. The electrolytes will help provide energy to keep her going if she isn't interested in food while providing vitamins.
stress-aid_100g_05510.1478529801.jpg

There's a few different types of vitamins. Poulte-vite is a vitamin premix in a packet. It's meant for chicks and birds under stress. It's also inexpensive. If she's eating, I'd be giving poulte-vite in her water to help her recover.

http://www.domvet.com/poulvite.html

There is another premix that is an antibiotic/vitamin premix you can get that's for chickens if it becomes necessary

Michael Propst said:
Are you treating the wounds with anything? If not I would recommend cleaning and treating with Vetericyn Plus Poultry Care. I am no expert and but from my research in the past on emergency I would immediately give her some Nutri-Drench for Poultry straight up and then mix it in with her water along with Electrolyte and Vitamin Supplements. Both Vetericyn and Nutri-Drench are popular product and stocked by most farm and ranch supply stores if you don't have it on hand.

If you have not got one yet, now be a good time to put yourself together a Chicken First Aid Kit. After losing my first girl I realized the importance of having a Chicken First Aid kit on hand. When she got sick I was running all over the place trying to find and get things I needed, I was not going to be in that situation again. So here is what I have put together in my Chicken First Aid Kit
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, there are several items on the above list that aren't immediately purchasable in our stores. It may be possible to order some of the above from the Amazon or similar...but I've never tried.

Peavey Marts usually have a good selection of books. I imagine the Peavey in Regina does. I didn't make it there on the weekend, so I don't know specifically. I haven't been to the Peavey in Yorton, yet.

The following you'd likely have to source from a pharmacy or possibly a health food store. I'm not sure if the co-op has Epsom salts. I know they carry a strong concentration of rubbing alcohol, much higher than the drug stores.
  • Epsom Salt
  • Witch Hazel
  • Preparation H
  • Pediatric Electrolyte
  • Calcium Citrate
  • Vitamin D3 - 500 IU
  • Calcium (elemental) - 400 mg
  • Vaseline
  • Gauze Pads
  • Exam Gloves (I prefer the Vinyl gloves from Walmart for comfort and affordability)
I believe you can get the following at Peavey Mart:

Corrid, (Amprolium) is only available from your vet.

Hopefully some of this information helps. :highfive:
 
Last edited:
Wickedchicken6 said:
Hi Kerry! I'm so sorry to read about your hen.
Hello fellow Canadian! :frow I live about 3 hours from you. I've been in your area. I don't remember, does Fort Q'Appelle or a close surrounding town have a co-op?
It's good she's eating a bit. If she isn't eating much, depending on the co-op and how good their livestock section is...they may possibly carry packages of 'stress aid." It's an electrolyte/vitamin premix that's fairly inexpensive ($6 range) It lasts a while. The electrolytes will help provide energy to keep her going if she isn't interested in food while providing vitamins.
stress-aid_100g_05510.1478529801.jpg

There's a few different types of vitamins. Poulte-vite is a vitamin premix in a packet. It's meant for chicks and birds under stress. It's also inexpensive. If she's eating, I'd be giving poulte-vite in her water to help her recover.

http://www.domvet.com/poulvite.html

There is another premix that is an antibiotic/vitamin premix you can get that's for chickens if it becomes necessary


Unfortunately, there are several items on the above list that aren't immediately purchasable in our stores. It may be possible to order some of the above from the Amazon or similar...but I've never tried.

Peavey Marts usually have a good selection of books. I imagine the Peavey in Regina does. I didn't make it there on the weekend, so I don't know specifically. I haven't been to the Peavey in Yorton, yet.

The following you'd likely have to source from a pharmacy or possibly a health food store. I'm not sure if the co-op has Epsom salts. I know they carry a strong concentration of rubbing alcohol, much higher than the drug stores.
  • Epsom Salt
  • Witch Hazel
  • Preparation H
  • Pediatric Electrolyte
  • Calcium Citrate
  • Vitamin D3 - 500 IU
  • Calcium (elemental) - 400 mg
  • Vaseline
  • Gauze Pads
  • Exam Gloves (I prefer the Vinyl gloves from Walmart for comfort and affordability)
I believe you can get the following at Peavey Mart:

Corrid, (Amprolium) is only available from your vet.

Hopefully some of this information helps. :highfive:
Click to expand...
:) :) I live between sintaluta and abernethy. oddly enough my co-op number is 911 lol. I can't get out fer a couple days yet. will look fer this stuff. Yep, I will be building a "repair kit" fer my chickens. Ethel has been eating/drinking some mush I made from the poultry feed. The other gal are all fine, well one looks like the tip of her wing was rubbed off or nibbled off. maybe mice ?? with all my dogs about the animals that would harm my girls are outa sight i reckon.. I am just going to assume it was some sort of attack from outside the flock. And act accordingly. Still planning on getting more chickens this spring. I have a big shopping list now.. ;( will get to it in a couple days.
 
Wow, I am totaly amazed at the responses here. Makes me heart all warm and fuzzy. Ethel(Zombie) is doing well even managed to wander about the house and hide in my bedroom closet this morning. She has eaten a bit of mush i made for her , is drinking well. Just still a bit quiet and sleeping lots. I have been making "happy chicken" noises at her. played some guitar to her as well.. ;) captive audience fer my singing heh heh. one of my cats like to sit on the coop and watch the birds, he has been checking on her. he does like to go into the chicken pen and sleep around them.. I am thinking she will recover ..
 
Kerry heatherington said:
Wow, I am totaly amazed at the responses here. Makes me heart all warm and fuzzy. Ethel(Zombie) is doing well even managed to wander about the house and hide in my bedroom closet this morning. She has eaten a bit of mush i made for her , is drinking well. Just still a bit quiet and sleeping lots. I have been making "happy chicken" noises at her. played some guitar to her as well.. ;) captive audience fer my singing heh heh. one of my cats like to sit on the coop and watch the birds, he has been checking on her. he does like to go into the chicken pen and sleep around them.. I am thinking she will recover ..
Click to expand...
Great update. So happy she is doing so much better.
 

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