Brooder raided, one of nine survived...need help!

[JennT]

Yesterday we experienced the first loss. Our dog got out of the house and ran around back to where I had set the brooder for some fresh air while I cleaned. She wanted to 'play' with the chicks. She managed to get into it. By the time I made it outside, five were dead in the yard. I searched hoping to find survivors. I found three more dead and held out for the remaining one, hoping she had either died fast or found a place to hide. I found her hiding in the brooder, but she is injured. I'm almost certain that a rib (or more) is broken. She has a small puncture wound near (for lack of better terms) her hip/inner thigh. She is badly abraded over her lower abdomen, and it looks as if there is another puncture wound, though it doesn't look deep. The first puncture wound I mentioned does not look intensely deep, but deeper than the second. I held her to keep her warm for a while, and when jarred, she wakes and will drink on her own. She is fighting to live, so I want to do what I can to help if life is at all possible for her to keep. She has pooped 4 times, so I am hopeful that at least her intestines weren't punctured. Last night she was chirping. When she poops, she does get up. She can manage to stand a little, and she has taken steps. She will drink if I bring the waterer to her. She pecked once at some oats, and this morning I snuck one or two into her beak as I was giving her water. A friend on facebook said to get a dropper and gatorade. She used to do that when her kids woulod bring home a chipmunk or other injured small animal. The lady I bought the chicks from gave me some chick electrolyte and probiotic to mix with water, and I gave it to her beginning last night. My daughter is devastated, so against my normal idea of letting her deal with the death of 8 chickens (we lost a family dog this December) I told her the others must have made it safely away and are scared to come back, and we brought home 6 more chicks from the same batch our previous ones were from. I am keeping the injured chick (Gremmie) in a separate box on a towel, with an extra towel for her to 'snuggle' into, as she used to do with another chick she came home with. I have a few oats for her to peck at, as well as crumble, and a waterer accessible, though she won't drink unless I bring it to her. I have put Neosporin on her wounds. Since moving for her is labored, I do not have her under a light, but have a heater on in the room I have them in.
We are fully prepared for her to die, but still hope there is a chance that she can make it. Please,, if you have any tips/suggestions/ideas/etc, let me know.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If she's able to walk she may make it, if not it may be best to put her down. Clean the wounds.
Stick with nutritious food. Stick with the crumbles which is optimal. You can also mix it with some whole fat plain yogurt for probiotics and extra protein she will need. Oats aren't high enough in protein to rebuild the damage.
Mix a little honey, sugar or agave nectar in the water for a little energy.

Dogs are horrible predators, the worst I have here and they can't help themselves.
I don't trust any dog or cat around chickens.

 

[JennT]

I didn't think about the honey. Thank you. I will try that.

 

[GarDenFarmGirl]

Having dealt with some awfully deep injuries in a small cochin hen, successfully, this is what I try to do... Make sure the wounds are kept clean (I literally held the wounded area under warm gently running water to do this then dried her off ), electrolytes in the water help with the "shock" so I would keep that up. Try to get her to drink as often as you can. If you don't have it, I would also get some of the spray Vetericyn hyrdogel (it's different from their wound cleaning spray). Because of its consistency, it might flow into the puncture wounds a little better than neosporin and you want to make sure it heals inside without getting infected, before the outside heals up. Good luck! Hope your baby makes it!

 

[JennT]

Well I tried to feed her. She died.

 

[GarDenFarmGirl]

Oh, I am so sorry for your loss... Sounds like her internal injuries must have been pretty severe, poor thing. At least it did not drag on for several days...

 

[Zrcalo]

I think it is very important to train one's own dogs to not attack chickens. let the dog smell the chicks and let them see them. use extremely FIRM commands and teach the dogs to not harm the birds.

:/ I've seen so many times where someone's own dog absolutely slaughters their chickens. Dogs can be trained not to do this!!

 

[JennT]

Oh, I am so sorry for your loss... Sounds like her internal injuries must have been pretty severe, poor thing. At least it did not drag on for several days...

Thanks. I was hoping that if it was going to happen, that it would be soon. She was fighting. Lesson learned.

 

[JennT]

I think it is very important to train one's own dogs to not attack chickens. let the dog smell the chicks and let them see them. use extremely FIRM commands and teach the dogs to not harm the birds.

:/ I've seen so many times where someone's own dog absolutely slaughters their chickens. Dogs can be trained not to do this!!

I'm sorry, but that is not an answer to any of the questions I asked.
1) Our chicks were two weeks old. Training a dog takes longer than two weeks, especially concerning other animals. Since training our dog wasn't part of the question, I did not include that we were also training her for this purpose as well as to alert us to the presence of other predators.
2) Training does NOT guarantee that it will not happen. Every animal has instincts that regardless of training, are possible to prevail. Think how silly it sounds when someone gets mauled by a pet tiger, and they say they trained it not to do that.

I have already accepted that it is my mistake.

 

[jflanny]

Very sorry for your loss.