Chick attacked by adults

[jemagsy]

One of our young chicks, approximately 5 weeks old was attacked by the older birds today. She had gotten separated from her mama and the other young birds.

She has a wound on the side of her face, behind the back of her neck, one on her breast and was tossed in the air by one of the older birds. She is holding her head backwards.

She had been in with the rest of the flock for about 3 weeks with no problems. There was a previous foot injury that has since healed. Pictures will be posted soon

What other injuries should we check for? What would be the best course to nurse her back to health?

ETA 11:09 AM: pictures

husband is working on saline solution to clean wounds now

ETA 11:56 AM: we have cleaned her wounds with a sterile saline solution
she just pooed. normal consistency looks normal brownish w/ a bit of white coating just like usual
She just barely raised up to poo, still sleeping though she'll open her eyes occasionally. have her in a box in our bathroom, little food and water in there with her. I don't think she's going to be able to eat/drink by herself, when should I try and get some water down her though. noticed in another thread where someone suggested pedilyte. is this okay to use as I already have some ref. from where hubby was sick a little over a week ago. thanks

 

[chickensioux]

Oh, I'm so sorry this happened to that poor little baby. I would just keep the wounds clean with an iodine solution and put some non-pain relieving neosporin on them. Keep it seperate from all others as they will pick at the wounds.
If you have to force feed or help it eat, do this with a syringe. I would put sugar, gatorade or vitamins and electrolytes in it's water and use a syringe with this too about every 3-4 hours or so to make sure it gets the nutrition it needs to heal. And yes, pedialyte is fine as well.
Watch for any infection on the wounds.
Keep it warm, quiet and clean and hopefully this little baby will make it for you.
Good luck

 

[jemagsy]

Thank you for your kind words for our little Lazarus. We really thought we had lost her for a while there, we had the hole dug, had said our prayer over her, and laid her in the grave when we saw her tail move. (She was cold as ice). I clutched her to me and my husband went and got our 250 watt bulb, we raised it quite a bit higher than we would for newborns, but she's breathing more regularly now and has more warmth in her too. She's drinking again also. I don't know what happened earlier, why she got so cold and unresponsive (we honestly couldn't tell she was breathing) but I'm glad I held her for long enough that she warmed enough to move when we put her down.

I am a little worried as she hasn't had a bowel movement since noon. I don't know how regularly they go? We're gonna try and feed her again around 6:30 and we're gonna keep giving her gatorade every 2 hours until midnight to help her recover whatever strength she lost between 3 and 5 today. I will re-clean her wounds then. Tomorrow we'll switch her to a 3-4 hour schedule for food/water. Please please let us know if you have any suggestions or thoughts as to what we could do to improve her condition. I'm gonna check the heat and make sure she isn't too hot here again in a few minutes.

Thanks again.

ETA: Okay we're making progress - she just had another bowel movement. Same normalcy as before. I guess I should take this as a good sign?

 

[chickensioux]

Oh my, she did have a close call didn't she? Thank goodness you noticed. She was probably in shock and really traumatized. Sounds like she might turn around and be ok. Keep us posted. She will poo when she has eaten enough.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Oh, poor baby! Keep us posted on her progress.

 

[California Ducken]

I am glad you are very observant. That poor chick has been through sooo much.Yes I have brought several chicks back to life by warming them up and gentle stimulation.
Boil some egg. And if you have yogurt, give her that to.
Some sugar water will help with her energy so she can try and get a little more active. But as soon as you can get some electrolytes and vitamins in the water as chickensioux suggested. Gatorade and or pedialyte should only be used in a pinch when nothing else is available. They are formulated for people and Gatorade has a lot of sugar in it.
Be vigilant and keep checking on her.
One of my hens turned on her own chicks. I was just glad to be there when she started. It started with hard pecks on the head. Then no sooner she jumped on top of it holding it down with both feet and pecking it real hard. I grabbed her off and she went after another one. Another BYCer said my hen was done being a mom and to never put the chicks with her again. I took her advise and raised them myself.
I hope your little chickie will be okay. Just be careful after she is done healing to see if the mom will accept her back sometimes they do not. Another poster just had a hen attack and scalp 2 baby chicks. They did not make it 24 hours.
Good luck.

 

[sammi]

whenever they are attacked (chicks and adults) they should get electrolytes to help with shock..
a pack of commercial electrolytes is handy to have..
that's why she seemed so lifeless and cold..shock.
first thing to always do is keep warm, and give electrolytes in drinking water..give by drops on beak if necessary..
Poly-vi-sol liquid baby vitamins, no iron..(Enfamil makes a no iron formula) can help perk them up...for a chick..2 drops on beak once a day for a week..then taper off..
clean all wounds with either saline solution or very clean water, and apply neosporin..

as suggested..a little egg and plain active culture yogurt yogurt, mixed with a little baby rice or oatmeal cereal (mixed with water)...can help..something easy to digest..just a small amount ..
have regular chick feed available, too.

hope the chick is ok..
keep an eye on the droppings..
keep a close eye on the crop..

 

[jemagsy]

thank ya'll for all your replies. We gave her some more water about 11 last night and she was doing well, a little sleepy, but still alert and able to sit up and open her eyes. I woke up at 3:30 this morning to give her some more water and food, but she was gone this time for real. At least now we know she isn't any more pain.

We will miss her.... She was a real trooper, but we feel better knowing that we did everything within our power and at least made her a little more comfortable during her final hours. Thank you all again for your support we really appreciate it. It is great knowing there are so many supportive people out there who love and care for these animals just as much as we do.

 

[chickensioux]

Oh I am so, so sorry. You did everything you could and I'm sure she knew she was cared for. So sorry...

 

[JennsPeeps]

They really become such a part of our lives, don't they?