Chick injured by coon

Jubilee1111

Songster
10 Years
Jan 8, 2010
501
14
143
Austin, TX
Hi Everyone,

I went out to feed this morning and found 3 feathers belonging to my little Cuckoo Marans cockerel on the outside of the kindergarden run. I went about filling their feeder and noticed the little guy was backing away when pecked at the feeder, which he never does. His neck feathers looked a little ruffled on one side of his neck.

I picked him up and took a look, and WHOA!!!! Took me a second to brace myself to look again. Apparently a coon had grabbed him through that tiny gap where the gate hinges are and tore open his neck on one side. The skin is hanging like a flap. Very little blood and there doesn't appear to be any muscle damage.

He didn't want me to put him down for about 30 minutes and when I sat him on the back of a chair he shivered a split second before settling into a sitting position. He's eating and drinking and walking around just fine and is in a dog crate in the kitchen resting. His poop even looks perfectly normal.

I applied Neosporin to the open area. I could tell it stung from his reaction. Anything else I can do topically or internally to help this heal up? I will be giving him some yogurt this evening to boost his immune system a bit.

I am in Austin TX and we've been over 100 degrees for several consecutive days. I have had all the dogs inside due to the heat. Usually, predation isn't an issue as I have Boerboels that have a serious hate on for any kind of wildlife threat. I am changing some stuff around this afternoon to make sure if the coon comes back he will get a big old fashioned surprise.
 
I will try and get some pics this evening when I have an extra set of hands to help.

I don't have access to a trap until Monday evening but taking steps to ensure the chickens are safe when the raccoon reappears.
 

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