Chicken attacked by bobcat, back of neck completely exposed! HELP!

[FunnyFarm17]

Yesterday morning I heard my girls making all kinds of "stressful" noise, ran out to the coop and there was a rather large bobcat pacing on top of the coop and reaching his paw down through the chain-link. My girls were on top of their box (God I wish they weren't so STUPID sometimes!) and at some point he got two of them. One didn't make it but the other girl did.

It looks like the bobcat basically sliced 4 or 5" of the skin from the top of her neck down to her shoulder, where she also has a small hole. All of the meat and everything on her neck is exposed. Basically all her skin that covers her neck is sitting in the front. She wouldn't let me near her yesterday and I didn't want to stress her out even more. She was walking around and eating and drinking small bits.

Last night once it was dark and they were much more calm, I went out and got her and brought her inside for the night (it was rainy and cold her last night). She's still pretty freaked out and tries to peck me when I reach for her, but she's not one of my nicest chickens anyways. My 7 year old named her Vietnam if that puts a perspective on it.

This is the best picture I could get. What should I do? I will be honest, and it may offend some people here and I truly apologize, but I simply cannot take a chicken to the vet. I spent $2K last month when my dog got into the neighbors squirrel poison, and I just can't spend another
$200-$400 on a chicken! Any advice on how I can give her the best possible chance, or if I need to put her down, would be greatly appreciated! I can try to get more pictures if needed also. Thank you very much!!

 

[ten chicks]

First,chain link fencing will not keep predators out as you realize,cover chain link in hardware cloth.

Clean wound,use a diluted peroxide solution initially,then clean with a saline solution daily. Apply an antibiotic ointment(nothing ending in "caine/cane" toxic to chickens). Give her electrolytes for shock,keep her warm,quiet and in a separate cage(preferably inside home). The challenge will be to prevent infection,signs of infection are: redness,swelling,foul smell from wounds,chicken acting lethargic. Wound will heal from the inside out,leave uncovered(if she starts to peck/pick at wound b/c it is easily accessible to her,then you may have to cover it with sterile gauze)watch for flies(maggots). You can give her a baby aspirin 81mg or a reg 325mg aspirin for pain/swelling,dose is 25mg per lb of body weight,crush and place in water(my preference)or sprinkle over feed. Make sure she is eating/drinking. Chickens are very resilient and do recover from severe wounds.

 

[laceynoelle]

It really depends. I had a hen with a completely skinned neck from a hawk do amazing. I just put petroleum jelly on it so it didn't dry out, and cleaned it with betadine. she made it with literally no ill effects, and it seemed that she didn't even know she was injured.
Then I had another one from a dog attack, she died within a couple hours, even though her would looked less serious. If she seems like a fighter, and it does from your description, haha, then let her try to make it through. Just clean it, and make sure it doesn't dry out or crash of anything, and probably keep her separated from the flock for awhile. However, if she isn't doing good, then save her suffering and cull her.
Her neck wound doesn't look too bad, but I'm worried about the puncture wound. Cats have super dirt claws, and sometimes when birds get attacked, they'll survive the injury just to die from infection.
Long story short, if you watch her and keep everything sterile, I think she'll be okay. Good luck.

 

[FunnyFarm17]

Thank you both very much for the advice! I'll get some hardware cloth. I will start the cleaning process right away. She is isolated and in a crate in the house, and I will keep her in as need be. She is definitely a fighter! She ate some eggs this morning, so that's a good sign. My husband came home for a minute and I was able to get a better picture of her neck. I don't think the wound in her shoulder is as bad as I first thought. I will keep my fingers crossed! Thank you again, I really appreciate it!

 

[ChocoClover]

My chicken, Acorn, was attacked by a raccoon (raccoons are a huge problem where I live, complete with rabies), and it looks like the raccoon ripped out many of her neck feathers, taking the skin with them. I don't have any pictures, but it scabbed up nicely now. The only thing that I am somewhat alarmed by is the greenish appearance of one of the scabs. It doesn't look infected, there is no oozing, and I think it is simply a combination of red and yellow scabs, but I'm still somewhat worried. Her behavior is normal, like that of an uninjured chicken (except for extra skittishness due to the other chickens in my flock picking on her). I wouldn't be worried about your chicken. Her wound looks less serious than my chicken's, and my chicken seems fine, but if you find out anything about green scabs, please post.

 

[ten chicks]

My chicken, Acorn, was attacked by a raccoon (raccoons are a huge problem where I live, complete with rabies), and it looks like the raccoon ripped out many of her neck feathers, taking the skin with them. I don't have any pictures, but it scabbed up nicely now. The only thing that I am somewhat alarmed by is the greenish appearance of one of the scabs. It doesn't look infected, there is no oozing, and I think it is simply a combination of red and yellow scabs, but I'm still somewhat worried. Her behavior is normal, like that of an uninjured chicken (except for extra skittishness due to the other chickens in my flock picking on her). I wouldn't be worried about your chicken. Her wound looks less serious than my chicken's, and my chicken seems fine, but if you find out anything about green scabs, please post.

Green/yellow or green scabs are usually from pus discharge,brown to dk brown are from dried blood. If you are concerned,remove scab and see if there is an infection under skin.

 

[ChocoClover]

The green scab fell off now and exposed healthy new skin. Yay!

 

[ChocoClover]

Yay!!! Acorn survived, most of the feathers grew back, and she was reintroduced to our flock with no trouble.