Chicken attacked by dog. Open wound B/n leg and body

[Amproe]

I apologize for the graphic image, but I dont really know how to describe the wound in a way to show the difficulty of helping this bird on our own if it’s possible.

Our neighbor’s dog got ahold of one of our chickens and tore open a LARGE portion of our hen’s skin, exposing a vast amount of leg muscle and from her tail, up to her rib cage.

I’ve seen posts where chickens are great at healing, but it seems like everything I’ve read involves open wounds on their sides. This one is in a location where it’s nearly impossible to keep her from moving so I don’t know what to do.

I uploaded a pretty graphic image of the wound to show the level of damage. Can anyone tell me what we need to do to help her heal?

We clean her wound several times a day and change her bedding. We spray antibiotics, and try to help her stay comfortable. she is in shock, we can tell. But she is eating and drinking slowly. Any advice?

 

[Eps32]

That's pretty serious I personally would take it to my vet she takes care of any serious issues I have with my birds or goats maybe someone else knows some home remedies but I've never treated a wound that serious

 

[Amproe]

It does seem pretty serious, which is why i came here.. it’s sad really. But what we’re afraid of is spending money on the vet just to have it happen again. It’s not the first chicken that we’ve lost. We have coyotes, raccoons, minks, fox, owls, hawks, etc. We want our chickens to be free range since we’re out in the country.

We’re new to raising chickens, so we don’t know where to draw the line with free range.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is that abdominal organs (including the intestines) exposed in the picture? Or is it the leg muscles? So sorry about your hen. More pictures might be helpful. Vetericyn Wound Spray is a good product to use as well as saline on the wound. Plain antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin is good to keep the tissue moist and antibacterial. Fly larvae (maggots) can be deadly, so keep her inside where they won't bother her. I would give her a chance to live, but if she appears to be suffering, then I would put her down.

I also live in the country near woods, and free range my chickens all day from 8-8 in summer. At first, it was nerve-racking to let them free range. I have lost several over the last 6 years to predators, but my chickens love being outdoors, and it would be difficult to deny them. They have pine trees and bushes to hang out under, which helps when the hawks are out. We have trapped raccoons, and have seen coyotes nearby, but most of our danger is after dark while they are safely locked away.

 

[Abriana]

I would invest in an electric fence. I see raccoons and foxes all the time, but never had an issue. My dog also hates the electric fence, won't go near it. I think it would be worth it so that this doesn't happen again.

 

[Eps32]

I use premier one fencing I have a 360 foot run for one of my flicks run by a Solar charger my other flock I have a 200 foot run I used to completely free range but I have a lot of exotic birds now lost to many to foxes haven't lost one since I used premier one it's the best money I ever spent YPU can move it easily and the chickens can go outside and free range safely

 

[Amproe]

Good info, everyone! As far as I can tell, there’s no internal organs exposed. Maybe some of the intestinal lining. But that’s my guess from memory. We have a bottle of wound spray that we use. We wash out the wound with water, but don’t know if that actually helps or slows down healing.

What we don’t want to do is spend money on a vet just to have the same thing happen again down the road.. we have her inside in a dog cage partly covered with towels as bedding because we quickly learned that normal bedding gets caught up inside her wound and we end up agitating the chicken trying to remove it all.

The hen still moves, but very little. We will come in to check on her and she’s rotated herself, which means she’s still using her leg. But we can’t tell if anything is broken or detached.

As far as plans to protect, I think we’re going to invest in fencing in about a 1200 to 1800sf with four foot tall fencing to keep the daytime dogs out. But have a gate we can open up while we’re out with them. They tend to follow us okay when we’re out with them.

I’ll have to research how to use an electric fence where the chickens are free range. I’m not imagining how to use it without it zapping the chickens if they get to it. I, obviously, don’t want to have to go through this again. They are chickens, but you get attached to them and we feel so horrible for her...

We just hope that this wound will heal. It’s just in a terrible location...

 

[Amproe]

Is that abdominal organs (including the intestines) exposed in the picture? Or is it the leg muscles? So sorry about your hen. More pictures might be helpful. Vetericyn Wound Spray is a good product to use as well as saline on the wound. Plain antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin is good to keep the tissue moist and antibacterial. Fly larvae (maggots) can be deadly, so keep her inside where they won't bother her. I would give her a chance to live, but if she appears to be suffering, then I would put her down.

We gave her a dawn bath today. She seems to be doing better. I have an updated image.

We definitely don’t think that there are any exposed organs. Just muscle and bone. What we don’t know for sure are the colors we’re seeing now vs. before. Yellow and darker tans. We don’t know if these are healing colors or dying tissue colors. We try to keep it moist, but we’re gone for 10 hours or more each day for work. Any ideas?

 

[Daisy2453]

Just wondering if your hen lived? I live in the country and have all the same problems. we solved most of our problems by placing ten all along the fence line. We already had places for them to hide from the hawks etc but our problem was with the fox and dogs. Now that they are not easily seen we don't have those problems anymore. Have not lost a chicken in almost 2 years now. Let me know about your hen.