Chicken attacked by hawk....what can I do for her?

[Crack N' Egg]

Sending thoughts of a speedy and easy recovery to your hen.

I'm sorry for the attack. It's so difficult when all you want to do is let your chickens free range. I'm always on the look out.

Good luck with her and keep us posted.

 

[Agnella]

Thanks so much for the kinds words! I can't tell you how much they help!

I would bring my poor little girl in but I'm afraid the cats would just harass her....she's probably getting more rest in the garage.

I don't see any puncture wounds. I tried to give her a good once-over but she put up such a fuss...I only see the mass bald spots on her belly and between her shoulders. She looks like she was plucked. No blood anywhere. Just sitting there with her eyes closed.

She's moved a little bit today from one side of the crate to the other and she is now sitting much more upright than earlier when she was leaning to the side. Sometimes when I disturb her and speak to her she'll 'talk' back to me.

I really didn't get a good look at what got her. It was dark and under a bush. The trail of feathers looks like it got her at one corner of the run (outside of it) and dragged her to the other end before trying to get her through our perimeter fence. When I found her, her head and left wing were through the fence and she was just standing there. Whatever had her was still there when I stooped down to see her but ran/bounced/flew off. I guessed it was a hawk just from the way it moved. It seemed like it looked at me, realized I was a threat, and took off. But, no puncture wounds or scratches that I can see.

Tomorrow my plan is to make sure she gets some water in her and I'll look over her again for signs of trauma.

 

[Agnella]

This morning she is still sitting in her same spot but she seems more alert. She had her eyes open when I got to her and she was quite talkative. Still not interested in food or water. I'll be using a dropper to get some water in her today.

 

[Agnella]

Do I have to worry about internal laying while she's just sitting in the same spot? I'm keeping her warm and dark to hopefully slow down the egg laying. So far I haven't seen any eggs.

 

[Sjisty]

I think since she is injured the "egg laying part of her" will shut down for a while. I have a hen who was mauled by a dog and she stopped laying until she was better. I had another hen ripped open by a rooster that didn't miss a day laying while she was recuperating.

Has she tried to get up and walk at all? Can you try some mealworms? You can get some at Petco, preferably live ones. The protein will help in the healing process and they might get her interested in food again. Also, I would give her some light. She won't eat or drink in the dark. If she lays eggs, that is a good sign that she is feeling better.

My uneducated guess would be a raccoon attack because of the dragging and trying to pull the poor thing through the fence. A hawk would have just grabbed her and flown with her or fed right there on the ground if she was too heavy.

 

[GreenGables]

Hi Agnella, I had a hawk attach a few weeks ago which opened my chicken's crop. It was
not noticeable at first because my chicken only had a few blood marks on it. To be honest
I noticed it just before I was going to place her back in the hen house for the evening. I
held her in front of a mirror and noticed an oval tan area on her front feathers. When I lifted
the feathers up I saw that her crop had been ripped open. Without researching chicken
anatomy first, I carefully wiped some of her food out of the area and snipped a few lingering
feathers so I could clean it a bit. I then took a needle and thread and closed the site. I
believe she was in shock but after I had finished she was perked up and I took her out to
the hen house where she immediately nibbled on some oyster shell. When she finished I
placed her on the roost with my 4 other chickens. She layed an egg the following day and
almost every day since the attack. Long story short, I removed the stitches (@ 10 to 12 of
them) a week later and she is completely healed. My advise would be to lift all feathers to
make sure there is no opening anywhere. Good luck.

 

[Agnella]

Sjisty...you're probably right about the raccoon. I wish I could have gotten a better look at it. Thanks for the advice on the light and mealworms. I will do both of those right away!

GreenGables...I will definitely do a more thorough check on her. I'm trying to check in small increments to not mess with her too much.

A little update: I went out to check on her and lifted her up a bit to check out her belly. Her left foot was all curled up so I slowly stretched out the foot and she kept it that way. She was standing with a little support from me but she leaned back very far and would have fallen over if I wasn't there. She also went forward but I kept her from falling. After a while she stood alone just fine...maybe her legs were asleep from being in one position for so long?
While she was standing, she started to strain and out came the stinkiest poo that I've ever smelled. It looked fairly normal....maybe a clump of what looked like oyster shell. The stink is really what got me though!

Thanks so much for all the support and advice! I really need it!

 

[Sjisty]

We're all pulling for your girl, Agnella!

 

[Agnella]

Some good progress to report!

I mixed some greek yogurt with water and she ate about three droppers full! I left yogurt and water in there with her. She's got light and the DH and I are on our way out to get some meal worms.

On her back where the feathers were pulled out I found an area that looks like maybe something oozed and dried up. I used a wet washcloth on it and cleared out most of it...still not seeing any puncture wounds.

Should I put some neosporin or anything on that bare skin?

Thank you

 

[Agnella]

My girl is still looking alright. She is standing on her own but keeps her neck tucked in and her tail down.

I got her some mealworms yesterday and she ate one right away! Her head was very shaky when she was reaching for the mealworm....I suspect some nerve damage maybe. She hasn't had any more mealworms, she's not showing any interest.

I have gotten several more droppers full of the yogurt/water mix in her. Drop by drop by drop. She licks them from the dropper with her tongue. I used a powder mix that has electrolytes and vitamins in it today in the yogurt water.

There were some runny droppings in her cage when I found her this morning. While I was feeding her, she had some more mostly watery droppings. They are very smelly. Wow....overpowering...

She seems to enjoy standing on her own and keeps her right eye closed when her left one is open. She will occassionally open both eyes and I don't see any visible damage to either one.

I'm continuing to check for puncture wounds. Lots of missing feathers but no blood yet thank goodness.

I set a live-trap last night but it was still empty this morning.

Thanks again for all the help!