So the other day, a roo of ours, a small bantam named Dusty, was attacked by an unknown predator(at this moment we're assuming it was a raccoon, but we can't tell). The bite is small and more of a scrape on the back of his head/neck. He is alive and doing fairly well, responding okay with what's left of his one eye, but his face has been -- I wouldn't say mangled -- but damaged to a degree. The right side of his face is fine, and with a little cleaning will heal with a bit of TLC, but the left side got the worst of the bite administered to him, and has now swelled up. My mother is attempting to clean him of the dried blood, and it's going pretty well, but we might not be able to get out all of the dirt from the little crevices. What I'm wondering is what happens if he contracts an infection. What kind of medicine would we administer to him? Would it be a sort of antibiotic shot, or just simply crushed pills from our own cabinet? Would it be better to just put him down? He might not even develop an infection, but we want to be sure, just in case. It would be a great help to us if you could give us an answer of any sort. Thanks.
I had a chicken that was attacked, basically had her shoulder ripped out. It was VERY deep and bad. I kept her in the house for a few weeks and sprayed antiseptic on it every few hrs the first few days. She is now living outside in the coop and doing great. That wing is useless, but she survived and I expect she will be just fine soon. I would recommend doing something similar. Just make sure your spraying it with antiseptic to keep the infection away. It'll heal on its own. I'm amazed at what chickens can live through. They are very resilient! Good luck!
If it looks like there's an infection (bad smell, greenish color, etc), definitely treat with antibiotics. Penicillin would be fine, as would an antibiotic like Baytril. You should be able to find Penicillin at a livestock supply store-- Baytril would be more difficult to find. Penicillin is given as an injection into the breast muscle.
