Chicken mauled by possum in the night

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This morning she gave a few emphatic clucks when I went in the kitchen! I replaced her electrolyte solution and gave her some feed pellets soaked in water- she immediately started eating! Guess she was hungry... she wouldn't touch the egg.
Maybe this is premature- how long until she can go outside to be with the other hens? She seems to be rebounding quicker than I expected. Her wounds seem to be closing up okay, and I have covered them in blu-kote. I plan on giving her ampicillin shots until her five-day "regimen" is done. Will the other chickens smell blood and cannibalize or pick on her? What is the standard procedure for this?
 
Looks like things are going in the right direction.
Re: putting her back in the flock, the major issue is those wounds need to be scabbed over so that feces dont get into them before she goes back in. One is on her leg, right? So, close to the ground.
There may be an opportunity for you at some point to put her in a wire dog crate next to the pen, so the other hens can see her, as long as you can keep her clean. Then bring her inside at night. That will help with reintegration.
 
I checked her after work, flushed the wounds with saline, and gave her an ampicillin shot. I think her back is looking alright, no huge changes there. I'm not sure if it is scabbed or just dried out. She still has a uropygial gland (something I was worried about) and likes to preen all day... guess she doesn't have much else to do.
Her leg is scabbing over, too. I am glad she's healing. One thing that that really concerns me is the color of her torn up leg. The skin is turning yellow, green, and dark blue. I read elsewhere that this is bruising, but it looks nasty! I've included a picture. What does everyone think? Is it infected, and time to think about euthanasia? Is it a bruise? Should I keep watching her?
 

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If she seems to be recovering and doesn't seem to be in an unacceptable amount of pain, she should be fine.
Chickens attack the sight of blood. Most birds (excluding vultures, etc, and kiwis) have very poor senses of smell, it's not a sense they really use. Not much room for scent sensors in those beaks.
 
micstrachan said:
You are doing a great job, and if she is still perky, I think she has a very good chance of pulling through with a full recovery. Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...

She's still perky! She is eating and drinking by herself just fine. She'll scratch and move wood shavings around her tote to make a suitable nest. She doesn't have a ton of room to walk around, but she seems to be doing alright considering how ugly her wounds are. She gets very feisty when wound cleaning time comes. I'm continuing the 3 mg/kg 5-day ampicillin regimen until it is gone. Should I mix up more after that, to be safe?
 
I think 5 days is sufficient. You aren't treating a specific bacterial disease. You're just warding off some potential threat from the 'possums saliva. After several flushings of the wounds, they should be sufficiently healed and danger nearly passed. That's why animals have immune systems.
I would definitely give some probiotics after the course of antibiotics. She'll need it.
 

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