Chicken's tail damaged

[new 2 chickens]

A couple of days ago a chicken escaped it's coop and my little dog got her. We thought there was no damage because it looked like he just had her by the wing. Today I noticed a messy butt. On closer inspection it looks like the tail is damaged. It is attached at both sides but looks severed at the top so hanging down and poop landing on it, getting very messy.

Any suggestions? It seems like I either dispatch the chicken, leave it and hope it heals or cut the tail off. As I said it's hanging there so it looks like I'd just snip both sides of tail and it will come off. Is this an option?

The chicken seems comfortable. I've just separated her from the others.

This might sound rough but I assure you I am an animal lover and don't even eat meat. I care deeply about animals and would never purposefully harm anything. Going to the vet isn't an option. Please help.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would worry right now about flystrike and maggots. Can you take a picture of it?. Cleaning it up with soap and water, thendrying, and applying neosporin ointment would be what I would do for now. Isolation in a cage inside the house to prevent flystrike right now would be good. The picture might give people a chance to see how bad or if you should try and save her.

 

[new 2 chickens]

Ok pretty grim pic I know. I can try and take a better pic but thought this might give someone in the know a clue.

 

[new 2 chickens]

Flystrike isn't a problem at the moment. I'm in New Zealand and we have no flies right now.

Please let me know what you think. I haven't killed an animal for over 10 years but would rather dispatch her to the next life than see her suffer. Thanks.

 

[new 2 chickens]

OK so I let the chicken out of the safety cage. The poor dear headed striaght to her nesting box and laid me an egg. I cleaned her up and made the decision to cut off the dangly bit. It was obviously uncomfortable to her when I did this. There was a bit of blood that stopped quite quickly. I've cleaned her up again and have her in the safety cage now. She seems ok albeit in a little bit of shock.

The bit snipped off looks like a fatty little ball/flap of skin with some feather bits protruding.

Any advice welcomed.

 

[new 2 chickens]

Here's a pic of her better end right before the "operation".

 

[Kelsie2290]

If she was able to lay an egg without a problem, hopefully nothing was damaged internally. Chickens are remarkably tough and will heal from amazingly bad wounds. You might want to consider putting her on antibiotics if you have access to them. If you haven't already, you might want to clip the feathers away from around the wound so you can see better what is going on now that you have clipped off the damaged piece. Also double check for puncture wounds on her back, the dog may have gotten her more than once when he grabbed her tail.

 

[coffeychicks]

Did the dog tear her vent or am I seeing that wrong

 

[new 2 chickens]

Thanks for replies. I have clipped around her butt a bit. I will ask my vet about some antibiotics. The dog is a little guy. He's a boston terrier. I don't think he did any other damage. He loves those chickens. He'd be devastated to lose one!

I think the vent is fine. It's the flap of skin above the vent. I'll try to get another pic post-op.

 

[coffeychicks]

Awe poor girl I hope she heals fast.