Critically Injured Chicken - Internal Injuries? What do I do?

[MaggieRose2001]

We were moving a 50# wood box this morning and it slipped and dropped on my blue Cochin - pinning her. Why is it always your favorite birds that stuff happens to? I thought we had shooed all the chickens out but she must have snuck back in.

I thought she would die immediately or short there after. I scooped her up and raced to the house to comfort her in her last moments.

It has been 5 hours and she is still alive. She is not moving - just laying on our couch on a towel. She is panting pretty heavily. I checked her for bleeding or bruising - I can’t find anything. How long does it take for bruising to show?

I have been giving her droppers of electrolytes and nutridrench and homeopathics.

Is the panting from pain, shock, injury? I can only imagine she has internal injuries. She is not cold - in fact she is quite warm. She has pooped twice and both were normal. What should I do?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How is she doing?

I'm so sorry to hear about your hen.

From your description, it sounds like you are doing all the right things. If she's able to swallow, then continue to give her drops of fluids.
Likely she's in shock, but as you mentioned, she may have suffered some crushing internal damage.
Hopefully she will make a turn for the better.

 

[MaggieRose2001]

How is she doing?

I'm so sorry to hear about your hen.

From your description, it sounds like you are doing all the right things. If she's able to swallow, then continue to give her drops of fluids.
Likely she's in shock, but as you mentioned, she may have suffered some crushing internal damage.
Hopefully she will make a turn for the better.

Thank you. She has made it 24 hrs - so that is hopeful. She is not panting anymore; just sleeping. With her not panting, it’s much harder to get water down her and impossible to syringe any food. Do I need to worry about food for now? How much water? I giver her 1-2 ml every hr or so, well, some of it not making it in. Is that enough?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like 3ml per 100grams of weight every six hours is the amount of fluids/food you want to give to an adult hen.
If she's laying on her side, I would worry that she may aspirate if you gave a lot of fluids at a time since chickens don't have a gag reflex, fluids/food can just run right back out sometimes. Do the best you can if all you can get into her is 1-2ml an hour then it's better than nothing. (Crop feeding instructions below)

Is she able to be upright at all? Do you think she could be placed in a sling or propped on rolled up towels? Not what position she's in and how she reacts to being moved about.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

 

[MaggieRose2001]

Looks like 3ml per 100grams of weight every six hours is the amount of fluids/food you want to give to an adult hen.
If she's laying on her side, I would worry that she may aspirate if you gave a lot of fluids at a time since chickens don't have a gag reflex, fluids/food can just run right back out sometimes. Do the best you can if all you can get into her is 1-2ml an hour then it's better than nothing. (Crop feeding instructions below)

Is she able to be upright at all? Do you think she could be placed in a sling or propped on rolled up towels? Not what position she's in and how she reacts to being moved about.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

Thank you for your help. She is upright now and seems to be on the mend - praise God! Yesterday she drank on her own and this morning she ate on her own. My only concern at the moment is she has blood in her poop. Well - it’s not poo it’s been mostly egg white diarreah. But this morning she’s gone twice and there was a little red blood in both. So, I’m going to monitor it and keep hoping for the best.

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry about your accident with your hen, and good advice from Wyorp Rock. It sounds like she may have had an egg break inside if she is having egg white in her poo. The blood is concerning. Tube feeding is pretty simple if she stops eating and drinking, or is not taking enough. Aquarium air tubing or oxygen tubing works well with a larger syringe to give fluids and things like egg and yogurt.

 

[MaggieRose2001]

So sorry about your accident with your hen, and good advice from Wyorp Rock. It sounds like she may have had an egg break inside if she is having egg white in her poo. The blood is concerning. Tube feeding is pretty simple if she stops eating and drinking, or is not taking enough. Aquarium air tubing or oxygen tubing works well with a larger syringe to give fluids and things like egg and yogurt.

Thank you for the advice. I will make sure to add tubing to my medicine chest.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for your help. She is upright now and seems to be on the mend - praise God! Yesterday she drank on her own and this morning she ate on her own. My only concern at the moment is she has blood in her poop. Well - it’s not poo it’s been mostly egg white diarreah. But this morning she’s gone twice and there was a little red blood in both. So, I’m going to monitor it and keep hoping for the best.

You mean like egg whites (albumen) or like a white color?
Photos of her poop may be helpful.

It's good that she's able to eat/drink on her own! Cautiously optimistic.
The blood is concerning though.

 

[MaggieRose2001]

You mean like egg whites (albumen) or like a white color?
Photos of her poop may be helpful.

It's good that she's able to eat/drink on her own! Cautiously optimistic.
The blood is concerning though.

I just meant her poop was runny and clear like egg whites - probably a bad analogy seeing how she is a chicken. =)
I think it’s just diarrhea from not eating solids. Although she did start eating some solids today and that is when the blood in her poop started. It’s not very much and it is red not black. It’s hard to tell from the picture because it kind of blends into the wood floor - but it’s on the bottom of the picture. I guess it’s still a waiting game - but today she ate and she walked around a little and her comb and wattles are back to being bright red. So still keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I just meant her poop was runny and clear like egg whites - probably a bad analogy seeing how she is a chicken. =)
I think it’s just diarrhea from not eating solids. Although she did start eating some solids today and that is when the blood in her poop started. It’s not very much and it is red not black. It’s hard to tell from the picture because it kind of blends into the wood floor - but it’s on the bottom of the picture. I guess it’s still a waiting game - but today she ate and she walked around a little and her comb and wattles are back to being bright red. So still keeping my fingers crossed.

That's good to know. The white you are seeing is urates and likely you are seeing more of those since she wasn't drinking well for a little while. Green is probably from not eating.
Hopefully the consistency will improve with her eating/drinking now on her own.
Her moving about is a good thing too. Still cautiously optimistic!