Dog attack-possible broken wing

[cori14]

My dog was left alone with the chickens and 2 of them must have flown out. One was dead the other one is missing feathes(not bleeding) seems to be in shock and is dragging a wing. I have her alone in a pen with sugar water. She is huddled in the corner and breathing very heavily with her beak open. I have called every vet in the area and NONE of them will even look at her. I need some help with how to treat her please.
I read this on the internet and want to know if anyone has tried it.

BROKEN BONES

Look for shock symptoms (see Shock). Wings-cut toe out of appropriate size sock allowing bird room to expand chest while breathing. Place over bird with head through cut hole and cut opening for feet.

If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it.
Cj


Sorry to add she is hydbrid new hampshire barred rock and is 3 months old

 

[Chloe09]

I have never had to deal with anything like this but if you go to the search box and type in broken wing you will be able to get some better help! Good Luck!

 

[NarutoTn]

is she acting well?

 

[AmyBella]

I hope she has settled down and is not as stressed now. I am dealing with an injured wing right now, too. Unfortunately, your bird may have internal injuries or puncture wounds, so you should look her over very carefully!

I took Sweetie to a vet... the only one I could find is almost an hour away from me. It was pretty stressful for both of us! In order to get an accurate diagnosis, the vet wanted to do sedate her and do x-rays to the tune of $300, not counting the consult and any treatment. I figured that I would have to spend some money, but I just wasn't prepared for that! I elected to have her wing stabilised with vet wrap. (kind of like an ace bandage that sticks to itself) I am going to try my hand at replacing the wrap tonight, so I will let you know how it goes. I found the following links helpful-

http://www.duckpolice.org/BirdWeb/PigeonResourceWeb/brokenwing.html

http://www.starlingtalk.com/fractures.htm

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/954131/

One of the members wrote up a great piece on dealing with chicken emergencies. Her name is threehorses. I did not have any luck finding it, unfortunatly. Maybe you can PM her?

Sorry for your loss. I really hope that your survivor is OK. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

 

[AmyBella]

I forgot to mention that I did read about the sock trick. I think it said to cut a hole for the head and a hole for the good wing to come through. Sounds like it could work as long as it is tight enough to hold the wing in place without slipping.

 

[AmyBella]

One more site, very technical but good illustrations...

http://books.google.com/books?id=JM...n5ztDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5

 

[rhodiegal]

You may have to give antibiotics as well for the broken bone. It could get gangrenous. I found a chicken on the side of the road with a broken wing (and leg for that matter). The wing was extremely bruised and eventually it started turning horrible colors (not to mention a very nasty smell). I took to vet and gangrene had set in due to the break. Vet said the wing can easily be removed, but since she also had a broken thigh she had to be put to sleep.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Sorry I didn't know my name came up.

Here's the article. I'll have more to say in a second.

WOUND CARE FOR POULTRY by Nathalie Ross

Here's my usual way of doing wounds. It's worked for some pretty extreme wounds, including one 2x1 wound that went all the way down to the silver covering of the spine of one bird.

First, gather materials:
VetWrap or similar self-adhesive wrap.
gauze wrapping type bandages or squares (depending on what you have to bandage)
non-stick pads (depending on what you have to wrap)
antibiotic ointment (neosporin, Swat for horses if you have flies around)
hydrogen peroxide (h202)
iodine
warm water
a needleless syringe - preferably a big one like 30 cc's
suture material if you need it (this ideally should be left to a vet)
a small pair of scissors like cuticle scissors are helpful
large scissors
(duct tape in some cases)
a good safe blood clotter. I prefer Clotisol as it's not poisonous and clots IMMEDIATELY even in high blood situations. You can even use it inside of beaks. It's water based, lasts ages for a small bottle. Seriously - ages. You can pretty much only get it online, but it's a must-have for a cabinet. Once you use it, you won't go back.
q-tips
papertowels
clean clothes that can be stained

DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO TREAT BY YOURSELF:
First, an important note. It would be ideal if, as poultry owners faced with an injured bird, that the bird be taken to a qualified veterinarian who can not only dress the wounds, access the damage, but also prescribe the correct antibiotics and follow up as necessary. This, first and foremost, is what I recommend for any wound situation that is more than minor. Please take that to heart.

If instead you decide to treat the wound yourself, here are some basic instructions on how to do so. Note that every wound, every case, is different. Use your common sense and imagination on determining when this protocol must be flexed to fit your situation.

PREPARATION:
First, examine the bird and find all wounds. Use your big and little scissors to trim feathers away from the area. Try to only take as many as could touch the wound, no more - they need feather protection and the feathers won't grow back til next moult. Also be careful, if wing feathers are near, not to cut the living flesh part inside feather quills.

If the wounds are under the wing, sometimes you can simply wrap the wing in a t-shirt to keep whatever touches the wing clean. Baby tshirts would be great for this. Neck part at the top of the wing, fitted with a little duct tape on the cloth (not tight please) and just tie the other end of the tshirt.

Make sure to look very carefully against the skin for puncture wounds. There might not be look, and puncture wounds are tricky and hard to find. Note the location and severity of all wounds.

Cleansing:
Take your syringe and fill with H202 (straight) or h202 slightly diluted with water. Use the syringe to vigously clean the wound area including in the wounds. If the wounds are puncture wounds, use diluted water/h202, not straight. You only use h202 the first time as it tends to burn tissues and keep them from healing if you continue. But it's great for bubbling out bits of dirt from inside the wound. Do this cleansing about three times per wound.

Follow up by rinsing out the h2o2 with a water/iodine mixture made to be just the color of slightly strong iced tea. You want it warm. Fill your same syringe that you used with the h2o2 and flush the wounds rather vigorously.

At this time, if there are any pieces of flesh that need to be removed, remove them. This is where I use a q-tip dipped in a bottle-cap full of clotisol (so you don't contaminate the original bottle).

Doing this on a table that's ok to stain is best. I've done this on my truck's tail gate as I can clean it afterwards. Place a lot of papertowels under the birds for these two cleansing phases to keep the drainoff from going everywhere.

Use another clean papertowel to dry the wound. You want to leave some iodine solution inside the wound - it doesn't have to be skin-dry. Just dry enough for some ointment to stick.

DRESSING:
Once the wound is well cleaned, then you'll want to dress it. I use Neosporin and q-tips most often for this job. If there are flies in the area at all, I will use Neosporin inside the wounds (ointment) and use Swat wound ointment for horses instead. (It has fly repellent that's safe for poultry in it.) I fill punctures with neosporin. If they're deep, I stick the top of the tube into the wound (and throw away the tube after I'm done with everything). Pack it. You usually want air in a wound, but puncture wounds can sometimes heal on top first and leave a pocket inside. The antibiotic ointment (not creme) is a little insurance against too much bacteria and thus abcesses.

If the wound is one that absolutely must be stitched, then pack it with the antibiotic ointment. If you're using a flyproof ointment, wipe the wound and then use the fly-proof on top. Otherwise just wipe slightly so there's a little antibiotic ointment on the important top part of the wound. You don't want to stray too far from just the wound, keep the bird dry.

On closing wounds with sutures. Puncture wounds shouldn't be sutured. Bad bacteria love a place where there's no oxygen. Suturing closes the wound and encourages festering within. As much air as you can get to a wound, the better, except that the interior of punctures should have some antibacterial action going on.

I've had some serious wounds in my flock before. The only time I've sutured was when a very large flap of skin was torn from the front of a neck (read as 3 inches by 10 inch flap). Another recent case involves a possible rather large hole in a crop which, should it leak food, should be sutured. Otherwise try to leave things open. Poultry can regrow an amazing amount of skin back if there's muscle underneath. New skin will granulate and grow in to fill in gaps that would surprise you.

On the areas that are just uncovered, I usually use antibiotic creme (versus ointment) because it's water based. Sometimes I'll just put a thin smear of antibiotic ointment, however, if that's what I have. Or fly-preventative ointment if there are flies in the area.

DRESSING WITH BANDAGES:
If at all possible, try not to cover with bandages. The average bandage keeps air out and moisture in and not in a good way. If you must bandage (a dirt floor area, extreme fly issues, etc) then try to keep the bandage to a minimum and very airy. That's why I'm not a big fan of nonstick bandages. They tend to trap moisture and cause a very warm airless area. But sometimes you have to use them. If so, cover the wound with the bandage. Wrap twice with very gauzey gauze wrap. Then put one layer only of VetWrap over. If you must secure (to keep the bandage from falling, for example) you can use very thin strips of duct tape like you would tape a birthday present. Using as little as possible, but a very strong tape like duct tape, helps let the air in.

Sometimes I've even used just one layer of a very clean paper towel rather than use a non-stick. Afterwards, if you have to remove it, you can soak with warm water and pick the bits out if it sticks. Gauze tends to embed in wound seepage.

Think out of the box when it comes to covering areas that are wounded. With my geese who had multiple puncture and surface wounds on their chest, and a high fly area, I used one white sheet that I formed into a sort of front-bib and tied behind their back. T-shirts are also awesome to cover a bird's body. Buy the appropriate size, slip the neck over their neck, their legs through the arm holes, cut two holes through which you slip their wings. Gather the bottom end (cut so that you don't cover their vent) at the top of their back and duct-tape the cloth to make it stay fitted. T-shirts are very airy, cheap, washable, and absorbent.

SUTURES:
If your bird requires stitches, suture material with thread attached can be found at many feedstores or purchased online ahead of time. The size you want is for dogs and cats. Sutures aren't stitched like a pillow case, but each stitch is its own knot. The semi-circular needles of suture needles are ideal for going into and out of the skin. Note: stitching is not easy - skin is tough, usually the needle is slippery, and it's rather tough to do. Overestimate the amount of suture material you need as you'll make knots and cut off the excess bit sticking up.

MAINTENANCE:
Many wounds, if properly cleaned and dressed and left airy, do not need much maintenance. Oddly, one of the best ways of telling whether or not a wound is doing well is by using your nose. Smell the wound at the time of cleaning. Wounds have a particular almost sweet but not cloyingly sweet smell. Remember the smell. Then smell the wound daily to see if you smell rot. If you do, there's not enough air to the wound and possible infection going on.

Wounds will seep a little - that's natural and the body's way of dealing with wounds. Usually the seepage will be mostly clear and smell of wound. However, if there's any opaqueness to it, or clotted texture, that's infection. Also there will be some natural inflammation as the body tries to bully off the bad bacteria and bring in healing materials to the wound. However excessive inflammation, discoloration (especially black or green), should be noted.

If a wound needs cleaning or examining, take off what bandages you can gently. If they stick to the seepage from the wound, use warm water to soak the bandage parts remaining away from the drainage.

Then examine the wound, determine what needs to be done, and redress from the iodine stage onward.

ANTIBIOTICS:
Many wounds do not require additional antibiotics other than topical (on the skin) antibiotic dressings. However in the case of animal bites that weren't caught immediately, cat bites, and wounds that have been sitting or are particularly deep, it may be a good idea to treat with antibiotics. If you make this decision, please be sure to get one that is appropriate for wounds. The packages at the feedstore are not.

Penicillin G Procaine (Aqueous Pen-G) is commonly found at many feedstores in their fridge section. It's awesome to keep in your own fridge for a rainy day. It's a very thick antibiotic and requires a thicker gauge needle. I would use no thinner than a 22 gauge, preferably something more thick at a length of .75 to 1 inch. At many feedstores, you can buy 3 cc syringes that are together already with needles. These are nice to have on hand as well as that 30 cc syringe that you'll use to flush wounds.

Instructions on how to give an injection are available separately as well as how to treat with antibiotics. If you do choose to use injectable antibiotics, be prepared to go the entire recommended course. Penicillin G Procaine is a concentrated penicillin (they're not all created equally) and only is required to be given every other day. Based on the type of antibiotic you expect to use, buy that many syringes plus two.

HEALING:
Birds in healing mode need help being stabilized, nourished, and hydrated. We all know how delicate birds can be, but it's surprising how resilient they can be at times. However, wounds will often depress a bird or cause them to go into shock. A stressed or shocked bird may not be able to digest foods they're commonly given. For that reason, I recommend only giving easily dissolved feeds when a bird is in the first stages of recovery. Think crumbles, pellets, etc. You don't want to make a drastic change in their diet ever, much less when they're already stressed. If a bird is reluctant to eat, try wetting the pellets/crumbles. You can also add a boiled egg yolk (one per six cups of food) mashed into the crumbles. I like to also give probiotics (yogurt, Fastrack, Probiocs, acidophilus, or whatever I have available) during this time to combat a secondary intestinal disorder from stress and change of way of eating. Yogurt is simple. You can mix 1 tablespoon per two cups of feed.

The added protein in an egg yolk helps the bird to heal. Adding a capsule of vitamin E to that mash (one per 2 cups of mash) also helps healing. If the birds are stressy, or not able to eat normally, I'll use a vitamin/electrolyte mix in their water for the first few days. I never ever use an oral antibiotic for wound treatment. Period.

CONCLUSION:
It's unfortunately common that poultry are victims of predation and wounds. They are delicate and, with their ultra-fast metabolisms, can die readily if they decide to. Remember that an injured bird can often have internal injuries we never see. If you lose them, just remember you tried your best. However you might be surprised, with proper wound-care, how many of these birds recover to absolutely normal lives. Just be patient as healing takes a while. Usually separate the birds, but if they can be near their peers they take heart from it and will do better.

Good luck with your flock, and I hope this information has been helpful.
Nathalie Ross
(Please do not reproduce without permission of the author. The author is not a veterinarian and does not intend to dispense information that at all should replace the advice of a qualified avian vet.)

 

[threehorses]

Hi there! I'm very sorry to hear about your loss and about your injured bird.

I posted my article above in response to a request for it. I hope that it's of some use to you. I'm going to tell you what of the article applies. Additionall, I've very recently had experience with a broken (dislocated) and eventually amputated wing. I'll tell you what I've learned from that.

First and foremost is to set a priority list for what must be done.

The most important issues here are: the broken wing, any puncture wounds, possible internal damage, shock.
Secondary issues to handle are: providing comfort, supportive nutrition and medication, hydration.

Before I start, I do have to say that I highly recommend that the bird be taken to a qualified vet who can assess the wound, administer the correct antibiotics, and either set or cut the wing. I also must advise you that it's possible that there are other internal injuries about which you can do nothing. Brace for it, but be determined that until you KNOW of internal injuries that you'll do your best and we'll do our best to support you.

If you cannot do that, second best would be to at least notify your vet that you'll need Baytril or antibiotics immediately for an animal bite and broken bone scenario.

If that cannot be, then the rest of this might help.

First, bone injuries are a big problem. Where the bone is broken, there is a high risk of systemic infection. I would most highly recommend that the bird receive an appropriate antibiotic for that type of infection. Most over the counter antibiotics just don't do it. Baytril is really the one you want. Penicillin is good for many wounds, even most punctures or animal bites, but combined animal bites and broken bones might be too much for it. Still we'll just work with what you are willing or able to get. More about antibiotics in the article.

We need to know what type of bone break. Was it complete (the bone is broken in two clean halves). Was it more of a splintered bone (bone ends are not clean, but splintered)? Was the break at a joint, more like a dislocation? Did the bone break through the skin? Which wing bone (if you can tell)? http://www.krassesrudel.at/forumbilder/thecoop/figure3.gif

Think carefully - do you feel that the wing can be put back together - the ends put together quite well -or is it a messy situation? Would an amputation be more likely?

Wing bones are pneumatic. They have air in them as that's the design of birds. If the bird's wing is amputated, an avian vet will amputate in the middle of the bone, not usually between joints. The reasoning is that the joint will continue to product joint fluid for its life, filly the recess with fluid that must be drained. A cleanly cut bone will leak air into the recess for approximately a week until it seals and then the air disappears and it no longer leaks. This sort of thing is obviously best done by a vet. There's the official disclaimer (again).

If you can however put the two ends of the bone together, and the skin is not broken, you can try fashioning a splint using materials from around the house. Popsicle sticks, paint sticks (cut to size because the wood is soft), housing (window door) shims, chopsticks, etc. In that case you would align the bone ends, pad the area with wrap gauze, place the splints in place, tape the splints to the gauze with tiny pieces of duct tape (thin and long so that there's no air impairment in the bandages), wrap this with vetwrap twice. But you must ensure that the two bone ends stay pushed together -that gets tricky. If you cannot do that, amputation might be a more clean process. There's a woman who amputated on here and I would suggest you read her thread as well and consider contacting her. I'll find that post.

It's nearly impossible to tell you what to do on little info, but this will give you an idea of what you're up against.

As for the rest of the bird, you must check every inch of her for any additional punctures. Because she was outside, it's possible that flies blew the wounds and it only takes 1 female fly to lay 300 eggs which will hatch within hours. For that reason, the bird must be kept up for at least 2 days in your particular case. Look her completely over. Any wound, clip the feathers away close to the skin near the wound's perimeter, and any that might dip into the wound. Cleanse very very thoroughly as you hope to only cleanse once and make it really count. Using hydrogen peroxide (or H2O2 and water) the first time will burn a little ,but it's intended to literally oxidize the mouth-germs to death in that wound. You follow up with the iodine/water because it kills more germs, knocks more dirt loose, and when you pat it dry (don't rinse the last iodine/water out) it leaves enough iodine to continue killing some germs. Then you will pack the wounds with neosporin ointment so that the body heat will continue to melt the ointment and continue to treat the wound.

If maggots hatch, and they might, you will vigorously clean the affected wounds again with iodine/water (not H2O2) and redress.

If you can get screw-worm wound spray from the feed store, I'd so very highly recommend it. You can top the dressed wounds with a tiny spray of that to repell flies and kill any larvae that you missed or that hatch out later. (Maggots don't all hatch at once).

If this happens, you can do this. Just clean them off and hope you never have to do it again. Then you have some chicken war stories to tell!

On setting the wing - I'd use VetWrap on the wing itself. That way you do'nt have to worry about it moving much. Then consider using a baby's T-shirt around the bird. You can pick a more appropriate size for her, it already has leg holes (the arm holes), and you can cut a hole for her "good" wing to come out of. You can more easily use Vetwrap (with it's self-adhesiveness) to make a band to secure the broken wing against her side. Use custom cut strips of duct tape to stick the VetWrap to the other VetWrap, or to make sure the end of the bandage sticks to itself.

As for the extra cloth of the t-shirt, you can poke holes in the top (on the bird's back) and make a lacing like a corset to pull it close. That will leave it open at the vent to clear droppings.

Be creative. Look around your house and ask yourself "what can I use..."

Then once you get her treated, offer food and water (which she won't accept likely). try to dribble a little electrolyte into her side of her beak. Gatorade, pedialyte, those will work in a pinch. For this type of situation I would recommend a really good vitamin/electrolyte package (like aviacharge) in her water as she likely won't be eating or drinking much. You can use other vitamin/electrolytes for poultry - just that one is the best choice.

As for food, try putting her pellets in the blender as most birds like crumbles better than pellets. And then offer them damp (with the gatorade/pediately/vitaminwater), or with boiled egg in them, or whatever you can do to tempt her to start eating and drinking.

She needs to feel safe to heal. As horrifying as this is, keeping the aura about you of calm and confidence will help her to be more calm. reassure her with your voice that you're doing everything you can. It's true.

I hope this and the article help for a start. I'm available by email or here if you have any questions at all or just need someone to say "you can do this". Or just support you.

I'm sending you and the bird prayers and well-wishes.

 

[AmyBella]

I didn't do so well applying the figure 8 bandage last night... it was really hard to get it tight enough. I ended up wrapping the hurt wing against her body, down under the good wing and around her keel/breast. It is secure without being too tight and she seems pretty comfortable.

Let us how it is going. I hope she's better today!