Dog attack, pulled feathers and raw neck

[danimajor1988]

Hi everyone!

We had a dog attack last night and early this morning. Found my rooster last night in the mouth of said dog, brought him in and secured the coop and run. He had all of his wing span feathers and tail feathers out. Brought him out this morning to see his ladies. Seems to be doing fine. But my amberlink hen and a couple others jumped over the fence into the normal yard, I found my amberlink chilling by the fence to get back in to the run area. For lack of a better term she has been scalped, but on her neck. Her neck is bald and a bloody mess. I Found the group of feathers that go on her neck attached together by skin. I have tried to wrap her neck with gauze but am wondering how exactly I can do this better. Should I use manuka honey and saline solution to make a blue kote or what? I used pink medical soap on her neck but it is so raw I didn't want to cause her more pain. So I just wrapped it. I dont know what to look for in her neck to see if the crop or anything else is damaged. And now I'm afraid to take the bandage off Incase it has scabbed over and attached itself to the bandage. Any help or guidance would be amazing. Thanks!

P.s. The dog is their guardian livestock dog. He hasn't shown aggressiveness to them until this past week, I got him as a puppy and raised my baby chicks with him. They are about egglaying age now and he is entering adolescent. He picked off my younger 2 off last week and I have made the coop and run gated off but my birds are used to freeranging and keep jumping the fence. I'm very attached to my birds and am very upset. I have decided to put a shock collar on the dog as a last resort and am now gonna be training him to just stay away from them.

Here is the neck pictures:

SHE'S MISSING THE LAYER OF SKIN AROUND NECK!! Sorry for all caps but it looks so bad! I'm freaking out and feel so horrible right now. Like a really bad chicken mama! Can't afford to take her to a vet but I know from reading other posts that there are a lot of people who have been in the same spot as me and can provide really excellent advice. I normally have a really calm demeanor when it comes to handling injury and blood. I used to be a CNA. But for some reason I'm letting myself get all worked up. Sorry and thanks to everyone!

 

[danimajor1988]

Here's the feathers from the rooster and the amberlink

Here's the scalped feathers from the back of her neck.

Here's my poor roosters butt, he has piece of broken feathers stuck and the other birds have picked a couple out which he doesn't seem to mind for some reason, maybe because they need to come out or something. But Ive been watching for other aggressive picking and so far so good. He has like two long feathers left on each wing. So sad!

 

[Oloughlin65]

Oh I was just about to post something different, however that chicken looks like she has a good chance. Definitely visit the local vet (they probably know more than we do) to at-least give her painkillers. We have had all our chickens killed by dogs (about 20) and this looks like she looks like she got off alright.

 

[danimajor1988]

Should I give her a bath or run her under warm water? I'm washing her wound with saline solution now and am going to attempt to wrap it again. What do you guys think?

 

[danimajor1988]

Oh I was just about to post something different, however that chicken looks like she has a good chance. Definitely visit the local vet (they probably know more than we do) to at-least give her painkillers. We have had all our chickens killed by dogs (about 20) and this looks like she looks like she got off alright.

Hi! Yes, well the vet is out of the question unfortunately because we're in dire straights right now after just moving and now needing to afford rent at $1500 a month for a 3 bedroom. Rent is ridiculously expensive and my hubby is working as a plumber journeyman 3 years into a 5 year program of work and school. So yeah, very tight! Have you cared for a similar injury without a vet? I have just posted pictures of actual injury without wrap, not sure if you saw those yet.

 

[Oloughlin65]

Im sorry I do not want to venture into this too far and say something that might do the wrong thing. All I can say is that your chickens are looking alright. We have only had two conditions when the chickens have been so to say in one piece. Both times the chickens have still been mauled and we went to the vet, both times they died, however that was probably a different scenario injury wise. I am not a master in this field though.

 

[danimajor1988]

Im sorry I do not want to venture into this too far and say something that might do the wrong thing. All I can say is that your chickens are looking alright. We have only had two conditions when the chickens have been so to say in one piece. Both times the chickens have still been mauled and we went to the vet, both times they died, however that was probably a different scenario injury wise. I am not a master in this field though.

That's okay! Thanks anyways. This is a learning experience, I've washed her neck with a saline solution before wrapping it again with a pad with manuka honey and antibiotic cream on it, then wrapped it with gauze. I believe this will work. She is resting comfortably in a basket on my couch in front of the ac right now. It's 103 outside here in Utah and my birds are always tryin to come in the house and sit in the living room where the ac is.

 

[danimajor1988]

I'll post updates to this Incase anyone has a similar injury with their bird. I hope this works!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Flush the wounds well with saline, chlorhexidine, etc. Apply a layer of triple antibiotic ointment to the wound. Leave uncovered.
If the wound was particularly dirty, then you may need to flush daily - use Chlorhexidine if you can get it.
Any odors should be addressed promptly with flushing the wound well. If it continues, then an antibiotic would be needed. Sometimes you can find Fish Antibiotics/Fish Mox at TSC, but it can also be ordered online.

The rooster, I would monitor his rear closely. The others may peck at it causing a wound. Since he's still outside, look at it daily to make sure that flies have not laid eggs on the skin.

I'm sorry that you are struggling with this. You may want to reach out to those whole use LSGD's and ask for some tips. I don't have those type of dogs, but I do know that there can be some loss at the beginning of training. Someone like @centrarchid would be a good person to reach out to.

 

[Kiki]

I would unwrap that birds neck immediately.