Dog attack!!

[mkearsley]

My Black Sex-Link Hen was attacked by a small dog. She's roaming around with the other three hens, pecking at the ground & everything like normal. I've sprayed her wounds with BluKote already. I have a few concerns: 1) the dog ripped out all her tail feathers, and some feathers on her back, 2) its winter now - it gets to be around 20 degrees F here at night, while they have a protected house with plenty of straw, I'm worried about her getting cold with so many missing feathers; 3) the dog broke & removed some skin - I can see some fat coming out of the wounds, and there's one deep wound that I could probably put my finger into it. We don't have a vet that handles birds in town, will she heal on her own with just being treated with BluKote? Should I bring her inside & separate her from the other birds for a while? Should I just bring her in at night to make sure she stays warm enough? Thank you very much for any ideas you can come up with.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You need to bring her in mostly to keep the others from pecking her wounds. Wait till she's healed before putting her back with the rest. Just keep the bluekote on her but watch for any sign of swelling or ozzing could be a sign of infection. I've read about chickens healing from some really bad attacks on here so She should heal up nicely.

 

[buckaroo's wife]

I had something similar happen (my hen survived some crazy wounds and is FINE I'm happy to report!!) Best thing I can tell you is to seperate her, give vitamin E/electrolytes in water, canned corn and reg. food, and keep her quiet! She'll heal in no time.

 

[mkearsley]

Thanks for the advice

I've got her in the corner in the kitchen, trying to make sure its dark & quiet for her. I have electrolites. Should I include some Duramycin in the water too or should I wait & see? Like I said, I sprayed her wounds with BlueKote, which has an anticeptic on it, I just don't want to lose her - raised her from when she was a chick & she's one of the dominant birds in the flock.

 

[buckaroo's wife]

If you are spraying her, you prob don't need antibiotics in the water....I'd just make sure that you are keeping it sprayed twice a day. That's what I did with mine. Good luck!! It happened to one of my fav hens too, and I couldn't loose her - hopefully you will have good results

 

[mkearsley]

Well, I've got her in a nice, clean cage, fresh food & water with enzymes in it. She's pooped once since being in the cage, and there was some blood on the sawdust, not very much though. She is ticked at me! She pecked me a few times. Her buddy was outside roaming around looking for her - they're pretty much inseparable, so I hope I'm not causing more stress than I need to for both birds. I'm thinking about putting her with the others tomorrow morning & watching them closely to make sure they're not pecking her. I did see two of the girls go towards her backside, but once they caught a whiff of the BluKote, they left her alone. I am a bit worried about the blood, but like I said, it was only a drop or two, and from the look of the wounds, the dog may have torn into her cloaca, so when she pooped, she bled a little, but I'm not sure.

 

[buckaroo's wife]

When was the attack? I'd hope she's still not bleeding, depending on when it was. But without knowing the full extent of her injuries it's hard to tell. Keep an eye on that....especially if you do let her out in general population. I'd only let her do that supervised - definately don't let her go overnight with them unsupervised. She's probably pecking at you because she's sore, annoyed, and overall ticked off. Just remind her that seperation is for her own good. If she seems distressed without her friend, is it possible to keep them inside together? It might calm them both down, as long as friend doesn't peck on her.

 

[mkearsley]

The dog attacked her around 4:30, about 3 hours before I noticed the blood. I checked her all over when it happened & removed as many of the loose feathers I could before I sprayed her with Blukote. I didn't notice any active bleeding at that time, but like I said, she did have a pretty deep wound where her "tail flesh" meets her back. I'll keep a close eye on her to make sure she's not bleeding much, it was only like 2 drops of thin, watery blood. I do have some "Magic Powder" that's supposed to clot blood & help heal, so if she's still bleeding, I'll use that instead of the BluKote. Her poop was pretty watery, too, but they may just be because she's stressed.

I don't know if her buddy would peck at her or not, they were raised together, and her friend 'Bo' is the top chick of the flock, I've seen Bo peck at the other birds, but not her friend.

Seeing all the other posts of birds recovering from attacks makes me feel a little better that she'll survive, I just hope I'm not over-stressing her - she's not even a year old yet. Again, thanks for the advice & support.

 

[mkearsley]

I've been feeding her some dry dog food & yogurt, along with the scratch the birds normally get. Is there anything else I should feed her to help her grow her feathers back fast? She's eating the dog food & yogurt just fine, haven't seen her eat the scratch - should I put this into a feeder, I just tossed it into the sawdust that is in her cage. I don't know if she's drinking the water or not, as she keeps kicking the sawdust into the waterer.

I think she'll do just fine, but with temperatures below freezing, I don't want her outside with a bare butt, that's my main concern. I don't have electricity outside, so there's no heat lamp in their pen, just lots of straw, & covered with a tarp & leafy branches to try to keep as much heat in.

No more signs of blood in the cage, and her poop looks normal, compared to what I find in the yard outside. I did see her preening the feathers in the back, and it appears she's pulled a few more out, but it doesn't look like she's pecking at the wound or anything.

 

[drumstick diva]

could you get her a chicken saddle, that would cover her bald spots and maybe keep her warmer?