Dog bite at crop **Graphic Pictures** Update and Question

[socalchicks]

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I'm sorry that happened to your girls, that must have been so hard. I know how hard it was for me just seeing one of mine all torn up. But, what a happy ending!

They are tough birds, I know she'll be ok. Its just hard to watch sometimes!

BTW - the dog is staying, but a six foot fence is going up this weekend! The dogs get one side of the yard, the chickens and the garden get the other. I hope that means no more temptations for the dogs. Out of sight out of mind!

 

[babsbag]

My dog killed one of my chicks. And I still have the dog. I had just started letting the chicks out to free range in the garden and they wandered up to the dog yard and came through the fence. I let the dogs out the back door and didn't even think of looking for chickens in THEIR yard. One chick ran out the fence, and the other ran into the chain link dog run. Bad choice of directions. Although the dog dropped it as soon as I told her to, the chick was dead almost immediatley. I think maybe she broke its neck as there were no marks on the chick.

Just be sure the wire is SMALL. I keep thinking about putting an electric collar on my dogs and try them with the chickens again, on leash of course. I know people hate the e-collars but I have had my dogs trained to avoid rattlesnakes and they used an e-collar. It seems to have worked and the dogs don't seem any worse off for it. A touchy subject, I know.

Good luck and I hope peace reigns in your house.

 

[emvickrey]

One of my little hens had an injury which exposed her neck from one side to the other from base of head to back of neck. The skin was just ripped and hanging.There was no blood which I thought was very strange. I could see everything, pretty gross but what I did was I cleaned it with peroxide like you did and I trimmed the feathers back so they where'nt able to get into the wound and also trimmed them off the flap of skin that was hanging. I then smeared the entire area including the flap of skin with Neosporin. Don't use the kind with pain reliever. I then stretched as much of the skin back over her neck. I was told by a BYC'er to sew the skin back and leave gaps for it to drain. I couldn't stomach that so I stretched it as best I could and held it in place with gauze. Left her in a dark quiet room overnight. The next day I removed the gauze and it was stuck. I spent the next 3 days in intervals picking the threads of the gauze out of her wound but saturated it with neosporin to loosen it. She was very patient and sat and let me do it. One strand at a time and I would trim the strays that wouldn't come out. It was tedious but I got it all out. That as a warning as to using gauze. She never got an infection and grew skin back over the remaining area in a week. There are a few spots that never grew feathers back. But they are covered by the areas that did.

So with your girl, I would keep her as quiet as possible to avoid injury to her exposed crop. Trim the feathers away from the wound far enough so none will stray to it and grow in. Keep her pen clean and fresh water and food. Antibiotics definitely couldn't hurt as like stated in a prior post a dogs mouth is nasty. You will want to keep her from picking at it somehow. I'll suggest you can hold her when you can and use an old towel in your lap or something in case she poops. I did this with mine and she never did poop on me but who knows. That way you can control her picking.
If it does become infected instead of using peroxide to clean it use warm salt water. Peroxide will slow down and could stop the healing process. Salt water draws out the infection and cleans the wound without keeping the wound open. This is what i've used for animals and people and it works. If you use that New Skin on her it will burn on an open wound. I don't suggest it on such a large area.

It was a month before I reintroduced mine back into the flock. I didn't want the others to peck at it and open it back up. When it healed and there was no scab I put her outside in a pen by herself. I didn't want bugs to get at it either.

I hope this helps and i'm sure a more experience person will stop by for more info. If you have a vet that tends to chickens I do suggest you take her to see them.

 

[emvickrey]

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I had a St Bernard that attempted to get 2 of my young chicks that where a couple months old. They got in his pen. Luckily there was somebody near enough to save them. The worst that happened is 1 got a broken toe. I rehomed the dog and kept the chickens. My other 3 dogs protected them. Well 2 of them. The other one was too small to protect much of anything. But she would help me heard them home. I had a chicken hearding chihuahua.

 

[geebs]

I treat with hydrogen peroxide and spray with ferizone... that has healed MANY a dog bite... PPL bring their dog bitten chickens to me... that is what I do to heal them.... LOTS of them make it... prognosis is good if no bones are crushed.

 

[KKatknap]

Nice job healing your girl!

When you go to reintroduce her (and I would wait a little while and keep doing what you're doing - having her separate, but with them), try to do it when they go to bed. It really does help for them to "wake up" together. Especially if she has been out there with them in her own pen for awhile. When I did that, I had mine in a pen right next to the others for a couple of weeks. It really helped.

Again - nice job!

 

[socalchicks]

Ok, so I totally did this against the plan, but everyone was getting along and Ginny kept trying to get out of her pen and in the yard with the other girls. So, I cautiously let her out and stayed close by just in case. Everything actually went pretty well. Ginny was even allowed in the coop to lay an egg in the nest box. There were a few squabbles after she'd been in there a while, but nothing bad. I left their yard but stayed fairly close to keep an eye on everything. I noticed that she kept looking for me and wanted to go back into the garage. I thought it was better to just leave her and let her get used to being a chicken again!

Ginny does seem a little nervous around the others, but I didn't want to keep taking her out. At sunset they went into the coop and eventually Ginny followed. I stood outside listening and there were no fights or anything. I was curious so I opened a window to see if she was allowed on the roost. She was just standing there, I think not knowing what to do. She was in there for about 15 minutes then she came back out into the run by herself. They didn't chase her out, she exiled herself. There is a hole in the corner of the run that they dug out for dust baths. She settled herself into that corner and is sleeping outside alone.

The run is enclosed and predator proof so I'm not concerned about that. Its not super cold here, but it will get down to around freezing tonight. I'm sure she'd be ok, but I wish she at least had someone to huddle with. My main concern is getting her integrated back into the flock.

Should I let her sleep outside or should I wait until everyone is completely asleep and put her back into the coop? I should have taken all your advice and waited until tonight to put her in the coop in the first place! Now I'm confused, do I let her sleep outside or put her in the coop?

 

[babsbag]

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That is hilarious. Our neighbor had a little terrier that was his goat herder. So funny to see the little dogs doing things like that. My dogs are border collie/queensland mix and they will herd anything they can, but I don't think they will ever be chicken safe. But they are my babies too, I do agility with them ( a little hard to do with chickens) and they keep be safe when hubby is out of town (again...chickens not too good for that). So they are here to stay, I just have to be the vigil parent.