Dog hurt my chicken

[cgoodloe]

The neighbors small dog dug under the fence and got a hold to one of my RIR bantams. She has a chunk of meat missing off her back and a bunch of feathers stripped out around that area. I clipped feathers to get to it so I could see the damage. She was bleeding some so I used gauze to dry that up somewhat. I put some antibiotic ointment on all the tender spots but it didn't want to stay on her due to the fat cells that were out in the op. I also laid some gauze on top of that until tomorrow just to keep it from getting dirty. Is this good enough? Do I need to feed her antibiotics? Do I need to put her down since the chunk is about golf ball size in diameter. She was acting droopy earlier but she was up and walking around hollering for her sisters. Not sure if it will heal this way but feathers are never going to grow back there since the skin is completely gone. The dog must have eaten it after he ripped it off of her. One of her sisters is missing as well. She's probably in a different neighbors yard and I may never get her back unless it's in the neighbor that knows I have the chickens.

Carla

 

[ChickenLegs13]

You did well & did about all you can do. Put her down??? Heck no, she'll be healed and refeathered in several weeks.
Keep doing what your doing. I'd put her in a box in your house for several day till it scabs over to keep the flies & maggots off her.
Hope it turns out well for the missing bird.

 

[cgoodloe]

Thanks! I didn't think about flies getting on her. Yuck!! She's in a crate but I put her in the pen with her sisters because she was screaming for them. I can't keep her in the house because our pups would constantly nag on her and keep her stressed out. The garage might be ok now that weather is cooling but she won't deal well with being apart from them. I'm gonna keep thick coating of ointment on her and may keep the gauze on her for a few days. It's a pretty large hole that's got no skin at all. The tissue that grew feathers is also missing. You can see fat and meat out in the open. May take weeks to scab over due to size but I hope it works out. Poor Poppy.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Can you look through the hole and see her insides?

 

[cgoodloe]

No, I didn't see any intestines or anything like that. It's like the skin was ripped off her to the meat along her back. Just looks horrible. I'd take a photo but I really don't want to move her around anymore today. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Cool. I know it looks bad to you but thats a minor injury to a chicken. Keep it clean and when you put ointment on it keep it moist but not wet & gooey. Keep her separate from the other chickens or they will pick at it.

 

[cgoodloe]

Thanks everyone for the support. She is separate but in same kennel. I have a puppy and she doesn't use her crate like we want her to, so Ms Poppy is using it to get better.

 

[Chickery Chick]

This site may be helpful to you.
http://richie-cunningham.com/2012/04/11/chicken-wound-healing-process/

 

[cgoodloe]

Thanks!!! Very helpful. She's doing ok today. She sleeps in my arms which is kind of weird since they run from me like I'm the bad guy when I feed and water them. Maybe she'll be a lap chicken now. Doubt it but you never know!


This is day 1 but you can't see the whole thing. There is a hole under the feathers to the left where skin is completely gone. Never did find my 10th chick. She's someone else's now I guess or eaten by a dog somewhere. I hope she's ok wherever she is.

 

[Chickery Chick]

So sorry for your loss and the whole thing is so sad with your 10th hen missing.
At least you have this one and she has a second chance. It sound like most people here are able to save their chickens that have been attacked by dogs/coons etc. so long as there is no internal injuries or broken bones. All who have had success, that I've read about, put their chicken on antibiotics, kept the chicken isolated from the others so they would not peck wound(they will), kept chicken in an enclosed low stress darkened area but still warm, where no flies could lay maggots in the wound, electrolytes administered if chick was not eating or drinking enough, special soft foods given such as baby food peas, scrambled eggs or some such food with protein, and for sure kept wound clean and covered with bluekote, triple antibiotic cream(not the variety with pain relief), and several other types of creams which you can research on. I used triple Antibiotic cream but then started using Vetricyn Spray. I especially liked the Vetricyn Spray. Don't let the wound dry out or get infected.

So glad she is doing better. Keep up posted.