Eagle attack aftercare! Advice and insight please!

[Chickenandgreens]

Hello everyone I’ve been looking at this site for awhile now for my birds. One of my younger pullets, around 3 months old. Was found in a golden eagles claws yesterday at 3pm I scared it away and was able to catch my bird, and put it in a small cage when I went out to get supplies. Ended up getting large dog crate for her to recover in and Vetericyn antimicrobial poultry care healing aid and skin repair. And hydro hen. She has two injury’s a cut about the size of a quarter that wasn’t bleeding, so she didn’t loose much blood and lost tail feathers. We put a shirt over her head and calmed her down as she is a flighty bird and washed the surrounding area carefully with dawn dish soup and water. Lightly patted dry and applied the spray and triple antibiotic over the flesh wound. For her tail feather we washed cleaned and sprayed. This morning we were able to confirm that she did have feathers pushed under then skin from being grabbed by the three foot bird (yes three feet tall Im pretty good with birds and this thing was not a Hawk I’ll tell you that. )We were able to take the feathers out from under the skin and remove them with clean sanitized tweezers. She has been eating and drinking and pooping and is upset she’s not with the flock, we have been trying to prevent the Eagle from coming back for another bird as we now notice them or other large birds of prey circling over the house maybe 200-300 feet up. Got a fake hawk to put up. Mesh tarps and some reflective tape! Any suggestions! I believe I’m covering all my bases here!
Attached photos
1 and 2- morning after attack you can see the feathers pushed into the skin
3- clump of feathers removed
4- wound after feathers removed

 

[EuroChook]

Wow. Just wow.... you are so lucky to have your little young bird back. Well done for being in the right location at the right time. Some people do dress and cover the open wounds, this keeps viruses and bacteria and flies away, and other birds from attacking the wound site, I always cover. Some folks around this niche don't. I always cover. It is an added layer of protection.

Maintain fluids. Our birds have little cardivovascular volume anyway, and so it is important to keep fluids optimal. Separation from the rest of the gang for now. If there is any neuromuscular impairment, such as unsteady gate, let's put her in a chicken sling if it is at all efficacious to do so. Other than that, tenderness and closeness, a sense of protection (chicken psychology is as much a matter of feeling good and recovery as the physical stuff, in my humble opinion).

And you should be good to go. You've done very well here. Dang eagles (and dang hawks when they appear).

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! You did a great job cleaning the wound, so I think she'll be fine. I had a duck that was attacked by a fox. If you're interested, you can read my thread to see how I treated her.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...c-pictures-happy-ending.1554557/post-26306150

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I wish you the best. It takes a special person to keep their cool and do the right things. Preventing infection and low stress would be my #1 goals. I would probably keep the bird somewhere super clean as can be. When my hen lost 75% of her comb, I kept her inside for about 10 day. It was easier to watch her and administer her cleanings twice a day that way.

 

[EuroChook]

I wish you the best. It takes a special person to keep their cool and do the right things. Preventing infection and low stress would be my #1 goals. I would probably keep the bird somewhere super clean as can be. When my hen lost 75% of her comb, I kept her inside for about 10 day. It was easier to watch her and administer her cleanings twice a day that way.

For sure! (About keeping cool, and clean is a great idea!)

 

[Chickenandgreens]

Wow. Just wow.... you are so lucky to have your little young bird back. Well done for being in the right location at the right time. Some people do dress and cover the open wounds, this keeps viruses and bacteria and flies away, and other birds from attacking the wound site, I always cover. Some folks around this niche don't. I always cover. It is an added layer of protection.

Maintain fluids. Our birds have little cardivovascular volume anyway, and so it is important to keep fluids optimal. Separation from the rest of the gang for now. If there is any neuromuscular impairment, such as unsteady gate, let's put her in a chicken sling if it is at all efficacious to do so. Other than that, tenderness and closeness, a sense of protection (chicken psychology is as much a matter of feeling good and recovery as the physical stuff, in my humble opinion).

And you should be good to go. You've done very well here. Dang eagles (and dang hawks when they appear).

We have three things of fluids for her, one is just water, one is water with hydro hen it has probiotics-electrolytes- acidifers in it and says to provide it with clean water during times of stress along with hydrohen We also have her food which is organic pullet mix that I mix with water turns into a mush she has eaten a good amount of that in past 12 hours haven’t seen her drink but at least know she’s getting hydrated threw her food. She’s in a Three feet tall by four feet wide crate with straw and a milk crate for her to roost on it or go in. Covered with a blanket because the cats are very curious about that her. Nights have been dropping into the low 50s high 40s here so inside at night on the heated bathroom floor. Yes most worried about infection and the skin closing/ growing back/ scabbing over. Planning on applying spray 2-3 times a day.

 

[Chickenandgreens]

Wow. Just wow.... you are so lucky to have your little young bird back. Well done for being in the right location at the right time. Some people do dress and cover the open wounds, this keeps viruses and bacteria and flies away, and other birds from attacking the wound site, I always cover. Some folks around this niche don't. I always cover. It is an added layer of protection.

Maintain fluids. Our birds have little cardivovascular volume anyway, and so it is important to keep fluids optimal. Separation from the rest of the gang for now. If there is any neuromuscular impairment, such as unsteady gate, let's put her in a chicken sling if it is at all efficacious to do so. Other than that, tenderness and closeness, a sense of protection (chicken psychology is as much a matter of feeling good and recovery as the physical stuff, in my humble opinion).

And you should be good to go. You've done very well here. Dang eagles (and dang hawks when they appear).

Thank you! We have here away from the others in a large cage by herself blanket over so she’s no exposed. I want the wound to be able to heal the best as possible and I know I’m able to watch it for signs of infection better when uncoverd. I’m also able to clean the cage from her waste etc. I think I would try to do a bandage when she’s ready to return to the flock so they don’t pick at her to wound is also under her wing so you have to pull it back to get it. Thank you she’s eating her mush right now! And calling for her flock very alert and awake good signs

 

[Chickenandgreens]

Hello everyone I’ve been looking at this site for awhile now for my birds. One of my younger pullets, around 3 months old. Was found in a golden eagles claws yesterday at 3pm I scared it away and was able to catch my bird, and put it in a small cage when I went out to get supplies. Ended up getting large dog crate for her to recover in and Vetericyn antimicrobial poultry care healing aid and skin repair. And hydro hen. She has two injury’s a cut about the size of a quarter that wasn’t bleeding, so she didn’t loose much blood and lost tail feathers. We put a shirt over her head and calmed her down as she is a flighty bird and washed the surrounding area carefully with dawn dish soup and water. Lightly patted dry and applied the spray and triple antibiotic over the flesh wound. For her tail feather we washed cleaned and sprayed. This morning we were able to confirm that she did have feathers pushed under then skin from being grabbed by the three foot bird (yes three feet tall Im pretty good with birds and this thing was not a Hawk I’ll tell you that. )We were able to take the feathers out from under the skin and remove them with clean sanitized tweezers. She has been eating and drinking and pooping and is upset she’s not with the flock, we have been trying to prevent the Eagle from coming back for another bird as we now notice them or other large birds of prey circling over the house maybe 200-300 feet up. Got a fake hawk to put up. Mesh tarps and some reflective tape! Any suggestions! I believe I’m covering all my bases here!
Attached photos
1 and 2- morning after attack you can see the feathers pushed into the skin
3- clump of feathers removed
4- wound after feathers removed

Update day after attack afternoon- She sure does have a appetite and is jumping down from her milk crate with ease, I’ve seen her grooming herself and avoiding the area. Seem was she’s holding the wing lower and not covering it not sure what that means Keeping a close eye for infection and seeing if we need a bandage to heal I just don’t know how I would do that. I’ve also added deternants in the run ( fake hawk, mesh tarp, reflective tape) but the older girls are staying in the coop and the other pullets also hiding under a favorite bush, they are definitely shook up as I don’t think any of them have experienced a hawk attack all under a year old. I think I would like to bandage i just don’t know when I should to keep applying meds and how to do to what I need etc

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

We have three things of fluids for her, one is just water, one is water with hydro hen it has probiotics-electrolytes- acidifers in it and says to provide it with clean water during times of stress along with hydrohen We also have her food which is organic pullet mix that I mix with water turns into a mush she has eaten a good amount of that in past 12 hours haven’t seen her drink but at least know she’s getting hydrated threw her food. She’s in a Three feet tall by four feet wide crate with straw and a milk crate for her to roost on it or go in. Covered with a blanket because the cats are very curious about that her. Nights have been dropping into the low 50s high 40s here so inside at night on the heated bathroom floor. Yes most worried about infection and the skin closing/ growing back/ scabbing over. Planning on applying spray 2-3 times a day.

Your home may be warm enough without supplemental heat. Depending on breed some hens do better in cold than heat. Its wind chills that get their feathers all ruffled!

 

[Chickenandgreens]

Our bathroom floor is heated at 82 degrees that’s where we have been putting her at night, she has a blanket over cage and opened on one side during day when we put the cage on the porch near the room, and the cage has a plastic bottom should we turn off the heated floor for night? I temped gunned her yesterday and she was the same temp on the comb as the other chickens in the coop. Not sure the breed was labeled as a golden sexlink at the feed store.