Extended hawk attack and large open wound - what treatment?

[Rivington]

Thanks for the responses. Sorry but what is 3x abx? My best guess is 3 doses of antibiotics? There is a small green spot on the skin but I think that may be a bruise. In any event we bought Hibiclens today and washed the wound with it.

 

[Rivington]

Also, she was very lively this evening, much moreso than she has been since the attack. She is still not eating much but when we let her out of the pen she was happily exploring our basement. She has a noticeable limp but I can't find any other injuries. Hopefully she is on the mend.

 

[Rivington]

Caramel's recovery continues. The wound seems to be healing with no obvious sign of infection. The gash is still pronounced, though, so I don't expect it to close up. We sprayed Theracyn on the whole wound a couple of times yesterday. She still has an obvious limp but is fully mobile. She is alert and is eating more. We are pleased to have gotten to this stage, so thanks to the community for your advice.

She is clearly feeling confined in her "hospital". We plan put her in an old dog crate outside later to give her some fresh air and maybe tomorrow we will put the crate in the run so she can see the other chickens and vice versa. Any suggestions on when might be a good time to allow her to mingle with the flock? We have Blu-Kote and can use that when the time is right.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

You can always cover the wound with non stick gauze and an old kids tank top. I've used stockinette to hold bandages in place. With the location it may not want to stay put but it could be ok for some supervised flock time.
This is the thread I created when one of my girls had a nasty looking wound.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/yikes-large-wound-on-hen.1141144/#post-17736677

 

[deepbluesea]

Thanks for the responses. Sorry but what is 3x abx? My best guess is 3 doses of antibiotics? There is a small green spot on the skin but I think that may be a bruise. In any event we bought Hibiclens today and washed the wound with it.

I think that 3x abx means triple antibiotic cream. It looks a lot better--I bet she's going to make it! My GLW, when she first ventured out of the dog crate, was very unsteady on her feet. She's still not back to 100%, but she's happily back in the flock.

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad to hear that she is doing well. The wound should fill in eventually—it can take several weeks for granulation to occur. Take it slowly with putting her back in, spending some time in the crate, then supervised free ranging, and finally putting them back together. Keep us updated.

 

[Rivington]

She spent some time outdoors in a dog crate while the rest of the flock was free ranging. Our other Easter Egger came and sat with her. Unfortunately we had to cut the fun short when the hawk reappeared. We managed to get the others back into the run safely and Caramel was sent back to the basement. She seems to really be getting back to normal now and is even flying a little (or as much as I would expect from a chicken!). Here's the latest view of the wound.

 

[micstrachan]

Caramel is amazing and you are doing a great job! I think she will fully recover. The hawk reappearing is a problem. What is used to enclose the run?
My run is only chicken wire a.k.a. poultry netting, but I would like to upgrade to hardware cloth at some point, as hawks can reach through the chicken wire.
I only allow my girls to free range while supervised, as we have hawks, too. And eagles, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, mountain lions etc. I try to play ball with my border collie as much as possible while the girls free range, as I think a dog running around the yard is a deterrent to most of the predators. By any chance do you have dog?

 

[Rivington]

Yes we do have a dog and he has been on hawk duty recently. However he is easily distracted by squirrels! Our run is fairly secure with an apron and buried hardware cloth. It has hawk netting at the top. Here is our dog looking after the other girls.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I’m so happy that Caramel is recovering nicely. I hope the hawk stops visiting your property.