A week ago this past Wednesday, a fox scaled our privacy fence in broad daylight and entertained himself with our hens. I caught him in the act and got my 4 with bite wounds to the vet. They're on antibiotics, probiotics, pain killer and are being cleaned with Betadine solution and wrapped with silver sulfadazine on the punctures (all were very deep). Everything is just now starting to heal.
I lost one bird last Saturday...I had absolutely no indication that she was failing, so perhaps internal injuries. Everyone else is (knock on wood) recovering pretty well, considering. I see pin feathers under the surface of the skin and we're finally getting some scabbing on those deep wounds. However, my next challenge is getting weight back on these girls. We do not eat our chickens, but I worry about the fact that they've lost so much weight in the recovery process. They are together in a large dog crate in the house. They have food and water at all times (layer pellets, cracked corn, greens every day). What can I use to supplement this with to help them get some of their bulk back?
I lost one bird last Saturday...I had absolutely no indication that she was failing, so perhaps internal injuries. Everyone else is (knock on wood) recovering pretty well, considering. I see pin feathers under the surface of the skin and we're finally getting some scabbing on those deep wounds. However, my next challenge is getting weight back on these girls. We do not eat our chickens, but I worry about the fact that they've lost so much weight in the recovery process. They are together in a large dog crate in the house. They have food and water at all times (layer pellets, cracked corn, greens every day). What can I use to supplement this with to help them get some of their bulk back?
