Found injured hen in yard need advice

[mumzee1432]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about the hen. Being hit by a car, she may have suffered internal injuries but it's hard to know.

Vet care is best, but often it's cost prohibitive and/or you may not have access to a vet that is familiar with poultry.

Being able to move and stretch her wings on her own is positive.
Falling over while standing could be of course serious injury, but can be shock as well.

Clean wounds with saline, Povidone Iodine, Chlorhexine, etc. and apply triple antibiotic to wounds to keep them moist.
When you have time, photos the wounds may be helpful if they are extensive.

Giving her electrolytes like you are doing is very good, work on getting her to take sips on her own if possible, by holding a cup to her beak, but if she's weak, then giving drops by syringe is good too.

When you are ready to feed her, scrambled or soft boiled egg would be good. You mention a Kitty, so she can have a small amount of canned cat food. Oatmeal will be o.k. for a short period of time, it's not a nutritionally dense of poultry feed - but the main objective is to supply her with food that you may have readily available. Other things that can be given is a small amount of canned fish like tuna, mackerel or sardines, soaked torn bread, a Tablespoon of plain yogurt mixed with other foods, etc.
When injured, sometimes they go off feed, so if she's willing to eat, let her, just not a whole chocolate cake or something like that

Chickens can heal from severe wounds and injuries, they are quite resilient, time is going to tell how this turns out.
I do hope she's able to recover, but prepare for the worst too.

Know this though - she's warm, she's being loved, she's going to have care from you and your family, it sounds like for now she is quite content and relaxing with the Kitty - so if her time does come, she's surrounded by Family.

Thank you so much. All of this information is so helpful. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the detail you've gone into. It will help us a lot going forward.

She's more alert right now. Just looking around, nestled into the towels, and noticing she's not in a place she recognizes. She tried to stand up again and bawk a little (her normal happy bawk even). Looked a bit more stable when she lifted up. That didn't last long but it's definitely better than she's been able to do up until this point. She sitting up staring at me now. The image I can't shake from my mind (when we found her) was seeing her kicking wildly trying to get herself off her back and onto her feet. That must have gone on a while before we got there -- so I think she was absolutely exhausted and in shock. She gave me no grief as I helped her off the ground onto her tummy into the towel -- and hasn't yet. My daughter pointed out how many times this particular chicken has tried to sneak into the house from the porch. On some level, I know she realizes who she's with even if she's never been inside before.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I would assume she is in shock for the moment. Let her rest electrolyte/water works well, so does soft scramble egg. The extra protein will help her heal faster. Let her stay inside, if you can. In time she will see y'all as her flock. when she is ready to go back outside, put her in the coop, but let her remain in the cage. See no touch integration. When you or I should say she is ready, let her with the regular flock on a strictly supervised visit. as long as all is going well extend her visits and then let her roost with the others, I would not even contact those other people, I would say where they should go, but this is a family sight. She is so lucky you found her. Don't expect much at first, these things take time.

 

[Brooks_]

I would say where they should go, but this is a family sight

I'll say it....that special place.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I'll say it....that special place.

May they burn their feet.

 

[Brooks_]

May they burn their feet.

Like a cat on a hot tin roof.

 

[mumzee1432]

I would assume she is in shock for the moment. Let her rest electrolyte/water works well, so does soft scramble egg. The extra protein will help her heal faster. Let her stay inside, if you can. In time she will see y'all as her flock. when she is ready to go back outside, put her in the coop, but let her remain in the cage. See no touch integration. When you or I should say she is ready, let her with the regular flock on a strictly supervised visit. as long as all is going well extend her visits and then let her roost with the others, I would not even contact those other people, I would say where they should go, but this is a family sight. She is so lucky you found her. Don't expect much at first, these things take time.

I definitely think we are on the right path for now and we're patient and willing to do all we can. I retired recently and my daughter is home from school for a month. So we have time and space to help. Unfortunately, this chicken's regular flock is the flock of the people down the road who do virtually nothing beyond the bare minimum (and that's a stretch) to take care of these chickens. Essentially, they have chickens to collect eggs. If she heals and is able to recover from the injuries, it's hard to envision working with them to integrate her back into the regular flock in the way one should. They know everyone else is feeding the chickens. When we initially tried to take her to their house, I looked around the back yard too to find someone. I saw no signs feeding stations or covering in the coop (unless you count the nesting boxes). The door to the coop is propped on the side (not attached), so it's pretty easy to see how a coyote could get to the chickens. I'm not convinced the roosters are housed in a coop. At daybreak every day (pouring down rain or shine), the whole flock is generally on our porch starving. I found out the people behind our house are feeding them nonstop too. I only figured out where the chickens "live" by discovering the mother in our back yard leading them home with cheerios. Most of the people around us think the chickens are ours because they stick close to our house during the day. I've corrected that several times. I don't mind the chickens at all -- I love them in fact, but it crosses a lot of lines in my opinion for them to ignore the chickens in their time of need.

 

[mumzee1432]

We discovered one of our neighbor's free-range chickens had been hit by a car. She was lying on her back, kicking her legs desperately, trying to get onto her feet. By the time we discovered her, she was absolutely exhausted. I eased her onto a towel, and we carried her to the owner's house. No one was home, so we took her home and made sure her bleeding was stopped, applied some Neosporin to abrasions, and held her while she slept. We eventually moved her to a dog kennel and helped her get comfortable. I was able to get her to drink a little electrolytes/water on her own, then by syringe. She is content and sleeping.

During the transition from being held in the towel to the kennel, she tried to stand up and fell over (wobbly). At one point, she stretched out both wings, so her wings were ok. I'm concerned she might have a hip or pelvis injury, but I'm not sure. She just looked off on the side where she was hit.

Meanwhile, my husband drove to the owner's house and told them about the hen and offered to let the hen stay in our kennel if they preferred (since we have her comfortable). The wife said her husband would come pick up the hen later. So far, they haven't come. (It's been 5 hours.) Having seen the coop conditions, this hen has a better recovery space in the kennel inside our house. She definitely would not survive on her on in her current condition. Their coop is not covered -- and is very small for 9 chickens (about 10 ft x 10 ft max).

We regularly feed, play with, and talk to these chickens. I do think she realizes she's being taken care of. She has been content letting us help her get comfortable and seems to be resting well. She's sleeping a lot now that we have her in kennel and nestled into a soft towel. Aside from keeping her safe, warm, and dry & comfortable -- and trying to get her to drink and then maybe eat tomorrow, is there anything else we can do? She's not our chicken but it feels wrong not to try to help her. It's very cold and windy here tonight and there's a coyote that attacked another chicken a couple of days ago in the area. Not sure how we have gotten so attached to these free-range chickens, but our whole neighborhood loves these sweet birds.

Bedtime update:
Dumplin has consumed 4 tablespoons of water with electrolytes on her on and let me feed her a syringe of water. She ate a few nibbles of wet cat food. She took a notion to try to stand up and toppled over -- then had a huge poop. We ended up giving her a shallow sink bath and she was receptive to that. She bawked at the cat through the kennel so I put him in the bedroom -- but that episode showed me she can stretch her neck. It also kicked off her drinking and pooping spree. Any suggestions now how to handle pooping arrangements in a kennel? She's struggling to get traction without a towel in there but I feel like I need to work toward a better plan once we get past the trauma stage. I'll try scrambled eggs tomorrow morning. She's interested in food but not quite ready to eat. I'm grateful she's drinking. Thank you all so much for your support!

 

[Brooks_]

How does the poop look...normal? Signs of internal bleeding?

 

[BockBockChick]

Feed her some extra mealworms/BSFL. The extra protein will help her heal quickly. Make sure to keep any open wounds clean by lightly dabbing hydrogenperoxide on and around the wound each time before you apply the triple antibiotic ointment. Remember to wash your hands first to prevent infection and/or wear surgical gloves. Apply the ointment liberally. Keep her protected from other pets/animals as she recuperates, hopefully. Chickens are surprisingly resilient, just like @Wyorp Rock said. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[mumzee1432]

How does the poop look...normal? Signs of internal bleeding?

Pretty normal—a lot of it. No blood. There was white mixed in and greenish brown. It was a little watery. She let me wash her feet and bottom. She tried hard not to get poop on herself but lost her balance before i could help.