fox attack, injured hen

[mahabharat]

hello, on thursday we had a fox attack our free-ranging group of hens. found one carcass, and two piles of feathers. first pile (brown feathers) was definitely from the dead hen. second pile, white feathers, i couldn't locate that hen at all. we followed the trail of white feathers up the driveway and across the street then lost our trail.

yesterday, friday, we heard and saw the missing bird! she finally returned late yesterday and is injured, punctured wounds in sides and chest. she is isolated in my spare room, in a cage, with food and water. she was started on baytril liquid last night.

she is not well this am. raspy breathing, i am assuming she probably has a punctured lung or pneumonia or both? no bird vets around and my local vet (supplied me with the antibiotic) has done all he can do within his training. they don't do birds.

i need to pull/cut the feathers to better view the wound - advice on how to do this without causing too much pain?

she is white leghorn, about 2 yo. no egg, yet today. she is drinking, not eating. standing still, puffed up, eyes closed when we are in the room.

help!!!!

ralph

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Poor chicken. When we had an injured chicken, I was amazed at how compliant they were, even when getting stitches. You can wrap her partially in a towel and have some one hold her while you clip the feathers out of the way.

I'm glad she is on antibiotics. If she does have a punctured lung you may just have to wait and see if she pulls through.

To support her healing, you may want to add some nutrients to her water. They sell packets at many feed stores.

 

[mahabharat]

thanks! with the help of my middle 7 yo dd, i've examined the wound, clipped away the bloody mangled feathers and looked over the rest of the hen's body. she has a large amount of bruising under her skin, some crepitus when palpated, but i don't think there are broken bones...

she has little interest in food or water today. yesterday, she was drinking. she still has normal stool, though...

she doesn't seem to be whistling from the wound, so probably not sucking chest wound - a great relief to me! but, still some noisy breathing, so i am either putting the antibiotic down the wrong tube in her throat, or she has pneumonia, which hopefully, the antibiotic will take care of.

i am going to put nutrients in her water - a great suggestion, thanks! i was worried about killing her gut with antibiotics, so probiotics in the water should help prevent that. then of course, i have to get her to drink...

these things always happen over a holiday weekend, no?!