Fox Attack - Large Wound on Side

[Frizzle and Friends]

Recently we've been having a fox targeting our flock. This morning we had another attack, but the fox dropped the hen after we ran out with the dog. I could see a smaller wound on her back and we tried to catcher her earlier. Unfortunately, she freaked out trying to get away, and I decided to wait for tonight when she was roosting to reduce her stress and stop her from hurting herself more trying to get away.

Tonight, when I went to put some triple antibiotic on her, I discovered a much larger wound hidden under her wing. It starts on the top of her back and extends down her left side and leg. It's completely through the skin into the fat layer. In some spots muscle is visible.

So far, she is inside in a dark cage with electrolyte water and layer pellets. I plan on scrambling her some eggs tomorrow morning. I've applied triple antibiotics to the wound and covered it in gauze. I have betadine that I could apply, but have held off because the wound was starting to dry and I wanted to moisten it. What should be my next steps to help her be? I'm letting her rest before anymore treatment tomorrow.

I don't have photos at the moment, since I was more focused on getting her patched up and resting, but I'll get them tomorrow as well.

 

[Livia Ammon]

Getting a vet is definitely the next step. She will probably die, but a vet is her best chance at life. I am so sorry that you’ve got a fox problem; have you tried catch-and-release traps with raw meat inside? Or perhaps some sort of berry? Good luck, but prepare for the worst.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Recently we've been having a fox targeting our flock. This morning we had another attack, but the fox dropped the hen after we ran out with the dog. I could see a smaller wound on her back and we tried to catcher her earlier. Unfortunately, she freaked out trying to get away, and I decided to wait for tonight when she was roosting to reduce her stress and stop her from hurting herself more trying to get away.

Tonight, when I went to put some triple antibiotic on her, I discovered a much larger wound hidden under her wing. It starts on the top of her back and extends down her left side and leg. It's completely through the skin into the fat layer. In some spots muscle is visible.

So far, she is inside in a dark cage with electrolyte water and layer pellets. I plan on scrambling her some eggs tomorrow morning. I've applied triple antibiotics to the wound and covered it in gauze. I have betadine that I could apply, but have held off because the wound was starting to dry and I wanted to moisten it. What should be my next steps to help her be? I'm letting her rest before anymore treatment tomorrow.

I don't have photos at the moment, since I was more focused on getting her patched up and resting, but I'll get them tomorrow as well.

I'm sorry about your hen.

Can you post photos of the wounds?

It would be good to flush out and clean all wounds with the Betadine, trim feathers away from the wounds so you can see them better and they will stay cleaner/not stick in the wounds.

Once the wounds are cleaned well, apply the triple antibiotic ointment. Leave the wound unwrapped unless she begins to aggressively pick at herself.

Offer sugar water/electrolytes to work her through shock and provide her with her normal feed. Treats of yummy scrambled eggs are good too!

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

OK, here are photos of her injury after giving it another cleaning this morning. This is before I soaked it in betadine, since that would change the color.

Getting a vet is definitely the next step. She will probably die, but a vet is her best chance at life. I am so sorry that you’ve got a fox problem; have you tried catch-and-release traps with raw meat inside? Or perhaps some sort of berry? Good luck, but prepare for the worst.

Unfortunately, a vet is not an option. Our local vet does not treat birds of any sort, so I'm on my own here. We are working on the fox problem at the moment.

I'm sorry about your hen.

Can you post photos of the wounds?

It would be good to flush out and clean all wounds with the Betadine, trim feathers away from the wounds so you can see them better and they will stay cleaner/not stick in the wounds.

Once the wounds are cleaned well, apply the triple antibiotic ointment. Leave the wound unwrapped unless she begins to aggressively pick at herself.

Offer sugar water/electrolytes to work her through shock and provide her with her normal feed. Treats of yummy scrambled eggs are good too!

I followed your advice with the betadine and triple antibiotic. I can also run out to the store and pick up any extra supplies.
You would suggest to leave unwrapped, even though her wing falls over it? I was worried about that irritating the wound and putting debris in it.
This morning, the electrolyte I gave her was much lower, so she definitely drank a bunch last night. She'll get some scrambled eggs this morning.
She's definitely in pain, but still alert and checking out her surroundings, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

 

[coach723]

I would follow @Wyorp Rock 's advice. As long as there is no infection they can survive some pretty awful wounds. I've treated a few myself, they are pretty resilient. I will attach a link that has some pictures of wounds healing, for reference, and some of them are pretty similar to your birds.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wounds-pictures-of-how-they-heal.1325817/#post-21627607

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

I would follow @Wyorp Rock 's advice. As long as there is no infection they can survive some pretty awful wounds. I've treated a few myself, they are pretty resilient. I will attach a link that has some pictures of wounds healing, for reference, and some of them are pretty similar to your birds.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wounds-pictures-of-how-they-heal.1325817/#post-21627607

Thank you for the link, it's very helpful to see the progression and to know what to expect.
I've followed the advice of @Wyorp Rock with the betadine, triple antibiotic, and leaving it uncovered. She's still alert and has been scratching around and eating her food.

 

[Livia Ammon]

I would recommend learning how to suture; the skin will never grow back together when it’s spread open like that. A few years ago, I had a sheep get a similar injury. She had to get a tetanus shot and her wound was sutured together, but her skin there was very thin and fragile, and the sutures broke. My sister and I cleaned it out with cotton swabs and scarlet oil for about a week. Unfortunately, the wound was too long and deep to do anything about, she got sepsis and died.

This chicken’s wound doesn’t seem to go as deep, and only hits the muscle layer in a couple of places. Cleanliness, of course, is essential, and I totally agree with trimming her feathers near the wound away. I would recommend a 3 in radius around the wound where there are no feathers. Also, a course of antibiotics would help to stave off infection.

Also, keep her in as sterile a place as you can find. Inside, probably, perhaps in a cardboard box? With a wound that deep, tetanus is a concern. It isn’t necessarily going to happen, but if you can find a chicken tetanus shot, I’d go for it if I were you.

Treating deep lacerations is tough, especially without the help of a vet, so I’d try to find one of those survival medicine books and see if there is a chapter on lacerations. You could try to adapt it to the chicken, and that could help.

All in all, it’s going to be tough, and it might not work, but after seeing her wound I think she could live. Best of luck, and God bless!

 

[coach723]

Chickens do not typically get tetanus. Some of the things that are common in mammals, are not so in avian species. Also, suturing is usually not necessary,. If you will look at the link I provided before, those were some very large wounds, and all healed just fine with time and care, no suturing needed. Suturing wounds closed can also close in bacteria. Chickens are amazing at healing.

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

Just an update on Delta and her wound. The betadine treatment appears to be helping some, though I know it's a bit early to tell. I just treated her side again and already the skin appears to be looking better. The skin at the top is a light pink and there is no odd smell. It is slightly greenish in a spot, but I'm guessing that is bruising, which is to be expected.
I did have to wrap her up today. After being out, I came back and noticed her face looked very shiny. I spent some time observing her and she started picking at her side so I placed some very thin gauze pads on top of the wound to prevent her from picking at it any worse. She proceeded to immediately grab those and drop them in the crate, so now she has vet wrap on top of that preventing her from removing the gauze.
She's still alert and eating and drinking. I gave her the scrambled eggs this morning, which she picked at and I'm taking as a good sign.

Also, we got a bottle of chlorohexidine solution today as well because I saw it recommended in similar threads. Do I use that, or just stick with the betadine and triple antibiotic treatment that was suggested?

 

[coach723]

Unless you need to clean the wound(s) you can skip that part now and just reapply the ointment. Initially wounds need to be flushed and cleaned to get out any debris and as much bacteria as possible to prevent infection. If it's staying clean and there isn't discharge or anything that needs to be cleaned off, then just apply the ointment.