Hawk Attack......Should we just put her down???

[Eggcessive]

The amoxicillin is probably better than penicillin. Amoxicillin dosage is in post #11 of this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-amoxicillin-dose-for-a-five-pound-brahma-hen

 

[Appleby2003]

That's good and relieving to hear. I have to be honest, since this happened on sunday afternoon it has evolved at warp speed and I'm finding myself learning by the seat of my pants here as things develop. We've only owned chickens since May but its been nonstop learning and I'm just waiting to make a mistake here. Sometimes things get moving too fast for me to digest info like I need to. This is one of those times haha. My goal is to get her through Sunday. I think if I can get her through 1 week post attack then she'll be on the road to recovery. I'm not overly attached to the birds but now its turned into more a challenge to me. This thing is not dying on me.......that hawk is not winning.

 

[poodlechicks]

You are doing such great work trying to save this bird. Last time I posted I later regretted not saying anything about systemic antibiotics. I am so glad there are so many knowledgeable people here. I learn a lot from them, too.

Next time, you'll be a pro at taking care of injured birds. But hopefully you won't have to deal with that again.

 

[Appleby2003]

Night time feeding and watering is done. The wound looks MUCH better then it did this morning after the Amoxicillin, Dakin Solution, and Castor. Like night and day. There is still a little pussy looking area at the bottom of the wound so we treated everything again.

For dinner tonight she got 3ml of yogurt and one full scrambled egg. The one thing that seems to be apparent is that her motor skills are very unsteady. She clearly wants to eat and drink but she doesn't have the motor skills to do it. At least thats want it seems. I'm a little concerned about brain trauma or spinal trauma. It's also possible there is some swelling causing issues. Not sure but I know that she wants to eat but cant get her beak on the food. Once we put the egg in her mouth though she eats it like she hasn't eatin in weeks. Big chunks right down the hatch. So the next issue is quickly approaching. Both of us work so my she's definitely not getting as much food as she needs I dont think. She really just getting a full feed once at night and that jsut consists of what I just said. An egg and some yogurt. we do give her a small feeding in the AM but the kids keep us strapped for time to do the whole deal which is taking about 45- an hour. Water too. She's only getting water in the AM and the evening. We can't get to her all day. If she doesn't start working on her own soon she may get into trouble from a food and water stand point.

 

[herbsandspices]

We had a chicken attacked by a dog 4 months ago. It looked way worse than your photos. Our neighbor is a vet and she came over to inspect. We flushed her with water to clean and she gave us antibiotics to crush in liquid and feed with a syringe. There was little we could do other than wait. Her entire neck was showing muscle. Our neighbor assured us that chickens were extremely resilient, so we decided that as long as she had the will to live, we would help her. We hand fed her through a syringe (yogurt with water and similar things) for two days, then she started eating and drinking by herself. We bandaged her initially, but realized that she couldn't move her neck freely and it affected her balance. We removed the bandages and were amazed at how quickly she regained balance and will to live.

We kept her in a large dog kennel in the house for three weeks. We even let her out to walk around in the hard-floored areas and exercise her wings. The main reason for keeping her inside while she healed was because the other chickens would peck at her and possibly kill her. The biggest problem was re-introducing her to our flock (only 5). We chose the friendliest chicken to come inside and stay with Nutmeg in the kennel for a couple nights. They both seemed very happy, Nutmeg especially having company once again. We started letting her outside during the day with the flock, but kept her inside at night for a few more days before we felt sure that she would be safe. It did take a couple weeks of her being run off by the other birds, but she re-gained her status as an equal. She will never have feathers on her neck again, but she is a happy, productive flock member (it took several months before she started laying again - she had lost half her weight). We think the lack of feathers on her neck give her a 'decorative' look. You can't even tell unless she's standing up stretching out her neck. She really deserved to live and we're glad we put in the effort to help her, even though at the time we were feeling a big silly because of our devotion to a chicken. Lessons learned:

1. Antibiotics
2. Chickens can live though a lot
3. If they have the will, it doesn't take a lot from us humans to help them live
4. Re-socialization with the flock is key

 

[Appleby2003]

So how often should I used the dakin solution and castor oil?? Once, twice a day?,,,

 

[CMV]

Send a PM to Beekissed and ask.

 

[Appleby2003]

Got it

 

[Appleby2003]

Little update. We're now 4 days post attack and she is still alive. It appears that we have the infection 90% under control except for 2 stubborn areas that are still weeping yellow a bit. We're still treating with Dakins (once a day) and a light touch of castor oil once or twice. She's also getting about 100 mg amoxicillon 2x daily and we'll continue that though the weekend. A lot of the skull is not covered with scabby tissue. I'd say 50%. The rest is still exposed but the coverage increases daily. She is still not eating or drinking on her own. We have to put the water to her beak and she drinks. The food we have to pry her beak open. Once the food is in she gobbles it down like she starving and appears happy to eat a whole egg. Its a LOOONG process to feed her.

My main concern now is shifting from infection over to some sort of brain damage. Hopefully its just a concussion but her motor skills are dreadful. The fact that she's not eating or drinking freely is concerning. While we don't mind for now if this continues about 2-3 weeks with us having to spend 2 hours a day treating her we may need to consider some tough choices. Were hoping every day though to catch her eating or taking her first drink. Its still too early to tell. For the time being though we'll stay the course and continue her yogurt and egg meals haha.

 

[Eggcessive]

You might want to consider tube feeding as an alternative to get more nutrition into her. A whole meal can be tube fed in just a couple of minutes twice a day. Here is a link if you are interested: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding