Hawk got my birds!

[McPickle88]

Came home from dinner and one of my hens was on my deck rails at 8pm, WEIRD! I grabbed her and took to coop and realized 2 other hens were missing! I found my sweet Camilla in my shed with her back ripped off down to the meat! She is alive but badly injured. I never found Princess Leia, I am assuming she was carried off! I am hoping she is hiding but I doubt it! I took Camilla inside and cleaned her wound and put Blue Kote and sterile gauze and compression wrap around her wings. I placed in a clean kennel in sunroom with heat to rest and hopefully survive the night! I need advise to know what else to do? Has anyone had a chicken survive a severe back wound? I had my ducks killed several months ago by a hawk as well with one survivor.

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

We need some pictures. I can tag some people, but I don't really know. Is she eating or drinking? Active at all? If you have some nutri-drench I would give some to her. @aart @Wyorp Rock @azygous

 

[McPickle88]

I didn't take any tonight. I will take some when I clean it in the morning. She is in shock I think. She has not eatten as far as I have seen. I am going to stop othering her tonight to let her rest.

 

[azygous]

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite, tear or puncture marks indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. Bacteria from the predator’s mouth can be injected deep into tissue and can kill in as little as 24 to 48 hours. You can order this https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/250mg once a day for ten days. Or you may be able to find this or something similar at TSC or a pet store.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

Your missing hen may still turn up. Hawks do not generally carry off their prey. Over fourteen years of keeping chickens, I've lost two to bobcats and one to a hawk. I've had chickens turn up missing during predator attacks, and later were found hiding in the most improbable places.

One such attack scared four six-week old chicks far from the coop. I had searched for them for hours, and finally discovered them huddled together behind a firewood barrel on the front porch. A few years later, I lost a single chick that had hatched after a predator attack, and thought she had been carried off since she was only around eight weeks old. I finally discovered her hiding place where she had stuffed herself between two straw bales a good distance from the run.

Go out tomorrow and look up in the trees. Look in cracks and behind stuff. I bet you find her.

 

[McPickle88]

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite, tear or puncture marks indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. Bacteria from the predator’s mouth can be injected deep into tissue and can kill in as little as 24 to 48 hours. You can order this https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/250mg once a day for ten days. Or you may be able to find this or something similar at TSC or a pet store.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

Your missing hen may still turn up. Hawks do not generally carry off their prey. Over fourteen years of keeping chickens, I've lost two to bobcats and one to a hawk. I've had chickens turn up missing during predator attacks, and later were found hiding in the most improbable places.

One such attack scared four six-week old chicks far from the coop. I had searched for them for hours, and finally discovered them huddled together behind a firewood barrel on the front porch. A few years later, I lost a single chick that had hatched after a predator attack, and thought she had been carried off since she was only around eight weeks old. I finally discovered her hiding place where she had stuffed herself between two straw bales a good distance from the run.

Go out tomorrow and look up in the trees. Look in cracks and behind stuff. I bet you find her.

Thank you so much! I cleaned and put blue kote on tonight. It was all I had. I put sterile gauze on it and wrapped it. Should i keep it open? She let me wrap it

 

[azygous]

It can be wrapped as long as the hen permits it. The important thing is daily cleansing and ointment to keep the tissue moist.

 

[McChooky]

Hawks can't carry their prey far .There will be a halo of feathers where they kill them and rip feathers out before they eat them. They'll also tear the flesh into small pieces to carry it easier back to the nest.

 

[The WinterWolf]

Came home from dinner and one of my hens was on my deck rails at 8pm, WEIRD! I grabbed her and took to coop and realized 2 other hens were missing! I found my sweet Camilla in my shed with her back ripped off down to the meat! She is alive but badly injured. I never found Princess Leia, I am assuming she was carried off! I am hoping she is hiding but I doubt it! I took Camilla inside and cleaned her wound and put Blue Kote and sterile gauze and compression wrap around her wings. I placed in a clean kennel in sunroom with heat to rest and hopefully survive the night! I need advise to know what else to do? Has anyone had a chicken survive a severe back wound? I had my ducks killed several months ago by a hawk as well with one survivor.

NNNNOOOOOOOOO i used to have a princess lay-a

 

[The WinterWolf]

i had a bird named t-rex who had his neck stripped to the meat by a raccoon. he survived. i'm sorry i hate hawks

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

I feel I have been so blessed to have had no attacks on my chickens in the year and a half I have had them. We built our coop as predator proof as possible with the big metal roundup containers that farmers use wrapped with chicken wire on sides and top with dog pen wire on bottom so nothing can dig.