Help bear attack... should I euthanize?

[ryneaeiel]

The leg with bruising is her right if shes facing me. It's the side under her "skinned wound" under her wing. The whole leg is that dark blue, from the thigh down and I could see no clear puncture wounds/broken skin. She got fiesty taking the picture and started to mess up her dressings. I can try to get a better one tonight if it would help

Ah, yeah, it's bruised. I was worried about infection in that leg but I can see it's more of a bruise.

Is this an injury to her toe, or just something stuck to it?

 

[CCinVT]

Ah, yeah, it's bruised. I was worried about infection in that leg but I can see it's more of a bruise.

View attachment 2679888
Is this an injury to her toe, or just something stuck to it?

Yes very bruised, amd she is favoring it. But not noticibly warm or anything else. The only really warm area now is the above the tail gash. There are so many little nooks and crannies.
Pretty sure she stepped in the poo I sent a pic of. No toe or foot injuries I've noticed

 

[ryneaeiel]

Yes very bruised, amd she is favoring it. But not noticibly warm or anything else. The only really warm area now is the above the tail gash. There are so many little nooks and crannies.
Pretty sure she stepped in the poo I sent a pic of. No toe or foot injuries I've noticed

Oh, good!

You may want to try gently debriding the necrotic (green) flesh with antibacterial wet wipes -- the "Wet Ones" brand has worked best for me. Gently wipe at the green flesh -- if it doesn't slough off now, it'll start doing it soon. She'll need that removed in order to heal. Hopefully the surface wounds will debride themselves over a few days as you wipe at them, but you may need to cut away the necrotic flesh if they don't. The punctures and deep wounds will debride on their own when you do the saline flushes.

The debridement is removing dead tissue, so it won't hurt her, it'll just be a little uncomfortable.

I've circled the areas that have necrotized.

 

[Ascholten]

The foot wound. I recently had one that did, I don't know what to her foot, she favored it, kept it tucked up for several weeks, and is finally now walking / lumbering about on it again. As log as it's not infecting etc she should be fine. If you have other chickens, she'll probably hang with them, let THEM do the digging and then eat what they dug up for her

The one above. Ugh poor girl. You are doing an admirable job but man, she looks rough, plus the deep puncture. Hopefully the lungs are not collapsed or infecting too.

Aaron

 

[Reggan]

You guys are doing a great job! Because of threads like this I was able to pull a mama hen back from the grim reaper a few weeks back. Bald eagle attack. She had very similar injuries. She had awful puncture holes at her lung on the right side. I could see her ribs, spine, she was ripped apart. I thought a broken leg, but it healed fine.
I used cottage cheese to get her anti biotics in her. It was extra difficult as she 3 one week old chicks on her (she lost one in the attack). I left them with her the whole time, which was challenging with medicine and them jumping on her back/wounds.
That Vetericyn Plus (new to me) with anti microbial worked wonders! I was able to clean with tons of regular Vetericyn then coat/moisturize with the Plus. The Plus had some good staying power and really helped in healing from the inside out.
I had to do a bit of cutting/wiping off necrotic tissue, but only once. It was a long 8 days.
God Bless and hang in there.

 

[ryneaeiel]

The foot wound. I recently had one that did, I don't know what to her foot, she favored it, kept it tucked up for several weeks, and is finally now walking / lumbering about on it again. As log as it's not infecting etc she should be fine. If you have other chickens, she'll probably hang with them, let THEM do the digging and then eat what they dug up for her

The one above. Ugh poor girl. You are doing an admirable job but man, she looks rough, plus the deep puncture. Hopefully the lungs are not collapsed or infecting too.

Aaron

Fortunately there's only a puncture in one of the lungs. Most animals (including chickens and humans) have two for that exact reason -- she can live with one lung collapsed. Infection is a concern though, which is why we're trying to get antibiotics in her. Irrigation to clear out infection isn't possible with a lung.

She's in a rough spot, but chickens are incredibly stubborn when it comes to dying. There's some other posts in this thread from people who had chickens get attacked/mauled, and you'd never know it looking at the hens now.

 

[Ascholten]

I am wishing you the best of luck and sincerely hope she pulls through. If she was really infected, yes I know, birds hide sickness VERY well, (unlike humans who parade it to get out of work, going to school etc etc ) id think if she did have a lung infection it'd he manifesting pretty quickly by now, she'd be wheezing and coughing up horrible stuff.

Keeping fingers crossed for her.
Aaron

 

[Ascholten]

One more comment:
You said bear attack.
Did you report this attack to the Police and or a Game Warden yet?
You probably need to, that way if the bear does start coming back, which they often will, and continues tearing stuff up, killing your animals, tearing up the house etc, you have it on record so that if it comes to a point where the bear needs to be killed, it's easier all around, over just .. hey out of the blue im reporting an attack and I had to kill it... type thing.

Depeding on your area etc, they might even be able to locate and trap the bear for you a lot of logistics and circumstances around that but, it's best to let the authorities know. Chicken today, maybe dog tomorrow?, kid who happened to be out when the bear was around? You just never know.

Aaron

 

[KaseySnow]

You are doing a great job! Threads like this are so helpful for educating and preparing others for what to do in this kind of situation. I hope she pulls through. Her eyes look bright and wide open, which is a good sign. And her comb is a nice color.

Dunno what to make of that nasty poo. I am no expert on what blood in a chicken's poop looks like, that almost looks too brown to be blood? But maybe it's dried blood? Hopefully someone will chime in with what should be done. I dunno who to tag around here that has experience with this kind of injury. Maybe @Tesumph ? Last I heard they were training to be a vet. No idea if they are still active around here or not though.

I dunno if this will be beneficial at this stage or not, but this was one of the most helpful threads I've ever read on severe wound care in chickens. It's a lot to go through, but they talk a lot about necrotic skin vs healthy skin and how to know if a wound is healing well, which might be helpful for you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/graphic-pics-wing-amputation-advise.1246736/

There's also some ideas on how to build a chicken sling and/or keep them from taking the gauze off, if that's still a struggle.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Just stopping by to say you are doing an AWESOME job Bravo @CCinVT on your amazing efforts for your sweet hen and great job @ryneaeiel on all the advice! Hoping this little lady pulls through.