Help bear attack... should I euthanize?

[Danielpn]

Hi, I am late to this conversation. But wow, am impressed by your devotion and wanted to congratulate you. About a year ago I had a similar experience with a dog attack resulting in significant skin loss. The entire right side including the leg and thigh, except the wing (I have no idea how the wing escaped injury), on a 15 week old pullet. She was rescued on a day that I had already sent three older hens to chicken heaven, and I didn't want to deal with any more death that day. I have a little streak of practical farmer in me, but I am also a soft hearted (soft headed?) nurse. I knew I could treat the wounds, and the pullet was not showing evidence of pain.
After treating her wounds, I didn't want to put her back in the coop out of fear for her place in the pecking order, but still was concerned about her social life. Fortunately, I had some 2 week old chicks in the brooder. I put the half skinned pullet in the brooder, where she was safe from having her injuries picked at, and she still had a flock to be a part of. After a few weeks of treatment, she layed an egg in the brooder. I felt like a proud papa. The pullet, now named "Lucky," was also very tame after being handled so regularly.
The severity of an injury that a chicken can recover from would surprise most doctors, I think, and feathers make a fantastic covering for scars. Just throwing that all out there for consideration. You said you are keeping your hen near the rest of the flock. I'm sure you're aware she will be vulnerable to picking at and be demoted to the bottom of the pecking order when she re-joins the flock. If she had a few chicks to brood over, I'll bet she would feel a new purpose in life.

 

[CCinVT]

This mornings poo pictures included so we can all see what her normal are looking like. In addition to some of our coop. I'm doing this post from my phone so it's a bit out of order but I hope you get the idea. She is eatting enough now that I can feel some in her crop before bedtime, and her gash wound looks so incredibly diffrent by last night that the layers of healing have peeled off! Just looking at it it's not as wide open. I'll try to get update pictures soon. The wound on her side also peeled last night so I did the same thing as the gash applying a thick layer of the ointment because it looked tender underneath but not bleeding. She took off all her bandages yesterday while she was outside! So I put an apron on her until I could get to cleaning her up that evening. She is over it haha, but is healing so quickly now. ... so I irrigated all the dust, and feather pin bits out, and I tried to wrap her good last night and so far she hasn't gotten them off.

I understand your hands are surely full with taking care of a new baby and a severely injured hen, but i do hope you can soon electrify your chicken area to deter that bear. I am surprised she has not yet succeeded in demolishing your coop and getting the rest of your chickens. Maybe shes finding food elsewhere & simply hoping your chickens will be an easy meal. But still, with 3 growing cubs to feed, her continued regular returns are very concerning.

Yes to all of this. I realize I have focused on the wounds part of the thread, but we used the link someone posted previously in this thread. It was a very helpful website that included some great videos specific to electric fencing for bears. We got the coop wrapped last wed. Following the guidelines from there. The wires are about 8" apart fro. The bottom which crosses the areas of hardware cloth that were ripped open and birds clearly removed through. Then there is a 12" higher wire just to get paw height if they were to stand up and explore. The chicken door on the coop is screwed shut currently until we can repair it, and we have been using the big door to let the free range during the day. We have not seen the mother bear & cubs since I last scared her out of the yard, but we have had a persistent single bear. But he seems to be more interested in exploring the compost than the chickens in like the mama bear. We have been letting them out late AM and making sure they are locked up with the fence in by evening. Those were the times of day the bears seem to come visit. I have 8 birds left including the one in the bathroom so I'm hoping the electric fence is sending the right message. So far so good.

I read through your entire thread last night/early this morning. You have done an amazing job documenting your medical treatments and your hen's healing progress, through detailed words and pictures. It will be invaluable to those discovering this thread in the future, & wondering if their own birds can recover from severe injuries. You are so far proving that with time and effort, the answer is a resounding "Yes!" Also, the advice, knowledge and moral support provided by @ryneaeiel is priceless and very appreciated.

I'm so glad it has been informative, and clearly understandable! The support is so helpful. I will continue the updates regardless of her outcome. I know for me reading pages of a thread to not know the outcome or ever off topicis hard sometimes, especially if it is a topic that you could relate to, and I have really appreciated the ones that follow through to the end. Thanks for taking the time to read, and your feedback reminding me for an electric fence update

 

[danceswithronin]

Congrats on keeping her alive! I would have euthanized for sure so it's nice to see a happy ending. <3

 

[CCinVT]

Hi, I am late to this conversation. But wow, am impressed by your devotion and wanted to congratulate you. About a year ago I had a similar experience with a dog attack resulting in significant skin loss. The entire right side including the leg and thigh, except the wing (I have no idea how the wing escaped injury), on a 15 week old pullet. She was rescued on a day that I had already sent three older hens to chicken heaven, and I didn't want to deal with any more death that day. I have a little streak of practical farmer in me, but I am also a soft hearted (soft headed?) nurse. I knew I could treat the wounds, and the pullet was not showing evidence of pain.
After treating her wounds, I didn't want to put her back in the coop out of fear for her place in the pecking order, but still was concerned about her social life. Fortunately, I had some 2 week old chicks in the brooder. I put the half skinned pullet in the brooder, where she was safe from having her injuries picked at, and she still had a flock to be a part of. After a few weeks of treatment, she layed an egg in the brooder. I felt like a proud papa. The pullet, now named "Lucky," was also very tame after being handled so regularly.
The severity of an injury that a chicken can recover from would surprise most doctors, I think, and feathers make a fantastic covering for scars. Just throwing that all out there for consideration. You said you are keeping your hen near the rest of the flock. I'm sure you're aware she will be vulnerable to picking at and be demoted to the bottom of the pecking order when she re-joins the flock. If she had a few chicks to brood over, I'll bet she would feel a new purpose in life.

I appreciate the congratulations. My in laws were certainly horrified when I said I needed to bring the injured chicken with me to visit or else we couldnt come! But they agreed so shes even gotten a bit of a vacation out of this ordeal! Ps. She travels very well! I have a good set up for reintroduction, but she has been out in the yard with the crate pretty regularly. She was a top hen, and no one has shown any intent in picking on her through the crate. They all come over and say hi and dust bath around her, and lay out in the sun togeather. She is my oldest hen at this point about 7 yrs old, but is a take no crap kindda girl. I have a few hens ( one especially) who I know would take joy in some chicks to brood over, but I would not see this girl finding such purpose. We will do a gradual reintroduction when the time arrives, but I have no doubt she will earn her spot right back near the top when the time comes. Her name is G.G. short for ghost girl. I swear shes disappeared after preditor attacks, and I was sure she was gone, but she keeps coming back from the dead. This seems to fit her life story pretty well. I have had hens and roosters who both seem to appreciate the care, and become more tame after some injury rehab. This girl will go right back to being her "dont talk to me unless you have treats" self I'm sure. It is nice seeing her come back to her more normal self though. I appreciate her wild side. She had some left over tofu and pad thai snack for breakfast, and is eatting her feed much more regularly now. We are inside today because its rainy.

 

[CCinVT]

Photos from tonight's bandage change:

This one above is the hole that connects to the gash. I'm still packing this one a bit. Just the part that goes up and into the gash.

The one above is the gash today after I pulled out the packing. It's not as wide open as it was, and I can tell it is closing down a bit, but still is deep. Below is the inside of the gash if I hold it open. I used a flash so the new skin looks more raw then in life, but it's a good picture otherwise.

Below is under her wing. In an effort to wrap her so she couldnt pull off all her bandages I put a piece of the gauze I use to wipe her wounds on this under her wing wound. It's more absorbent but I thought it would be ok cause I used a thick layer of ointment. It stuck to her new skin, and I had to soak it off. No bleeding but it obviously raw here where it stuck. I feel bad it's the first time I've had that happen but I thought I was adding cushion, and a piece she couldnt pull off. I didnt do the same thing today, and added another thick layer of ointment. It otherwise looked good. The skin along the edges is totally healed closed. The strip through the middle is still not healed down so I make sure I get ointment under it. The lighter white spots is where it wasnt stuck. If this wasnt in an under her wing spot to get rubbed I would probably not still be covering it. But I think I still need to keep the other 2 covered and cant do it without covering this one.

The last 2 pictures are of her all wrapped up and ready for bed. I wrapped her tonight so she can reach her preening gland. It's part of why I think she gets frustrated, and pulls with the gauze when its covered. She immediately eats and makes a mess of her crate. My husband thinks it's funny I left her one tail feather, but I thought she would feel less naked. Thought some of you might appreciate the decision to let her have that tail feather!

 

[HollyWoozle]

I commend you on your devotion - what amazing progress! She seems to be healing up wonderfully with your care. Fantastic!

 

[CCinVT]

So my photography skills are limited, but today was an exciting day in my little chicken rehab world. She is tolerant but fiesty as I've mentioned, and has been diligent in pulling off her bandages. So today after I applied more ointment amd wrapped her up I put her outside. This afternoon my darling 2 yr old let her out of her cage... she says "mama baba (chicken) boo boo (with injury) out" I look over and shes just joined right into the flock like it's no big deal! We have a rooster... hes a bantam but still dont want anyone jumping on her or fights or dust baths in puncture wounds etc... you get the idea. Yard wrangling ensued... her legs are feeling fine that's for sure! We caught her and when went to do her bandages tonight she had pulled them all off again. She also has figured out how to pull out the packed gauze! So anyways shes not going out tomorrow and I think because of her pin feathers shes maybe more uncomfortable with the wrap. So I packed her wounds tonight and applied liberal ointment layer, and left her uncovered. I took pictures below so you could all see what it looks like besides the close ups I've been posting. #1 is her gash, #2 is the side puncture that connects to the gash, #3 is her enjoying soba noodle snack,#4 is her under wing wound.i think the under wing wound especially might benefit from being able to breath. I sprayed and wiped her wing feathers that might touch it with vetericyn just to clean them a bit.

 

[KaseySnow]

Very exciting! Is she more comfortable with the process and with you touching her than she was before? Or are you finding as she heals that she's as untame as ever?

 

[ryneaeiel]

She's looking great! What a difference a little time can make!

 

[CCinVT]

Very exciting! Is she more comfortable with the process and with you touching her than she was before? Or are you finding as she heals that she's as untame as ever?

I would say she is getting as untamed as ever. I will say since she is my oldest it isnt like she's never been handled. She just certainly does not prefer it and will get away of she can. I burrito wrap her in a towel and clean her up one wound at a time from side to side.