HELP! Chicken Attacked by dog

[Grimy Girl]

Help! One of my hens was attacked by our dog. He has NEVER shown interest in the chickens before and she must have flown over to his side of the fence. I thought the hen was killed only to find that she wasnt. The back of her neck is skinless and the upper part of her shoulders are exposed. She is alive, walking, pooping but appears very injured. Not sure what to do. At the moment she is in a dark box in our garage with clean bedding. I put some neosporin ointment on her neck and exposed surfaces. I am not sure if we should put her to sleep (i shutter to think and could NOT do it myself) or what?? Help!!!

Grimy Girl

 

[GoldenSparrow]

Can you post a picture so we could see the injury?

 

[audrey02026]

Don't put her to sleep yet. Wait and see how sh does My Hen got attacked yesterday and all her feathers on her tail and some on her back were gone she has a pretty bad gash on her back but she is eating drinking and even laid an egg today. She maybe is in shock and if you keep her comfortable and safe as well as wash her wounds and put the neosporin on her maybe give her some electrolytes and some scrambled eggs. You would be amazed at what chickens can live through.

 

[Grimy Girl]

Thank you so much for replying to my post. I was panicked and still horrified at the prospect of losing this, my first and raised from the egg, hen pet. She looks awful and i was sure she would have to be put to sleep. After thinking it over and over and over there is no way I could do that, i would have to have someone else to it.

By the grace of God the feed store was open today which is Labor Day (for two hours only). The owner is a chicken man and was gracious enough to take a look at her and didnt think that she needed to be put down. He sold me some spray version of colloidal silver which needs to be applied two or three times a day.

I had her in a dark and quiet environment for a few hours today. I then cleaned out the hen house thoroughly, put in water, food and her favorite scratch and put her in there. She is mostly resting but will get up and walk around. She doesnt seem to have any issues with walking, breathing, pooping and even laid her egg today. She sipped a little water but isnt interested in food right now.

I am just praying hard that she will be OK.

Any other thoughts??

Thanks again.

GG

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

That's pretty bad. I'd take her into the vet and have her stapled up. I brought my chicken in and told them just to give her local anesthesia which brought down the cost quite a bit.
I kept her warm and quiet. She did recover. I recently had one have it's head pecked to the point she was almost scalped. I cleaned her wit betadine and applied antibiotic ointement on the
wound twice a day, again keeping her separated warm and quiet. She also recovered. Those are my only experiences. Hope she will heal.

 

[openheartnp]

It's amazing how quickly hens heal. Please see if you can get her to a vet. if you can't, try to keep the wound moist with the neosporin. Haven't used colloidal silver, just make sure you check out the side effects and potential for toxicity. You may need to give her favorite treats to get her to eat. And she definitely should be hydrated. Maybe she doesn't want to eat because it hurts to move her neck. I know you can give dogs/cats pain medicine. I'm not sure about chickens, maybe others will have more info on this.

I know the love we have for our special pets, I hope she does well. Hugs from NJ.

 

[goldies99]

she looks very bad.....i hope she recovers...
if she does not, please find the strength to
do what needs to be done so she does not suffer...
please let us know how she is doing...

 

[GoldenSparrow]

hens are tougher then they look, try to find a vet

 

[coloradogal]

I had a RIR roo attacked. He almost lost an eye and had puncture wounds in the chest and back. At first, bleeding is the big deal. Make sure she isnt bleeding. If you don't have something to stop the bleeding, flour should do the trick. Idoused him in iodine. Isolate her in a warm environment. I had to force feed him with water and vitamins for a day. Then he started attempting to walk. By three days, he was back to normal. That doesnt look too bad from the pictures. Just give her supportive care.

 

[Grimy Girl]

Hey ya'll. I am posting again just to give an update because some kind responder requested it. Also, in the "Emergency" post section maybe this will help others feel more at ease after a seeming disaster. My initial though when i saw her after the dog attack was that she was actually already dead but wasnt, then thought oh... im going to have to end her suffering.. then thought...wait.. think it over. Anyway, my hen is much better. After the dog attack it was touch and go for awhile there. The very day after the attack she was back up again walking, eating,drinking and acting (almost) like her regular self. Today is day three. She looks ridiculous considering she is virtually skinless from the neck to upper wings, but otherwise fine. It will probably take weeks if not months for her to grow skin back over her exposed parts and hopefully she will not develop an infection. I am hand feeding her scratch because it makes me feel better but it appears as if she is eating and drinking enough water on her own. Also started applying neosporin as her flesh is firm enough to smooth it over. Initially i was using a spray colloidal silver because the exposed surfaces were (clear) weepy.

Thanks for everyone's advice. Hopefully I can repay the favor someday. I am so grateful to have a resource like this.

GG