Help! Dog got to chick and skinned her back! *Update at bottom*

[comerrick]

Should I try to save her or will she just die a slow painful death? What should I do?

 

[justusnak]

Im so sorry that happened. The FIRST thing you need to do is get her in a warm, quiet, dark place. Make sure she is drinking. If there is no bleeding, ( I cant tell from the pic) Put 2 regular aspirins in 1 gallon of water. This will help with the pain. DO NOT GIVE IT TO HER IS SHE IS ACTIVLY BLEEDING!
Once she calms down, and recovers from the shock, you will need to clean the wound with saline solution and apply neosporin. This will take some time to heal...so plan on haveing a house chicken for several weeks. You will need to kepp the flies, and other chickens away from her.
Good luck. I hope she pulls through.

 

[cherrychicken]

if it is bleeding dab a warm washcloth on her and put her in a warm quiet place. im so sorry

 

[comerrick]

But her back was actually skinned? Can that even grow back? BTW the bleeding has stopped.
Lov
Liv

 

[Freebie]

I don't know how severe the wound, the picture is a little blurry. But last summer I had a hen attacked by a dog. It was very bad, there was pretty big chunk of meat taken right out of her back, and 4 puncture wounds. I had to clean the maggots out of her back. It was quite disgusting. She was in pretty bad shape. I kept her in a dog crate in the garage. I put some triple antibiotic ointment on it for a few days, but after that, I just checked every day twice a day. I also put some of that antibiotics in her water for a couple of days. She healed up very nice and even grew her feathers back. I did not think they would grow back at all. So, I would have to say, she has a very good possibility of coming out of this.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[tressiah]

ouch !!!
this happened to my favorite hen, CT, ( crooked toes) who was the sole survivor of a fox attack that took 24 of 25 of her house mates. CT was very traumatized by that, so we brought her indoors, for almost a month until the goats arrived, and then she determined to stay with them. After we replinished our poultry srock, she grumpily went back to the hen house. I had not clipped her wing so she could still go visit with Lucy & Ethel ( the nubians) My husband found her one afternoon when he came in from the field, lying on the barn floor, gaping feathers gone, and torn from wings to head, all the skin on her back. I could see muscle . I cleaned her with normal saline, and appiled neosporin ointment, and tried to bandage, put she kept pulling it off. I finally put a stretchy net over her, and she healed slowly, but surely. She laid for the first time yesterday since this happened in May. Now, no matter what , the dog stays tied, he's too hyper.
Good luck
Tressia

 

[comerrick]

Stretchy net?
Thanks
Lov
Liv

 

[comerrick]

****Update*****
I gave her a saline rinse and then put triple antibiotic ointment on it. Moved her to a rubbermaid container inside with a heat lamp. She did awesome and little by little did better and better. She started getting a limp that got worse and worse but at the same time jumped up and roosted on the rubbermaid container. So I thought she could use some sunshine and friends. And after a week inside, she has been out every since! Her limp greatly improved and acts like the rest of them. And they don't peck at her.

She just has a big scabby callous thing where she was skinned. Eventually we shall she the final product but for now, she is alive and healthy.

Unfortunately, I also let the little chicks out for a bit and 3 of them went through a hole in the fence and the neighbors dog got them. We only found one body though. It's understandable and the hole needs fixed but the white americauna was the kid's favorite and she is gone now. That and the 3 that were lost were pullets and not the free male packing peanuts that came with them. Oh no, those 4 are just fine.

Lov
Liv

 

[dogzrule5]

I will tell you that I had a litter of 4 month old pups hurt two of my hens a few years back. One of them had a huge (and I mean huge) hunk of her back chewed off but I didn't realize it. She had another wound that was obvious and that's the one I slathered with Neosporin and put her in a dog crate with food and water for a couple of weeks.

Her sister had a long, wide gape under her wing and I thought that was going to do her in so I had her put to sleep by a vet, which broke my heart.

Later on I discovered under all her feathers that Lucy had a huge chunk of meat taken out of her and it did heal up. She was lumpy but she lived till just last year and was about 8 or 9.

So again, ignorance is bliss sometimes. If I had seen how badly she had been wounded compared to the other one, I would have also just kept the first hen confined with her.