I was sleeping 35 mins ago, dreaming of chickens (literally) when I hear some unusual sqwuaking. I yell at the bf to go check on the chickens because somethings not right. He runs out and finds the dog playing with them. I've told him a million times, if the coop door is open, the dog needs to be INSIDE, the dog is nice to the chickens but he is young and curious and thats dangerous. Well, my poor RIR hen was the one that got the brunt of it. From what I can tell she has no wounds but has ice caked on her so she must have been in the snow for awhile. BF brought her and another hen who was lying on the ground into the coop and came and got me. He told me one was hurt real bad so I was picturing lots of blood and possibly a mercy killing. When I got out there, the Buff brahma was up and at em and looks fine, a bit tuffled, but my RIR was just sitting in the corner, not moving so I checked her for blood and brought her in. No blood, doesnt look like any wounds but I thought i would warm her up first before doing a full check, she has snow frozen to her in places. She is now in a cat crate with a towel on top of her near the furnace. Should I keep her near the furnace or near the space heater? Is the forced heated air too much for her? What do I do?? Small miracle it wasnt my favourite hen, the other RIR. My heart just stopped when he said one of the RIRs was down, I thought for sure it was my special Little Buddy
And to mention, one of the big mean Columbian Rocks immediately started attacking her viciously once bf brought her into the coop, they are such mean old biddies, they are going to freezer camp as soon as these chicks hatch I think.
Sounds like she has been frightened so bad that she has kind of "shut down". Sometimes they do that when traumatized. Put her somewhere warm, quiet & safe. If she is not really hurt, she will be up and around in no time, when the shock wears out. As for the other chickens pecking her, that's pretty natural chicken behavior. They often peck weaker chickens, they sense something is wrong. Don't forget that a chicken is really just a feathery dinosaur! lol
Get her warm, and check her out, also, dogs sometimes like to chew the vent area. If you don;t find anything, I would keep an eye on her for a few days, just keep her somewhere warm and quiet. I hope it isn't too bad!
I had a dog attack a while back, almost took out my favorite buff orph. She was in shock for what seemed like forever. Bring her inside, keep her warm. I gave mine those baby vitamins without iron, the poly-visol. just drop a couple drops on the top of their beak and let it roll off. they will drink it that way. I fed mine layer mash soaked in warm water with a little bit of honey to help ger her appetite up. Mine didn't walk for almost 3 months, but with lots of attention she came out of it just fine and now runs around the coop with the others.
Well she's been in the cat crate all day, she started drinking water and standing up so we brought in the larger dog crate and tried to entice her out of it. Just waiting for her to go from one crate to the other, we have the doors facing each other so whenever she is ready... She has eaten some banana so she has an appetite. Her feathers do not look good though, I will give her another day or so to see if she preens herself and it looks better, but maybe she will need a shower?? We dont have a bathtub. Maybe a sink bath?
