Help! Hawk attack! Exposed bone

[Jeffnnrr]

My 18 month old sexlink hen screamed yesterday and when 3looked out the windows there was a hawk on. Top of her. I ran out in a foot of snow in my socks to get it off of her and scoop her up.The injury looks devastating and I was sure she'd be dead within hours so my husband should probably put her down but she wasn't bleeding much and didn't seem bothered by it so we thought we'd see if she made it through the night. Well, here we are and she's perky and her comb is good and red but she has so much exposed bone I just don't see how it can heal. Its mostly her shoulder so amputating the wing is no help. My husband did 22 years in the army and was trained as a combat medic and want to try stitching her shut when he gets home from work this morning. Ive started her on amoxicillan and kept antibiotic ointment on the wound. She's been nibbling worms and drinking water. I attached this Pic of the wound although her wing is folded. It looks so much worse with it spread. I had to keep it folded while I took the Pic though or she'd flapp away. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jeffnnrr]

Wow. I don't get it. Did I say something wrong? Every other plea for help on here gets a slew of replies, right down to pasty poop, and I got nothing? Thanks for the support.

 

[firechicken76]

I don't know how much this will help because it's anecdotal, but we had a raccoon get a good gnaw on one of our hen's wings this summer.

We kept her indoors for the first few days after the attack and applied Vetermicyn and Neosporin (without pain relief). We fed her chick starter and added vitamins to her water. She seemed to have good energy after maybe a week, so we let her go back to the flock before she was fully healed and they accepted her right away. We kept applying Vetermicyn and Neosporin at night while she was on the roost. Putting her back outside with the flock that quickly was against general advice, but it worked. If they hadn't accepted her, we would have brought her back inside until she was more healed.

The wing eventually fell off on its own, but it left exposed bone. We haven't inspected it in several months, but she's still running around with the flock and laying like a champ.

It's amazing what they'll recover from even with novice care.

 

[Debbie292d]

Sorry nobody got back to you faster.

It sounds to me like you've done all the right things.

I presume you got the amoxicillin dosage, but in case you didn't, it's 57 mg per pound of weight every 12 hours for 7 days.

She doesn't sound like she's in too much shock, but if you feel she is, I'd give her electrolytes just for a half of a day.

I'd try getting her to eat her feed as she needs the nutrition. If you wet it to make a mash, most chickens think that's a treat. Scrambled eggs is a nutritious treat too.

If you have or can get any poultry vitamins, a vitamin boost would help her recover faster and help fight any infection. Most here use Poultry Cell and/or Nutra-Drench, which goes in their water.

You can cut any feathers that are getting into her wounds, and I'd keep your antibiotic ointment on there.

As the example in the post above mine shows, chickens are very resilient, so she will probably be just fine. I'd keep her indoors, though, until it heals over, so she doesn't get flystrike or picked on.