Help, hen was attacked!

[TBerry34]

One of our hens was attacked and it looks like you can see her skull. You can also see pulsating coming from the head area. I have washed with saline solution, put antibiotic ointment on it, and sprayed with Blu-Kote. She is inside now by herself and seems to be doing somewhat ok. Is there anything else I can do for her? And please don't say put her down because that isn't an option, the hen (Oreo) belongs to my 8 yr old daughter. Thanks

 

[getaclue]

Do what you're doing, 2 - 3 times a day. You might want to provide better protection for your chickens.

 

[TBerry34]

Thanks, I'll take that into consideration, but we live in the middle of nowhere and just about all of our birds are free range birds. Don't get me wrong, they have a coop, but they only go there at night and it gets locked. This happened while I was at work and I'm not sure what caused it.

 

[DobieLover]

Thanks, I'll take that into consideration, but we live in the middle of nowhere and just about all of our birds are free range birds. Don't get me wrong, they have a coop, but they only go there at night and it gets locked. This happened while I was at work and I'm not sure what caused it.

As mentioned, continue to treat as you are.
I would also recommend some extra nutritional support with Poultry nutri-drench and a wet mash made out of her feed. Make sure you keep the wound moist. I've read good things about coating wounds like that with manuka honey.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I am really sorry about your sseverely injured chicken. How old is she, and was she attacked by the other chickens? Was she recently added to the group?

You may want to buy a bottle of Vetricyn, Theracyn, or one of the other wounds sprays for animals. You can spray that on the wounds twice a day, then apply plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment to keep it soft. I would stop the BluKote until it heals some and scabs over. That burns and is more for hiding wounds from pecking.

Is she able to stand up or walk? Can she take any water or mushy food? I would offer cooked egg, wet chicken feed, and water with some vitamins. If you have Poultry NutriDrench that is good for vitamins for the next few days. Hopefully, she hasn’t suffered any brain damage. This will take weeks to heal, so she will need to be kept separate. A mirror or staffed animal might make her feel better being alone.

 

[Tortoise]

I understand you wanting to help her. I would too. But for the sake of the chicken please put her down if she seems to be suffering and not getting better. This too would teach your child compassion and the humane thing to do when our animals are suffering.
I hope you dont have to and that she recovers.

 

[TBerry34]

Thanks, Eggcessive! I'm heading to Tractor Supply now for more meds/antibiotics for her. She was raised with the other chickens she runs with, she's only about 3-6 months old. She is able to stand and walk, she is also eating her regular food and drinking just fine. And I'll definitely get her a mirror so she doesn't feel so alone, but trust me, she knows she isn't alone, my daughter has her spoiled, lol! I just hope she pulls through!!

 

[BigMoma3]

Oh no! I'm so sorry. I think you've done all you can do. We had a dog attack a couple years ago. Two hens were badly injured but I seperated them, cleaned the wounds, and applied blu kote as well. Both hens seemed to make a full recovery, but we didn't know the extent of the damage until half a year later. One of the attacked hens started laying shell-less eggs. No shell. No membrane. Just dropping yolk in the nesting box every so often. Her reproductive organs had been damaged in the attack. This went on for several months and gradually became more frequent until she began dropping the egg yolks while roosting. Shortly after they turned bloody and mucousy so we had to put her down.

What I'm saying is, if Oreo recovers from this, there could be more damage done beneath the surface that will cause worse problems later so be prepared. I know it's hard when it affects your children, but I have learned with raising my children up around chickens, and having them see the good and bad, it teaches them real life lessons that shape them into compassionate, caring little people. I wish you the best!

 

[Eggcessive]

That sounds promising. There have been a few cases similar to this recently, so I will try to find some of those threads. Found one, but still looking:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/graphic-pics-scalped-orloff-pullet.425326/

And another:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/serve-open-head-wound-is-black.1291137/

 

[Ebony Rose]

I've seen chickens overcome much worse. Hang tight, keep her separated from your flock, until you can fully camouflage all of the blood with blu-kote or scabs, otherwise chickens do what they do, which is pick on anything that's RED. I highly recommend putting her on antibiotics as you don't know what got ahold of her, and how deeply they might have embedded the wounds with bacteria. Cats come to mind, wounds caused by cats can become infected in 24-48 hours. Do not eat her eggs while she's being medicated, nor for the proper number of days afterwards, different medications have differing withholding periods, so ask your supplier about that.