Help- My chicken got swiped by a racoon

[happychickengirls]

Well question for all of you out there. Yesterday my chicken got attacked by a racoon. I cant really tell how bad the damage is because she will not let me near her right now. She is a free range bird. I can see there is a big patch of feathers missing right around the wing area but I cant get close enough right now to see how bad the damage really is. So I am wondering when she finally calms down and I can see area better is there anything I can do right away??? If anyone has had any experience with this please share- thanks.

 

[AndreaS]

I always hate seeing these posts...poor girl!

I have never had this happen, but have read lots of posts similar to yours. Do a search on the forum under "raccoon attack"
and then on "chicken first aid"

I think it is very important that you catch her and clean her wounds if there are any. Keep her in a cat carrier/dog crate or something like that so you can observe her and get to her to clean the wounds. I have heard of people using betadine (sp?) and diluted peroxide to flush out wounds with a turkey baster....and neosporin to help heal.....search for wound care and you should be able to get more detailed information. All i know for certain is you dont want to you anything with a pain reliever "-cain" in the ingredients, like neosporin with pain relief....because it is toxic to chickens.

Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in, but until then i would search the forum and try as much as you can to catch her and clean any open wounds, you don't want it to get infected.

Good luck

 

[daytonfarm]

I had a hen attacked by a dog that riped her up pretty good. I filled the whole large area with melaluca oil antibiotic ointment. I only did this one time, but I filled the whole area totally. She wouldn't let me mess with it after that, but she grew her feathers back in beautifully, never went off feed. I did keep her seperate at night the first few nights to make sure no one picked on her, but she free ranged during the day with the rest of them. She did get yogurt every day also. Hope this helps

 

[happychickengirls]

Thanks for the help guys!!! I appreciate the posts very much!!!

 

[AndreaS]

Quote:
No problem! I've received a ton of help on this forum. I just found an article on wound care and will copy and post it below. I hope im not breaking any rules here.......it was from a post on this forum.

How is she today??

 

[AndreaS]

WOUND CARE FOR INJURED BIRDS
From the National Poultry News

NATHALIE ROSS
HOUSTON TEXAS
As poultry owners, we're very familiar with the
proverbial "pecking order" and the fights that result
from it. Too often those chicken wars, or others,
will cause injuries in the flock - flesh wounds - and
we're left to take care of our injured birds. Here
are some hints that I hope will help you in the
moments where you have a flock in need of nursing.

Since many poultry wounds are caused by a peck, a
spur, a claw, or something else dirty, germs often get
deep into the wounds during the injury time. We try
to get them all out during the cleansing of the wound,

but sometimes we're just not as good at it as we'd
like. The result is a weepy wound. But it's
necessary for the healing of the wound that we
do our best to prevent that situation.

Iodine is great for initially cleansing most wounds
because of its strong antibacterial benefits, but in
the case of deeper wounds one has to be careful. A
good habit is to cleanse the wound with hydrogen
peroxide (which bubbles out bits that we can't see),
then follow that with what I call "Iodine Tea".

Iodine Tea, a solution used frequently at vet
clinics to irrigate (wash out) wounds is just enough
iodine mixed into warm water until it's a tea color.
You then use that in a syringe without the needle to
strongly squirt into the wound several times. That
ensures that the iodine is getting deep into the wound
to kill bacteria.

After cleansing the wound thoroughly, it's best to dry
it out so that the dressing you use next will adhere
to the wound better.

I recommend keeping a wound open and dry (especially
in the summer time) so that the air can get down into
it. Most of your bad wound bacteria are anaerobic (in
other words, they hate air - love the lack of air)
and they thrive in closed conditions.

There's an old addage "dry wound-wet dressing, wet
wound-dry dressing" that applies. Especially with
chickens in the winter, one normally has
to be wary of using wet ointments because the birds
can chill easily.
Small spots of it are certainly acceptable, however.
Because of the nasty nature of chickens, most wounds
are wet (weepy) so we do dry dressings like Furox
spray (yellow powder, otherwise known as furoxazone)
or blue lotions like Anti-Pick lotion, or other
livestock lotions which dry to a blue film.

Some people are concerned with the openness of a wound
and consider stitching as an option. The problem with
SOME stitching, however, is that it creates a pocket
and closes the wound up from air.
Because of that, it is always best to let a
Veterinarian or someone experienced do that work.
Often a vet will leave a drain tube in a deep
wound so that the resulting pus has an outlet. In
any case, stitched wounds require a very careful
watch.

Often when skin dies, the resulting dead (necrotic)
skin has to be abrided (cleaned off) because there's
really no need for it and it begins to break down. It
is also common for there to be infection inside the
wound that isn't obvious from the outside. If that
happens, you have a serious situation which can result
in blood infection and death of the bird. So, you can
see, that if you are dealing with an injury of that
magnitute it would be best to get a vet or experienced
stockman involved.

When a wound is open, you have the chance to be able
to examine it more easily and less chance of anaerobic
infection. Actually, you would be surprised just how
large a wound can heal with feathers and all!

On a personal note, I once saved a hen from the jaws
of a chow. She had a wound so deep on her back that
you could see the entirety of one side of her spinal
cord wrapping (I'll never forget the silver sheen).
She was a lucky girl, but it was a large wound.

When using wet ointments, flies found the wound and
left their eggs deep deep in the ointment. When they
hatched, I had a nasty surprise and an even nastier
task. When the wound was recleaned, I took the old
standard vet advice and used a dry would dressing
instead, aerosol furox so that it would get deep into
the wound, and from that point onwards
the wound healed fantastically.

This wound was a good 2 inches long, 1.5 inches wide,
and at least an inch deep. The hen feathered up
completely and led a very happy chow-free life til her
last days here at the house. Chickens heal from wounds

remarkably!

You can do the same with your injured chickens. It
doesn't take a surgeon or a master-poultryman to take
good care of a wound. It just takes a little
understanding of how wounds work, a close watchful
eye, and a willingness to take the bird to a vet if
you intend to keep it and if the wound is more than
you can handle easily.

Hopefully with these tools, now, you'll be able to
face a poultry wound with more confidence and more
success. I wish you all the best with your flock.

Nathalie Ross
Houston, TX