Help! My chickens are badly injured from dog attack

[Lilchickie]

We were away tonight and got a call from the neighbors - a pack of four dogs were loose in the neighborhood and somehow managed to get the door to our coop open. Our silkie hen and roo were killed, our white leghorn and black australorp are missing except for a bunch of feathers. Two are alive but in rough shape. Our polish is clearly in major shock... She will barely move, but externally seems ok. Our Easter egger is in very rough shape. I've attached pics. A big piece of skin on her neck has been ripped away. Very concerned about keeping this infection free. And wondering if she can even recover?

We've cleaned the wound with peroxide and applied triple antibiotic ointment as well. Any help would be appreciated!! I've attached pics although they aren't the best..

 

[Lilchickie]

Another picture of her neck. Not sure how well you can see but the skin is totally ripped off of her neck.

 

[islandgirl82]

Oh how awful! I'm so sorry for you and your flock. I think you're on the right track and have done what you can. Keep the wounds clean and reapply the ointment often. If it were me, I'd be bringing the survivors inside and keeping them in a quiet area until they've shown considerable improvement. That would also make them easier to keep an eye on.

I use Bach Rescue Remedy any time either of my children or our animals (or me) are under any stress or trauma. It's subtle but works well for us to calm nerves.

 

[K R 2709]

Sounds like you are doing an awesome job taking care of your injured birds . The only other thing I would recommend is putting vitamins and electrolytes in their water. Best of luck with your birds.

 

[LustyWriter09]

I am really sorry that happened to your flock. What islandgirl82 was right though. To keep the ones that survived in a quieter place for a while. What might calm your polish odly might be some calming music, just to leave her alone for a while, or to hold her and pet her feathers to help calm her down.

Your easter egger might go into shock later. About her wound, definatly a good move to cleaning/sterilize the wound and giving her antibiotics. But what I've learned is that if the tear is as big as the pic you can actually close the flap of skin and use super glue around the tear. Make sure to leave a small gap open so it can bleed out any excess bad stuff though. Though you can just seal it entirely and apply a bit more glue if she tears it accedently.

It had saved my dogs life when he was attacked by cyottes and bleeding at the back door. Because he had tried to take everything else off.

How are they doing?

 

[Lilchickie]

Update on my hens:
The polish passed. I was holding her when it happened. She was such a cool bird.

The Easter egger is doing well. Her wound looks better, and doesn't seem to have any signs of infection.

In other news, we found two of the other hens! One was still in the run the next morning... I have no idea how we missed her the night before! She was unharmed. Our white leghorn appeared the next day from under our deck - again, I don't know how we missed her, unless she was hiding somewhere else. She has a couple of puncture wounds and I am a little worried about infection with her.

I've been cleaning their wounds twice daily with peroxide and triple antibiotic ointment. Where would I get an antibiotic without having to take my hens to a vet? There aren't many around me that will deal with chickens anyway. I've also been adding electrolytes/vitamins (rooster booster) to their water.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Fly Right]

Good job. If you are talking about an injectable antibiotic, I find them at my local feed store or even tractor supply. If you can find a livestock vet and establish a good relationship with them, they might give you some antibiotics even without seeing your animal. Check the use of the hydrogen peroxide. I see many posts about only using it for the initial cleaning since it is very harsh. I only use it for the initial cleaning and the antibiotic ointment daily.