Help!! Neighbors dog attacked my chickens!

[nina1993]

So this morning I had to chase off my neighbors dog again after it has already gotten a hold of my rooster once before, and pulled out all of his tail feathers. This time he got a hold of my rooster again, but I haven’t gotten a chance to assess his injuries fully yet. He is walking around and I don’t see any visible blood so I held off on prioritizing him, and went and looked for my hens. So far I have found one of my hands to be fine, but I just found another hen and I need some help on what to do with her. She has an obvious broken leg with an obvious bite wound, but it is not a compound fracture. She has a small puncture under her wing. My biggest concern however, is that when she breathes it sounds very crackly. I’m not sure how else to describe it. It sounds like she has fluid somewhere inside… like if a person has a stuffy nose. I hear a lot of piping and crackling as she breathes and it also sounds like her stomach is growling and gurgling and she has a slight wheeze. There is no blood coming from her nose or mouth but I’m afraid she may have a collapsed lung . I don’t see any wounds around her neck area. Please help! I don’t know what to do for any of her injuries. I currently have her laying on mg lap loosely wrapped in a towel to keep her calm and still. I inherited these chickens when a friend passed away unexpectedly and have only had them for roughly 4 months so they don’t know me super well and are still pretty shy but she is not putting up a fight to get away at the moment. Please please help!

 

[nina1993]

Omg she just laid an egg on my lap

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Chickens that survive a dog attack usually go into shock because dog's like to make it more of a stressful game. You're doing the right thing by having her wrapped in a towel, if you can put her under a warm light, like a ceramic bulb with electrolytes to prevent shock, then after she is calm and in the clear you can assess the injury. I'm really sorry you're dealing with a high stress situation but how is the dog getting to the chickens?

 

[MrIgmo]

If someones dog "got loose" into my yard more than once and did something like that I'd just go ahead and shoot it. First ones a freebie, second one is on them. You could call the police, there is no reason you should tolerate that behavior. I trained my dogs not to touch the chickens in a few days. If the dog is doing all that and having fun and not getting in trouble by the owner it's just going to keep doing it. They may even be sending the dog to do it. Some people don't like roosters around.

 

[FunClucks]

Might consider building a fence. Or at least a fenced run/range area for the chickens. Electric fence is often used to deter dogs.

Sorry this happened, and I really hope your chickens are okay.

 

[nina1993]

Might consider building a fence. Or at least a fenced run/range area for the chickens. Electric fence is often used to deter dogs.

Sorry this happened, and I really hope your chickens are okay.

They have a fenced in run but they fly over it. I had previously held off on wing clipping because I didn’t want them to not have a means of escaping if needed…but this time the neighbors dog jumped my fence… it is a husky mix of some kind… the fence is slightly below chest height on me and I am 5’. I’m doing my best here… I understand there are things I still need to improve upon but I’m trying I really am.

 

[nuthatched]

She likely aspirated a bit of crop contents, not as serious as it sounds. Treat her for shock then clean her wounds.

 

[nuthatched]

How do I treat her for shock and what exactly do I do for her wounds other than clean and splint and wrap her leg? Will the aspiration sort itself out

Gatorade, warm water with honey/sugar/molasses and and a pinch of salt. Keep her warm, dark and quiet to let her sleep.

They were out foraging in my yard and the neighbors dog apparently “got loose”

Both you and your neighbors need to strengthen your animal security.

 

[nina1993]

I've heard that lidocaine is toxic to chickens. Any "caine" drugs. But you can look it up for yourself to verify. The MERCK veterinary manual is a good resource on everything chicken, but can be hard to understand unless you have a vet or medical background.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/SearchResults?query=lidocaine

If your chicken is fine now, I wouldn't worry about the lidocaine, but I've never used it on chickens myself. On here folks will recommend Original Neosporin (2x day) or Vetericyn to help clean wounds. Also you can use Hibiclens with chickens.

Looks like she has some good food and water, and beautiful grass. A blanket over top sounds like a good idea.

Consider putting some pieces of firewood or 2x4 on top of that enclosure to keep it in place a bit longer if/when the dog comes back. He would eventually get under it, but that would give you more time to respond. Would that enclosure support a dog's weight? (Long enough for you to come outside and deter it?)

Oh man I hope I didn’t do more harm than good! I didn’t even think about whether or not it could be harmful with it being a topical ointment it didn’t even cross my mind! I will look into it immediately and won’t apply it again! I just felt so bad for her and I could see that aside from the broken bone her skin was torn almost all the way around her little leg and I just wanted to ease her pain as best I could before I proceeded to clean and set her leg. Luckily I only let the lidocaine cream sit in there for a few minutes to numb the area and then wiped it off as I was cleaning all of the blood and dirt off of her. But the cleansing spray I used I see does have lidocaine in it also. I will definitely get some more suitable supplies for her, I was just trying to manage the situation as best as I could as quickly as I could before she further injured herself or started to get any type of infection. Thank you for the information! I already put some pieces of wood on top just to stop the wind from blowing the blanket off…it would support the weight of a dog, but she is actually in a completely different part of the yard, back behind my garage in an area you have to go through my garage to get to so there is no access for the dog or anything else to bother her.

 

[nina1993]

Sounds like you got thrown into the deep end and are trying desperately to swim. It's okay if you doggie paddle for a while.

Address the most urgent issues first, and keep at it until you get to all of them. When chickens free range, losses are expected, whether to dogs or other predators. Try not to beat yourself up over it. Sounds like you're doing the best you can in a very difficult situation without having time to adequately prepare. I hate situations like that - they can really suck!

You can put bird netting on top of runs to deter flying predators, but it won't do anything against dogs. If the dogs are jumping the fence without touching it or trying to dig under it first, electric fence wire won't be able to do much since they aren't contacting it.

ETA: electric netting might be a good choice - I haven't used it but others have had good things to say about it.

My answer to the fear of dog attacks was to put 1/2" hardware cloth over a 6 ft tall chain link dog kennel, including the top of it, and I build rafters of a sort to angle the roof. For jumping dogs, you'd need the roof to be able to support weight and the hardware cloth to be taut so they can't get their teeth or claws into it. You can cover with a tarp, or not, as desired. There are green house frames and hoop coops in the Coop and Run Building Forum on here that can show how to provide adequate protection. Hoop coops will probably be least expensive - Get a couple cattle panels, bend to a rectangular frame, cover hoops with hardware cloth. Add a 2-3 ft apron. Frame a door or 2, put a tarp on some of it, and you have a pretty predator resistant coop/run.

Their current coop is a big dog kennel like you are describing and I recently put a tin roof on it because the top was not covered at all previously… but I had decided it would be temporary until I could get their improved coop built. The current run is far too large to be able to cover the top with anything, which is another reason for the new coop construction. The new coop will have a fully enclosed and attached run. But of course all of these things take time and I also have other animals and am a full time single mom to my son! So house chores, farm chores, building and remodeling projects, yard work, shopping, cooking, emergency aid…all falls on me lol