HELP!!! No local vet & hen was attacked by dog!

[avance09]

I am beside myself! My 2 hens roam freely in our backyard with our 2 dogs. They have done this for about a year now and all of a sudden my dog attacks one of my hens! I have no idea why.

She has a open wound near her tail and her back feathers have been pluck out by the dog. As soon as I heard what was going on, I went to get the hen and put her in our patio away from our dogs. My other hen was already in the coop so she is unharmed.

We have no local vet that works with chickens and plus its after hours. The hen is still alert and standing. She dropped a shell with no egg soon after putting her in my patio.

Someone please tell me she has some hope of living. She's my best hen. *crying* I will do anything to help save her, just help!

 

[CMV]

That's nothing. She will be fine in no time.

Clean the wound well with peroxide. I like to use a turkey baster to really blast any debris out of the wound. This will be last time you use it, so do it up. Once the wound is clean you may need to trim back some feathers to make sure nothing is hanging into the wound. You want this wound to be as clean as possible and stay that way. Coat the wound in plain Neosporin.

Separate her from her flock into a warm, dry, draft-free area. She needs to be encouraged to drink as much as possible. Don't worry so much if she doesn't want food for the next few days, but drinking is important. Sometimes a little sugar added to her water is a good thing. Some folks like to dose birds with vitamins and electrolytes. Do it if you want. I have always found that as long as a bird was healthy prior to the injury and eating a well-balanced diet, then there is no need to dose them with a bunch of junk. Too many water soluble vitamins just give them diarrhea. Too many electrolytes is just salt they don't need. Sugar water is enough.

Keep the wound open to the air for the first few days so it can form a scab. She should be golden shortly. You will need to keep her separated until she heals enough that the wound can be hidden with either Blukote or a saddle. Once she starts eating you will need to increase her protein intake to help her regrow some of that missing skin.

Give your dog a good stern talking to, and NEVER leave them unattended in the same area again.

 

[avance09]

Thank you sooo much! *sigh of relief*

I just got back from our Tractor Supply. I bought things that I thought would help. I read from another post that someone used the Electrolyte powder for the water so I got some of that. However, she was very healthy before this so I may just start with the sugar water that you mentioned. About how much do you put in about a quart of water? And it has to be warm to dissolve the sugar right?

Also, I bought some Vetericyn wound & skin care. I read on a forum somewhere that they used this when one of their hens were attacked. Should I use this instead of the peroxide or do the peroxide first then everyday afterwards use the Vetericyn?

I don't know how much it would help but on impulse I bought some Vet Rx. Even if i can't use it, I thought it would be nice to have on hand for future instances.

Should I wait until morning to treat her since she is so stressed? I don't want her to die from the stress of this. I just wonder if I should give her some time to calm down.

I'm willing and ready to try anything! These hens are strictly pets to me. We don't even eat eggs. We just give them to our family. So it's very important to me that I try everything to help her.

She is already inside in a nice quiet place. That was the first thing I did. We have her in a homemade brooder box (rubbermaid tub). Hopefully, I can go get a bigger cage to put her in tomorrow.

Believe me, this WILL NOT happen again. My other hen is asleep in the coop so she is fine. However, its very sad that they will not be able to roam our backyard anymore. They loved that so much.

Please get back with me and I will start treatment. Thanks again.

 

[CMV]

Wound treatment is mostly a matter of trial and error, and personal choice.

I like to use the peroxide first because it is great for cleaning dirty wounds. I know a lot of folks who use Vetericyn, and love it. I just never keep it on hand because I use stuff from my own medicine cabinet to deal with the birds. I haven't used it , so I can't advise you on it, but since you spent the money on it- I say use it. What's the worst that happens? It can't still be on the market if it is utter rubbish.

I like to make the sugar water sweet enough so that you can actually taste a hint of sweetness if you taste it. I don't have exact measurements. You don't want it syrupy sweet (which can give the bird diarrhea), just a touch of sweetness.

Vet RX...yeah, they got me, too. I bought a bottle of that years ago and have never used it once. It is long past its due date, so I should probably just toss it, but...The stuff is pretty much useless. It serves absolutely no therapeutic purpose. It can have supposed palliative effects, but since when do chickens actually tell us when something feels better? I am highly suspect of this product.

Unfortunately, you may be having both birds living in your house while your injured bird recovers, so prepare yourself! A small flock like you have is going to consist of two very sad, very needy birds, who are pining for each other. You may need to find a way to move them both inside so they can chat, but keep them apart so that the healthy bird doesn't pick at the ailing bird's wounds. Within a few days, the wounded bird can probably have a saddle put on to cover those wounds and allow her to be back with her peer, but the interim is going to be torture on them both. Your wounded bird will also heal much better and faster with her buddy around.

 

[avance09]

Okay. I am going to use the Vetericyn to clean the wound just because it has a spray cap and I don't have a turkey baster.

I gave her plain water earlier and she drank a bunch of it. I am trying to get a bigger cage tonight so that I can give her more room. Plus, im afraid she will spill her water since there isn't much room.

I really want to bring in her friend, per your advice. But right now, my office looks like a farm already because I have a silkie chick that I hatched about two months ago that is also living in a cage. I'm running out of cages. If I can find room, I will absolutely try it. Maybe I can bring her in during the day and put her in the coop at night (the other hen).

Thank you so much for your advice! I feel so much relief knowing that she may make it!

 

[CMV]

She is totally going to make it. That wound is small potatoes. You just need to deal with alleviating her stress and making sure the wound stays clear of infection. Those are your two biggest challenges right now. Stress is a killer. Keep her calm, quiet, warm, dry and hydrated. The biggest danger from the stress is with in the first 1-2 days. Infection is your next threat. Keep the wound clean, dry and unmolested. Chickens are tough as nails. They can survive some very impressive wounds. She should be just fine.
Let her rest tonight. Tomorrow you start trying to convince her to eat....

 

[avance09]

Thank you, CMV for all your help. She survived the night. I gave her sugar water and sprayed the wounds with the Vetericyn last night and again this morning. I put some food in the cage for her just in case she got hungry and she did! Some of it was gone this morning so shes still eating.

 

[CMV]

Excellent. Now keep that wound clean and dry until it scabs over and then you can look at covering it. Have you considered whether you will use Blukote or a saddle? For smallish wounds I prefer the Blukote because it is just a spray on concealer/antibiotic/antifungal agent. It is very drying, makes a mess of everything it comes in contact with, and stains the feathers permanently until they are replaced at molt, but it is pretty great stuff despite these things. I use it on all my animals and have even used it on myself more than once. A saddle has to be made and sometimes getting the fit just right can be a challenge. And it needs to fit just right so it doesn't slip, sag, and fall off. Your larger wounds where there is a lot of feather loss and no real way to conceal the injury with just a spray on, or injuries that may get re-injured during healing (like spur wounds from roos), I recommend the saddles.

I am glad to hear she is recovering from her little adventure. Let's hope that continues.

 

[avance09]

She is still doing good. She is eating a lot more than I thought she would.

I am having my grandma make her a saddle. I dont have any roosters so im not too worried about that. Im worried about her trying to dust bathe so I thought the saddle would help keep dirt out of the wound. However, I dont plan on putting her back out until the wound scabs over. Its already looking better. Its not so wet looking. But ive been spraying the vetericyn on it every few hours. Shes drinking really well but I havent seen her lay down. She just stands the whole time.

 

[CMV]

You may try to put a short chunk of 2x4 in with her. She may be inclined to "roost" on it even if it is just placed on the floor. I had a major goose injury a couple years back. I swear that bird never laid down the entire time I had her isolated from her flock. She laid down plenty of times before the injury and after she was returned to her flock, but while isolated she was hypervigilant and would never lay down. It was like she couldn't let her guard down as long as she was by herself.