HELP! rat ate skin off 2 day old chick :( pic inside.. warning*

[mushu]

Hi ! ok so two days ago our broody hatched 8 chicks.

We have a medium sized enclosed coop outside where we put our hens and their chicks (before this our cousins let us borrow their broody & her chicks then when the chicks are old enough we keep the chicks and return the hen because we live near the suburbs so no roo until recently when we got our own. At this stage the chicks are already at least 1 week old when we get her)

Now, this enclosed coop has a 5cm gap on top from the aliminium roof (it's slanted) that my dad never got around to patching up. We thought it'd be fine because we've had broody's & her chicks in there countless times so when our broody hatched her chicks we immediately moved them there.

Well, today after work my mum told me she found a dead chick with half its leg eaten off!! Tbh I've only started getting into chickens so this made me sick... I was disappointed and sad. We have a very large wooden box in the garage and transferred them there. Thats when we realised there were only 5 chicks left and one couldn't walk. I told mum to pick it up and lo and behold, its leg was completely raw :'( We removed him and put him in a small container with a heat lamp next to it + put some betadine antiseptic on his leg.. I'm assuming the other two chicks have been eaten the night before.. couldn't find them in the coop at all.

What else should we do? I'm afraid he won't be able to walk anymore and his mum will reject him. Should we vetwrap his wound? My mum said to let it air dry before doing anything.

This is the worst day ever, I'm absolutely devastated

We're now surfing the forum for brooder box/coop ideas for mumma hen and her chicks.

 

[Chickenfan4life]

Oh, dear, I'm so sorry! This sounds tragic.

Your mom was right to let it air-dry. If it is clean, then that's good, if not, make sure to get it clean and KEEP it clean. You can put neosporin on it to keep dust and grime out of the wound. I think he might have a chance if the wound is kept clean. It doesn't sound like he's lost any blood...

Please let me know what happens. I hope he gets better, and I hope things go alright...

 

[CayleeMarie03]

I agree with Chickenfan4life, keep it clean and let it air dry, then he should have a pretty good chance. Keep us updated on how the little guy is doing.

 

[casportpony]

Oh, dear, I'm so sorry! This sounds tragic.

Your mom was right to let it air-dry. If it is clean, then that's good, if not, make sure to get it clean and KEEP it clean. You can put neosporin on it to keep dust and grime out of the wound. I think he might have a chance if the wound is kept clean. It doesn't sound like he's lost any blood...

Please let me know what happens. I hope he gets better, and I hope things go alright...

X2 and make sure it stays warm.

 

[mushu]

thanks for replying, it makes me feel so much better and yup, he wasn't bleeding when we found him.

Today he is starting to walk again albeit only on his healthy leg. He is even trying to jump out of the box! He can't walk on his raw leg at all and his toes are curled up. I also noticed he is missing a small toe (the shortest toe) ! Will he be able to walk in the future with only 3 main toes?

We put more antiseptic on his leg this morning, he was crying. Later on we'll put vetwrap so his food will stop sticking to his skin.. I'll update more as time progresses .. hoping for a speedy recovery, he is as lively as ever.

 

[Lupa Duende]

You are doing the right thing.
Keep him warm, with plenty of warm/tepid water to drink and nourishing food'; apply neosporin/polysporin on his leg when it is clean and air dry; he will be fine with missing toes....

The trick is to keep him socialised without letting his injury get soiled or pecked..., i would bung him in a cat carrier so he can visually and aurally interact without getting hurt or dirty.
Good luck

 

[mushu]

^ I feel bad for him, when I'm not there he chirps alot especially when he wakes up. Currently I moved him into a shoe box within the laundry room so I can keep a close eye as my room is only down the hallway. I cut holes in the shoe box lid so I can see what his doing & give him better access to the heat lamp. I would love to take one of his siblings from mumma but I'm afraid it will make him exert more energy than needs be by socialising and walking around and they are in the garage not connected to the house.. Poor guy.

Well I've decided not to vetwrap his raw leg as I've no gauze and I think the vetwrap isn't the most sanitary as its just a wrap.. so just cleaned his leg with distilled water before and applied more betadine. Will be doing this twice a day

 

[TacomaChickNMom]

poor baby :-(. Rats can be wicked things.

 

[casportpony]

How is your chick today?

 

[mushu]

^ apologies for the late update, my internet has been horribly slow!

Update (now infection)

Hi everyone, its been exactly 1 week since I took took him inside. He is limping albeit walking on two front toes (I stated before he was missing a toe but that is now false, I must have been blind that day lol). Progress was going well, his leg is completely dry and looks like its scabbing. I don't think he will grow any feathers there anymore however that aside, I think he has a knee infection now!

As you can see in the picture below, his leg is always outstretched. He will bend it ever so slightly sometimes. I thought at first it must be a broken bone but realised its because of his swollen 'knee'. It wasn't until yesterday that some dark yellow pus started oozing out. I panicked and put on more betadine.
I thought pus can mean two things; either its good because the bad bacteria is coming out thus will heal later once thats all released OR its a real bad infection..

I haven't washed his wound yet as water in the wound may make it worse says my mum and today he is not chirping anymore. His feathers aren't ruffled, still eating and drinking like normal but not chirping, only when I attempt to touch him will he make small chirp sounds.

My vet doesn't look at chickens let alone a baby one. So today I bought soluble aspirin (300mg). In australia we don't really use aspirin (prefer panadol) thus I couldn't find baby aspirin and it had to do. I read its anti-inflammatory and researched the dosage for normal sized birds but because his so small, I put 1/8 of a capsule into 1litre of water and fed him on a spoon.. he took 3 small sips.. I'll try again tomorrow. Not sure if it will even do anything as its diluted to literally nothing but better to not overdoes him I guess.

Should I:
1. soak his knee in water, dry, apply hydrogen peroxide then betadine (peroxide will hurt crazy bad - experience from small mozzie bites to bigger wounds) I'm sure it will literally feel like hell for the little guy.
2. keep applying betadine, don't wash wound (my mum said water can make some wounds worse?
3. kill him

What should I do? Please, I'm debating whether to put him out of misery or not. I've become quite attached to him and kinda miss his annoying chirps now but I think he can pull through from the infection.

Note: Knee looks shiny but thats due to betadine, pus is protruding from the front (not visible here) & you can see how swollen it is T_T



I vet wrapped his knee ontop of a non-stick gauze just now, wood shavings were sticking to the betadine.. I hope tomorrow when I open it I won't see something gross like more pus as it has recently dried up. (Lol forgot to turn flash off my phone and it surprised him hence his wings are fluttering >.<)




Edit:

10pm now: keeps shaking his head like theres something bothering him.. if there is no improvement by tomorrow night my dad will cull him the next morning.. poor lil guy. its my fault for not taking care of him properly. boo