Help with rescue! Hen fell off truck on highway (probably bound for slaughter)

[ethingtonart]

Our family was driving home from Holiday world yesterday when we saw a chicken sitting on the side of the road! As we drove along looking for a place to turn around, we saw 8 more dead chickens along the road. She appears to be young and she's VERY heavy so I assume she was bound for slaughter.

So, long story short, she isn't bleeding now, but underneath her left wing there is a piece of skin that has been pulled back considerably. Her left wing also has some bone exposed. We cleaned the wound with peroxide last night (as the vet suggested over the phone). We have her in a large dog crate in the house covered in tulle (to keep the flies out). She has been eating and drinking a little. Yesterday she stood up all day as we transported her and after we arrived home, but she's laying down now.

So, i am just wanting to know what more I can do for her. Antibiotics? Heat lamp?

 

[ryanhodapp]

80/85 degrees. Put neosporin on the wound. Electrolytes and vitamins in water.
Maybe some fruit would entice her to eat. Aspirin, dose age on here, I saw it yesterday.

You are a good family.

 

[Nupe]

How are her legs? If her legs are already broken or damaged, there's not much you can do but make her comfortable if you can't bring yourself to euthanize or process her. If they're not damaged, then since she did reach process weight in the commercial house, she's more likely to die of flip (organ failure) before her wounds heal. Again my advice would be to either process, euthanize or make her comfortable until the inevitable happens.

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

To the people that smash perfectly good chickens up in trucks to later be eaten after living lives smashed up in tiny little cages:

To you:

I would deffinately do some neosporin and heat lamp. Put some sugar in her water to coax her in to drinking more, and I'd try giving her some yogurt. It's nutritional, and they seem to like eating it. Electrolytes would be good, and I'd just keep an eye on her wound to make sure it isn't getting worse.
She ended up in a good place! Glad you stopped and rescued her, she still has plenty to offer! Oh, and be careful how much you let her eat, she's probably a meat chicken and meat chickens have been known to eat so much they kill themselves :-(
Oooooh, and any pics?
Once again, you did awesome!

 

[ethingtonart]

I will look for thr asprin thread! That should help make her feel better, and I will position a heat lamp nearby tonight. Probably warm enough right now, but maybe thats why she was laying down this morning. Is it common for breeds used for meat to sleep standing up?
Her legs are in perfect condition. Not even a scratch! I was worried about organ faliure too, since I know that they aren't meant to live long, but I am hopeing she will pull through or at least be comfortable until the end.
I am giving her chick food right now because I was worried about the calcium content in layer pellets.