HELP Young hen's wing was ripped off by predator

[kwtchickens]

I came back today after going away for three days and found that my chickens had been attacked while I was gone. I have two coops, one with my 2 older chickens and one with my 2 silkie hens and all of my young chickens. The second coop is raised with a covered pen and I had covered the gap under the coop with plastic barrier. Something had chewed or clawed through the barrier and killed 5 of my young dominiques and one older hen. I found another one of my Dominiques drinking, injured, but acting normal. I brought her in and clipped the feathers around the area. Her wing had been torn off and there is considerable injuries around it. I washed the wounds out with water, then hydrogen peroxide. Then I put antibiotics on the wounds and covered them with gauze, then wrapped it with ace bandage. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but she thrashed and yelled when I washed out the wound with hydrogen peroxide, because it stings. She was drinking when I brought her in, but I haven't tried to give her anything else since, I've been treatin the wound. How should I continue to treat her wound, it's pretty bad, I don't want it to get infected either? If she recovers, will she be ok without a wing?

 

[madelynmccabe]

If you have a veterinarian nearby I would definitely take your chicken there to get the wound cleaned out and possibly stitch it up. A vet would have the best possible care in preventing any infection and allow for the best healing process. She will be without her wing but she can survive well without it considering that chickens don't fly often or far. I think if you take her to a vet you will be able to give her a good quality of life and heal up well. I hope for only the best!


Sincerely,
Madelyn M

 

[madelynmccabe]

I would definitely take her to a vet to get the wound cleaned out and possibly stitched up. A vet would have the best ways to care for her and the best antibiotics to stop any infection. She should be fine without the wing considering chickens don't fly often and really rarely use them, so that shouldn't be an issue. But I would strongly recommend taking her to a vet to get it checked out. I hope she heals well!!

Sincerely,
Madelyn McCabe

 

[ChickNanny13]

Yikes! You did good, I'm not sure if the wound should be sewed or best left open to heal....Leaning towards open to drain & watch for infection. Perhaps some antibiotics that go in her drinking water? I don't think she'd be too affected with one wing however she'll be defenseless (flying) to get away from a predator. Make sure she's eating & pooping too, scrambled eggs is a miracle feed.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome to BYC.

Poor little thing.
If you need to clean the wound more, flush it with sterile water, saline, Chlorhexidine (Novalsan) or Betadine. I wouldn't use any more peroxide.

As @ChickNanny13 suggested, it is probably best to leave the wound open to heal and not stitch it up. You can apply some Vetericyn Spray to the wound or some plain neosporin. It's a large area, so the Vetericyn may be easier to spray on there.

Since she was drinking when you found her that is a good sign. Add some poultry vitamins to her water and offer scrambled/hard boiled eggs, tuna, mackerel or meat in addition to her chick starter. (you can wet her feed if you like).

Monitor for infection, pus, odors, if so then antibiotic treatment may be in order.

There are quite a few posts here on BYC where chickens have one or both wings to predators and have done well, barring any infection.

Please keep us posted on her progress.

 

[Yoako]

Your doing a great job. All though one of the things I'm worried about is infection. I would keep putting medicine on the wound, is it hot there? If so it probably has a higher tendency to get infected. ( please correct me if I'm wrong ) I'd keep a really close eye on her.
Oh, and yes, she will be okay with one wing.

 

[Yoako]

Oops, one more thing. How deep is the wound? And did the whole wing get ripped off?

 

[kwtchickens]

Sorry for a late reply, my computer was having issues, but she's with me here now. Last night she continued to drink with me dripping water on her beak and ate some yogurt and egg. She has a lot of energy and strength, she got her bandages off this morning in an attempt to run around the room while I was sleeping. She is eating eggs, yogurt and a some food by herself, and drinking without help. I changed her bandages and applied new neosporin. I did not try to wash it out, because I will get a better solution than peroxide today. Her wounds are pretty deep, the skin is ripped open on her thigh, she has stopped trying to use that leg today, I was worried she was going to rip it more. There is also a bad wound around her crop, the skin is gone and there is a lot if tissue and fat visible. Her wing is completely ripped off, my brother found it yesterday across the yard, and you can see what I believe to be the joint where her wing connects. Tonight I am going to pick up something else to wash the injuries, ace bandages because mine are old and almost out, electrolytes for her water and more gauze. Is there anything else I should get for her, and what is the best for washing the wounds? How often should i change her bandages and clean the wounds?

 

[kwtchickens]

Also, it's not that hot here; 70s-80s. She's in the house and it's cool.

 

[Yoako]

I would change the bandages when ever they start getting blood, puss, dirt etc. on them which ( judging by pics ) would be once or twice a day. The medicine on the other hand I don't really know.. Usually I treat my animals with Neosporin, which is pretty affective... But then again, non of my animals have had limbs ripped of. I'm going to research it and tell you what I come up with...