Hen attacked by fox, injured

[PatinOxford]

One year old hen was attacked by a fox. She lost a lot of feathers -- I was astounded to see her alive, in fact. She is safe in the coop but has a bite. It is a slice from a canine, not a puncture. What can I do for her? No vet in our area will do much for a chicken. Should I bring her in where it is warmer or will that stress her even more? Should I attempt to clean the wound? Way outside my comfort zone here.

 

[Peeperscreepers]

I'm not sure what to do for the wound as I'm fairly new. Maybe some one will come along more experienced and help. Ive read many times that when a chicken is injured it has to be separated from the other chicken as they will peck at it and make it worse. I don't know if you have already done that though. I hope your chicken recovers well.

 

[Cayuga momma]

Im new too, but I've seen other post like this.
Seperate her
Keep her warm (to avoid shock)
Clean the wound with saline solution (don't use peroxide)
Apply antibiotic ointment
"If she is in a great deal of pain, you may dissolve 5 aspirin per gallon of water and let her drink" *not if she is still bleeding as it will think the blood.

 

[Peeperscreepers]

Yeap thats what I've read also!

 

[PatinOxford]

Thanks! I have brought her in (it's cold tonight), cleaned the wounds, put antibiotic ointment on, and bandaged her -- all hail Vetrap! She is spending the night in a cozy cat carrier in the house and we'll see how she's doing in the morning. My horse vet will give me some oral antibiotics if necessary. By Wednesday it's supposed to be warm and she can go back outside, at least for a few hours. Poor girl, she put up quite a fight and got away!

 

[Cayuga momma]

Update?

 

[PatinOxford]

Sure. She's doing remarkably well. I got advice from my horse vet, who also has chickens. I washed the area well, slathered on triple antibiotic ointment, stuck big non-stick pads over the punctures/slices, and wrapped everything. Because of the location -- a little behind the wings -- I did a wrap with soft knit 4 inch bandage: over the Telfa pads and around the body, over the pads again and then around in front, another turn around the body. Repeat with Vetrap. Put her in a large dog crate in the tack room, which is heated, with shavings, food, and water. Changed to bandage after 48 hours and it looked really good. Had to put the top on the dog crate because she was found perching on the top wire! She's eating, drinking, eliminating, scratching, flapping her wings, and even laid an egg. This afternoon I moved her to the spare coop as it's finally warmed up enough I don't have to worry about her being cold. Her "sister" -- the hen she was raised with and is deeply bonded to -- was being picked on by the other, older girls, so we put her in with our patient which pleased them both. Next bandage change is tomorrow. Chickens are incredibly tough.

 

[micstrachan]

Well done and excellent call bringing her buddy in with her.