Hen attacked by raccoon

[jmiles1107]

My hen, Birdie, was attacked by a raccoon early the other morning. She has puncture wounds on and around her head- her "ear" appears ruptured and part of her comb is missing. This happened several days ago and we have been cleaning the wounds tho warm soapy water and applying a polysporin. The wounds appear to be healing nicely but her left eye is swollen shut and she is still very lethargic. She is taking meal worms and water in small doses. We have given her metacam the last two days for pain which appears to have helped her appetite. Any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated. We have her separated from the rest of our flock so she can rest peacefully. Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It sounds like you are taking care of her wounds.
Can you try to flush the eye with saline and see if it is cut/injured as well. If it has pus in it, try to get out as much as you can, a qtip helps with this. You can apply Vetericyn eye gel or Terramycin eye ointment in the eye.
Give her some vitamin/electrolytes in her water, these are usually found at the local feed store or you can give some gatorade or sugar water. If she won't drink, try an eye dropper or needless syringe.See if she will eat some hard boiled or scrambled egg or tuna or even wet/watered down feed.
If you have photos, that would be good as well.
Hope this helps.

 

[jmiles1107]

@Wyorp Rock thanks for the advice. I managed to give her some yogurt and she has taken some oatmeal- I will try the eggs. Her poop is a bright green (I read that is bad)... I am going to give her some Gatorade for electrolytes. All she wants to do is sleep, tucking her head in her feathers. Her eye is not oozing ... She had it open the morning after the attack but then the swelling commenced and she hasn't opened it since. I will attempt to open it. Thoughts on the green poop?

 

[centrarchid]

It is likely she is fighting an infection related to the puncture wounds. It will be causing a lot of internal swelling around the bites areas. Antibiotic use is a possible course of action.



The green feces can be stemming from too little food consumed to keep digestive tract running properly. The yogurt use I not going to provide benefits for this type of problem. Get her back on a regular feed based diet. You can moisten the feed to improve palatability. Use of salts (from Gatorade) may be causing some salt balance issues. I use salts only when something is wrong with digestive tract function.

 

[jmiles1107]

Thank you @centrarchid. I made her eggs this morning and she gobbled them up. She is not interested at all in her regular feed. Since the chickens have their feeder in the coop, I am not privy to the amount of food consumed by each one in a day. Can someone tell me how much my sick girl should be eating daily? I am also having to force feed her water. Thanks in advance!

 

[centrarchid]

Thank you @centrarchid. I made her eggs this morning and she gobbled them up. She is not interested at all in her regular feed. Since the chickens have their feeder in the coop, I am not privy to the amount of food consumed by each one in a day. Can someone tell me how much my sick girl should be eating daily? I am also having to force feed her water. Thanks in advance!

Back off on the electrolytes. If she is eating anything solid on her own then she will drink on her own when she needs its. I have dealt with such injured birds many times before. Your bird has a major complicating issue,........ your efforts to provide care.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@Wyorp Rock thanks for the advice. I managed to give her some yogurt and she has taken some oatmeal- I will try the eggs. Her poop is a bright green (I read that is bad)... I am going to give her some Gatorade for electrolytes. All she wants to do is sleep, tucking her head in her feathers. Her eye is not oozing ... She had it open the morning after the attack but then the swelling commenced and she hasn't opened it since. I will attempt to open it. Thoughts on the green poop?

I probably should have clarified the vitamin/electrolyte - a little gatorade could be given in an emergency until poultry vitamin/electrolytes are acquired from feed store, these have much less salt than gatorade. I agree with @centrarchid that antibiotics may be needed. The swelling is concerning. Green poo would be not enough nutrition. You could try some chick starter or all flock wet into a mash, this would give her the correct nutrition.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/517234/medical-treatments-recommended-by-bycers

 

[jmiles1107]

I have not given her any gatorade yet. She has been walking around all afternoon and seems to have more energy since she ate the scrambled eggs. We are going to keep her isolated until she gets stronger. The swelling has significantly improved since the attack, but if it is no better by tomorrow - I am going to consider antibiotics.

 

[jmiles1107]

Birdie is continuing to progress in her strength, however I now have a new concern which is her constantly opening her mouth - could it be her crop is impacted? She has not been drinking a lot of water and her crop is hard in the morning and she HATES me to touch it. Could the attack from the raccoon cause an injury to her crop OR is the lack of water the culprit?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Birdie is continuing to progress in her strength, however I now have a new concern which is her constantly opening her mouth - could it be her crop is impacted? She has not been drinking a lot of water and her crop is hard in the morning and she HATES me to touch it. Could the attack from the raccoon cause an injury to her crop OR is the lack of water the culprit?

It could be lack of water. They drink quite a bit normally, I know mine do.
Do you keep her in the dark at night like her normal sleep pattern or do she have a light where she may be eating overnight. If she can see at night, I recommend you make it dark or take out the food before bed, check her crop and then see if it goes down in the morning.
It's possible she has some swelling/injury there as well, but she needs more water, IMO hydration is very important to recovery and will also be beneficial if she has a slow moving or impacted crop developing.
Encourage her to eat WET foods, if she will eat the scrambled eggs add water and offer some grit as well. Sometimes a few (2-3) very small pieces of bread soaked with olive oil will get things moving, she if she wants grit too. Plenty of water. You may have to try see if you can get more water into her with an eye dropper, needle less syringe, or even tube feed her. It's slow going with dropper/syringe. This is what works for me, I do have a work table I use (easier than bending over a chicken), let her stand or sit as she pleases, keep her close, but not squeezing her in, put the dropper/syringe on the side of the beak and drop water, most of the time they will take it. Patience and letting her tell you when she is ready for more helps. You can also gently pull her wattles just a tad, usually they will slightly open up, give just a drop or two of water, let go, let them swallow, repeat. You don't want to squirt a bunch in because they can choke. If you are unsure, go out and watch and study how your other hens actually drink water, this helps you see when she is ready to take another swallow.

Here are some tips on slow/impacted crops:
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues-html/
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/06/chicken-anatomy-crop-impacted-crop-sour.html
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
Tube feeding information:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding