Hen badly injured

[Sommano]

Hi y’all,
I’m new to raising my own chickens without my fathers help.
Yesterday one of my hens (she’s about a year old) was attacked by my puppy who is 11 weeks old. He’s a playful little fella so I don’t think he meant to almost kill her.
Anyways she’s really hurt, the skin on the back of her neck is completely gone and I can see her neck bones.
She’s still alive and can occasionally lift up her neck. I feed her water and just fed her some mushed chicken feed. She still spews mucus-like stuff from her mouth.
So far, I’ve cleaned her wounds every 1-2 hours and lathered on hen heal, the blue ointment. I saw other posts about using neosporin, would that be better option for her?
Her neck skin is slightly hanging off of her. She’s not bleeding until I put the blue ointment on her.
I can post pictures of her neck the next time I change the gauze.
Please any advice how to save her is greatly appreciated.
I love her and I don’t want her to die.

 

[azygous]

She's not going to die, especially with the excellent care you're giving her. Here's a tip I discovered a couple years ago when my rooster scalped a hen who was resisting his advances. Leave that flap of skin in place.

It will act as a skin graft and the wound will heal much faster. Keep up what you're doing to keep the wound clean. You really only need to do it twice a day for this first week. Then once a day from the second week until the wound completely heals. Never, never, never let the wound dry out. Keep Neosporin on it at all times.

Then use the Neosporin to "glue" that hanging flap of skin over as much of the wound as it can cover. I first squirt the ointment on the wound, then lay the flap down, and then squirt more Neosporin over the top of the flap and the rest of the wound. Do this each time you clean the wound.

Before long, the flap will stay firmly in place. That indicates it's grafting itself to the wound, and from then on, new skin will grow outward from the graft and inward from the edges of the wound.

 

[Sommano]

I just checked back to see how your girl was doing- both hen and your sweet daughter. I skipped to last page but it seems the original hurt hen is hanging in there and her pal here has a little infection or bruising, right? Just wanted you and your daughter to know that some people you’ve never met really do care enough about your little birds to check in and see how they’re doing. Pulling for you all! Also, seems as if you’re raising a very cool young lady. I have one too- she’s all grown out there making me proud. But I was thinking about your daughter caring for this hurt hen. We all know how time consuming and mentally taxing that can be. She deserves to be Recognized for that. This is a young girl with a good heart it seems good job mama

Hi
I just got home from a long day at work and here’s an update on both hens and my 10 year old daughter; from this morning;
Rebel, (the badly injured hen) was attacked by our other hen, Heddy. But she’s actually good, she fought back. My son and daughter were able to separate both hens at the same time. Heddy did make her bleed again but my daughter quickly got the bleeding situated and I was able to clean it throughly and get antibiotics on it fast as I can.
Rewind to this evening, I came home with some cucumbers from work and both hens feasted on them. Even Rebel has been eating much more than yesterday, she’s still abit skinny but eating more. She’s actually walking around the house and making little peep sounds again. And she’s cleaning her feathers!
Our other hen had some slash wounds on her head but she’s fully healed and bruised.
I do have to give my daughter a lot of recognition for doing what I tell her to do with her hen, Rebel. Especially while I’m gone. Since she was 3 years old, she always wanted to be a doctor or a veterinarian. And now look at her, she’s going to be an amazing veterinarian when she gets older.

Thank you for checking up on us!

 

[Sommano]

Here’s an update;
She’s eating, drinking and demanding to go outside so here are the besties out in the yard together. And she’s hand feeding her some fresh cantaloupe and cucumber seeds.
I still keep her wounds moistened with ointment everyday. She has no smell now. Her eyes are doing good and opening.
Our other hen is also great, as well.

 

[Sommano]

I too, had a hen scalped from her rooster that was roughly overeager. It was bad. Bad bad. Wayyyyyyy worse than this. Today she is perfectly fine. Not housed with any roosters because the comb and feathers on the top of her head are completely gone. And I’m afraid a roo in an amorous mood would have nothing to grab other than her scar tissue- but point being- she was not looking good when this happened. I never thought she would make it. Turns out she’s completely recovered (minus the missing feathers and comb) and is a fat, happy little serama hen - who’s simply a pet (good thing she doesn’t eat much, right?!). Anyway, it was disappointing because she had just won best of breed at an apa show in late fall... where the competition was able and tough. But what matters is that she’s alive. That’s the point here. I hope your bird is okay- especially if she’s your daughters best friend. I think she’ll be okay.
Did anyone answer your egg question? Just Incase, I always give sick or injured birds hard boiled egg to help speed up recovery with extra protein. Plus If they’re not real hungry, they still usually gobble egg down! I hard boil and dice up in small bits with a fork or stick it in the blender. Sometimes I mix it with wet mash (chicken feed). They especially like it if it’s warm. Plain yogurt is good too. Mine don’t like that as much as egg. That’s more for getting the good bacteria in the gut flourishing again I believe. But egg can’t hurt for sure. It can only help. Good luck. And good job caring for her!

Noelle,
Thank you for your kind words.
And thank you for answering the egg question, neither of our hens have laid any lately because they are stressed out and of coarse this hen is injured. But I have store bought eggs and I will give some to her tomorrow.
Oh here’s a picture of my daughter feeding to her injured best friend.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Just had a hawk rip my hens neck apart.so much tissue exposed in neck there was no way it wouldnt get infected so at day 2 took her to vet for antibiotics. She said leave it open, no bandage or wrap. Hibiclens patting wash to site 2x/day, pain med, antibiotic 2x/day. Big flap too she was afraid wouldn t adhere and would need to be surgically fixed w anesthesia but with the above treatment regime adhered to its healing well. Antibiotics are key. Yours is infected if it smells and your bird is suffeting. Get to a vet. Your sweet girl is counting on you.

Sorry to hear that your hen was attacked, but glad that she is on the mend and you have access to and can afford vet care.

Unfortunately, vet care is not always an option for most of us. I know that this thread is long (12pages and counting) but the OP has stated several times that seeking vet care is not an option. This bird has also been on a course of antibiotics and she is being lovingly cared for by the OP and her young attentive assistant the best they can. Hopefully she is on the way to making a full recovery.

I'm rooting for your hen and the OP's as well!

 

[ChickNanny13]

You done good & got good advice to follow.

 

[Sequel]

You are doing so well and you have a very experienced educator helping you! I’m so sorry your hen is hurt, my fingers are crossed!!! Wishing you the best!

 

[micstrachan]

Thank you for your advice.
I forgot to take pictures of her wounds.
I will when I change it again.
And we noticed she started to smell like rotten meat, is that normal?

No, that’s not good. I think you need to administer antibiotics. @azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Anyways she’s really hurt, the skin on the back of her neck is completely gone and I can see her neck bones.

She still spews mucus-like stuff from her mouth.
So far, I’ve cleaned her wounds every 1-2 hours and lathered on hen heal, the blue ointment. I saw other posts about using neosporin, would that be better option for her?

Her neck skin is slightly hanging off of her. She’s not bleeding until I put the blue ointment on her.

And we noticed she started to smell like rotten meat, is that normal?

I wrapped her neck all the way around in the gauze wrap and taped it at the end so it’ll stay in place.

Can you please post some photos?
How long ago was she injured (how many days)?
Where are you located?

A smell like rotten meat would be infection.
Flush the wound really well with chlorhexidine or betadine. Hen healer has it's place, but I would not use it for this type of wound. If you can use Neosporin or Vetericyn, those would be better.

If you have vet care, that is best, but I agree, getting some antibiotics is a good idea.
I would start asap. If you have a Tractor Supply look for Fish Mox (Amoxicillin) and get that. If they don't have Amoxicillin, look in their refrigerated section and get Procaine Penicillin G along with some 20 gauge needles and the smallest syringes they carry.

Personally I would not wrap the wound, just keep it moist with your spray.

Tell us more about her spewing mucous-like stuff from her beak? It sounds like she's got more problems. I would see if I could get fluids into her, but the mucous is very concerning.