Hen Injured by Hawk

[BrahmaMom1797]

hello!
I have a 6 month old hen who took a nasty hit by a hawk today. She’s hardly bleeding, but she does have a puncture wound in her muscle and her skin is torn quite badly. We cleaned and wrapped the wound and she’s now asleep and warm inside. I know the answer might be a vet, but I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions. She my sweetest little girl and I want to make her as comfortable as possible. I have no pictures because I wanted to stress her out as little as possible. She is still mobile and not crying and she’s not feverish. I will already be checking on her quite a bit, but I’ve nevered dealt with this before. Thank you all.

 

[sourland]

One of the problems with hawk attacks is the force of impact and possible internal damage. 24 hours generally tells the tale on this. Skin wounds heal fairly well in poultry depending upon the magnitude of the wound. Keeping her warm and quiet right now is the way to start. Do an on site search on 'wound care' to see a variety of treatments.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

hello!
I have a 6 month old hen who took a nasty hit by a hawk today. She’s hardly bleeding, but she does have a puncture wound in her muscle and her skin is torn quite badly. We cleaned and wrapped the wound and she’s now asleep and warm inside. I know the answer might be a vet, but I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions. She my sweetest little girl and I want to make her as comfortable as possible. I have no pictures because I wanted to stress her out as little as possible. She is still mobile and not crying and she’s not feverish. I will already be checking on her quite a bit, but I’ve nevered dealt with this before. Thank you all.

I'm sorry to hear about your pullet

I agree, keep her warm and quiet.
She may be in shock. When you check on her next, you may want to offer her something to drink. Plain water is fine. If you have electrolytes or poultry vitamins to add you can use those to the water if you wish.

Next time you address her wounds, take some photos if you can. If you cleaned the wound well initially and it's located where it's kept relatively clean, then an application of triple antibiotic ointment, vetericyn or similar would be good when you change the dressing.

As mentioned, internal injuries are the biggest concern.

I hope she's doing o.k. Please keep us posted.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Just my suggestion. Get all your first aid items ready. Have them available for when you assess her injuries. Handling can cause some stress so make it worth both yours while. Get someone to help you a second pair of hands is always helpful. Have a pair of scissors ready to trim away feathers from ALL around the wound. Trim ...Before...you take pictures. It’ll help us help you.

What kind of supplies do you have on hand for wound care??

 

[Abriana]

Can you post pictures? Also, since she is inside, I would leave the wound open to air out. When you apply more medication also rinse with a saline solution and maybe use some vetericyn, triple antibiotic ointment, or neosporin without pain relief.

 

[MissChick@dee]

You’ve got some good basic wound care items. Flushing cleaning wounds as soon as possible is always good. A saline flush to get it clean. Trimming IMHO is important to get it clean and keep it clean. Once you do that then post pictures so we can see what you’re dealing with.
Don’t cover the wound. Let’s look at what condition she’s in.
ETA: Oh sorry thought...that was OP’s response.

 

[BrahmaMom1797]

Just my suggestion. Get all your first aid items ready. Have them available for when you assess her injuries. Handling can cause some stress so make it worth both yours while. Get someone to help you a second pair of hands is always helpful. Have a pair of scissors ready to trim away feathers from ALL around the wound. Trim ...Before...you take pictures. It’ll help us help you.

What kind of supplies do you have on hand for wound care??

We have triple a, bactine, some hydrogen peroxide, and a lot of wraps. I will post pictures when I get the chance to, shes been handled a lot tonight. She’s eaten, but she hasn’t taken to water yet.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Don't use hydrogen peroxide, it can kill off healthy tissues. The other stuff sounds good.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Please don’t use the hydrogen peroxide.
I understand you wanting her to rest. Good she’s eating.
I tend to use common items to treat wounds easily available at Walmart. I like betadine to flush wounds or saline. Betadine diluted 50/50 with water. More often than not wounds don’t need to be wrapped and some cases should not be wrapped at all.
Walmart also sells little packages of “save a chick” or electrolytes pick up a few of those.
You might want to pick up a spray bottle (or use a old one) I find them so helpful in flushing out debris (with betadine solution)
So you have a chance to pickup a few things before treating her.
ETA: electrolytes is for her water.

 

[BrahmaMom1797]

This is her injury, pretty bad photo, it’s late at night and she’s not super happy right now. I might be able to get more in a second, but this is it for now.