hen injured - swollen eye - bleeding from the nostrils - please advise

[PunkinPeep]

I found one of my buff orp hens a few minutes ago, sitting out behind the coop with an injured wing and a puffy swollen eye. When i tried to get better look at her wing, she started dripping blood from her nostrils.

I don't know what got to her. My hens free range. And i wouldn't be particularly concerned about the wing if that's all there was. It isn't a bad injury.

It's the eye and the bleeding that concern me. I've never faced this before, and i'm not sure what it might indicate. Basically, i'm not sure whether that kind of bleeding might indicate that there was brain trauma that she might not be expected to recover from.

Please lend your advice.

Thanks.

 

[zatsdeb]

did she get picked at by another bird? especially if they see blood they start picking, you should put her by herself till the blood heals and just watch her. maybe give her some scrambled egg or yougurt.

 

[PunkinPeep]

She is isolated.

And i found her by herself, so i don't think the other girls were bothering her.

I tried to feed her just now, and she tried to eat but couldn't pick up the food.

Like maybe her beak is also injured...

I think i might know the answer to my question now.

Thanks for responding.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Is her wing injury on the same side of her body as her eye? Looks like her right wattle is off color also. Could she have been stepped on or kicked by something (horse, cow, large dog?)

for you both - not a great way to greet the day

 

[zatsdeb]

it sounds like she has been injured by a dog, or another animal. usually they don't just start bleeding from their nostrils without being injured by a predator or some other animal. if her beak was injured it will be hard for her to pick up food. poor baby.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Thanks for your replies.

My suspicion is a dog, but i don't want to say it out loud.

I've decided to set her up with vitamin water and scrambled eggs and give her a chance to heal up if she's going to.

While i love her, and the idea of her not recovering makes me break down into tears, around here chickens are still livestock, so we don't go to very extreme lengths to save them. We also won't let them suffer very long.

It will break my heart if she doesn't start eating again. I'm hoping scrambled eggs will be easier. It was only one attempt with the pellets, so i'm hoping for something better with softer food and some water.

Deep breath.

This is the dark side of farming.

ETA: horsefeatherz, yes, the injured wing IS on the same side as the injured eye.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I am somewhat encouraged.

I set her up in my outdoor brooder with vitamin water and scrambled eggs.

And surprisingly, she got up and walked around and checked everything out. She even tried to escape the brooder and resisted me - fairly strongly - when i went to spray her wing with wound kote.

I had to kind of point her to it, but she did eat some of the eggs while i was standing there.

And watching her better this time, i'm wondering if part of her problem with eating is that with her one blind eye, she's misjudging the distance to the food. That's kind of what it looked like. And if that is it, she should be able to adjust.

Her eye was kind of oozing a bit, and that's a concern. Actually, i'm not exactly sure what that indicates with an eye.

Anyway, if she'll get to eating and drinking in the next 24 hours, i'll see about getting some antibiotics or something to help her eye heal up. Even if it's blind, i just don't want her to be sick.

O.k., i'm done reporting for now. Thanks a ton for your support!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

That is good news

Not sure with her eye either - maybe the oozing is tears and the eye is trying to flush/heal? At least I hope so.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I'm not sure what to do.

If she were eating, i am now sure she would recover.

She tries to eat - and succeeds maybe a little, but most of the time, she pecks at it and misses it by about an inch. She just doesn't peck far enough.

Her eye is still oozing pretty badly, semi-clear gelatin consistency ooze. No blood.

I have no idea what this indicates. I don't think it's tears.

Anybody know?

I need to make a decision. I don't want her to suffer unnecessarily.

Thanks

 

[schellie69]

maybe see if you can flush the eye with some eye drops and see if there was something in there, It sounds like she has no depth perception what happens to a person when they lose one eye. I would try and hand feed her until she adjust to having the one eye. I am hoping someone with more experience will chime in soon.