Hen just attacked by a coyote!

[afrod]

Hi,

Attaching photos of my hen, Jimmy. I caught a coyote with her in its mouth and scared it away, dropping Jimmy before he jumped a fence. Jimmy seems ok other than the big piece of skin missing from her left breast. No blood. She limps a bit and seems calm, considering. I put peroxide all over the wound and put as much triple antibiotic as I could on it. The I covered the wound with the remaining skin flap as best I could. We have one other hen and they are best friends and share a good sized coop. Any advice? What else can i do? Is there a way to fashion a bandage that won't come off? Stitches? I hate my vet. They don't know anything and charge a lot for it. Side note, Jimmy was attacked similarly a few years ago and lost feathers and had a puncture in her back but recovered completely. Our other hen is smart enough to fly on top of the roof. Any ideas welcome. Thanks!

 

[flocklady]

I would put lavender essential oil directly in the puncture wounds of hens that survived fox attacks the would heal pretty quickly i would pour that on the wound

 

[azygous]

Lucky hen and good timing on your part to startle the coyote into dropping his victim. Good on getting the wound cleaned out right away. That should be the last time you use peroxide on it, though, as peroxide interferes with new tissue growth.

Also, kudos for recognizing the value of using the skin flap as a skin graft. It will cut the healing time in half. No, don't even try to suture or bandage. Use the wound ointment to "glue" the flap in place. I've found in about three days, the graft will begin to take.

Here's my wound protocol for a predator victim.

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite, tear or puncture marks indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. Bacteria from the predator’s mouth can be injected deep into tissue and can kill in as little as 24 to 48 hours. You may want to try to obtain some amoxicillin from your vet to treat the bacteria that may have been left behind in the puncture wound.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treatment and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

 

[RadEggs]

I would put lavender essential oil directly in the puncture wounds of hens that survived fox attacks the would heal pretty quickly i would pour that on the wound

Do not do this. Pure esential oils can burn skin. They need to be diluted a lot.

 

[flocklady]

Not true lavender is fine to use neat while most oils are not I am professionally trained in oils and it is part of my business I've put lavender in a dog bite on my child before we ran to the hospital and the doctor said it was the cleanest dog bite she ever saw

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Lucky hen and good timing on your part to startle the coyote into dropping his victim. Good on getting the wound cleaned out right away. That should be the last time you use peroxide on it, though, as peroxide interferes with new tissue growth.

Also, kudos for recognizing the value of using the skin flap as a skin graft. It will cut the healing time in half. No, don't even try to suture or bandage. Use the wound ointment to "glue" the flap in place. I've found in about three days, the graft will begin to take.

Here's my wound protocol for a predator victim.

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite, tear or puncture marks indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. Bacteria from the predator’s mouth can be injected deep into tissue and can kill in as little as 24 to 48 hours. You may want to try to obtain some amoxicillin from your vet to treat the bacteria that may have been left behind in the puncture wound.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treatment and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

This!

Excellent instructions for care.

 

[flocklady]

Hi,

Attaching photos of my hen, Jimmy. I caught a coyote with her in its mouth and scared it away, dropping Jimmy before he jumped a fence. Jimmy seems ok other than the big piece of skin missing from her left breast. No blood. She limps a bit and seems calm, considering. I put peroxide all over the wound and put as much triple antibiotic as I could on it. The I covered the wound with the remaining skin flap as best I could. We have one other hen and they are best friends and share a good sized coop. Any advice? What else can i do? Is there a way to fashion a bandage that won't come off? Stitches? I hate my vet. They don't know anything and charge a lot for it. Side note, Jimmy was attacked similarly a few years ago and lost feathers and had a puncture in her back but recovered completely. Our other hen is smart enough to fly on top of the roof. Any ideas welcome. Thanks!

Just so you know lavender essential oil is antibacterial antifungal and pain relieving all in just a few drops it is one of my staples in the coop and I have had chickens for over 20 years I have had many injured birds from fox hawks and one getting her foot stuck in the door I have bathed my chickens in lavender baths trying to keep them alive from random sickness and pasty butt and stuck eggs seriously I am a good source I am new here but not to animal husbandry

 

[azygous]

Just so you know lavender essential oil is antibacterial antifungal and pain relieving all in just a few drops it is one of my staples in the coop and I have had chickens for over 20 years I have had many injured birds from fox hawks and one getting her foot stuck in the door I have bathed my chickens in lavender baths trying to keep them alive from random sickness and pasty butt and stuck eggs seriously I am a good source I am new here but not to animal husbandry

After I read your first post about lavender oil, I researched it. It is indeed an accepted treatment for wounds and it is safe for chickens. Thanks for posting it. It always is helpful to back up your post with a little science to reassure readers that it's legitimate. So I fired up the search engines.

Being an unapologetic renegade socialist, I believe we should not have to pay for such information, so I finally ran across a study that is available to read for free. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4880962/

I love the fragrance of lavender and it's nice to learn about its healing properties.

 

[afrod]

Just so you know lavender essential oil is antibacterial antifungal and pain relieving all in just a few drops it is one of my staples in the coop and I have had chickens for over 20 years I have had many injured birds from fox hawks and one getting her foot stuck in the door I have bathed my chickens in lavender baths trying to keep them alive from random sickness and pasty butt and stuck eggs seriously I am a good source I am new here but not to animal husbandry

Do you dilute it? What's the process? Put it in a spray bottle?

 

[afrod]

I would put lavender essential oil directly in the puncture wounds of hens that survived fox attacks the would heal pretty quickly i would pour that on the wound

Do I need to dilute? Put in a spray bottle?