Hen sulking after Opossum attack

[Thenino]

Hi, I am fairly new to chickens and have a question. I made the mistake of leaving my coop open one night and was awoken at 4:30am to a hen screaming. I ran out as quickly as I could to find a opossum attacking one of my hens. I scared the opossum away and checked her out. She had some bites and a some blood around her back/neck. It was really hard to tell with so many feathers. I could not find any really bad looking in juries but again, hard to tell... I put some antiseptic on the wounds I could see and put her away. The next day she sat in the nest box all day. That evening I saw her come out and drink some water. Days 2 and 3 she has been coming out of the coop and slowly wandering about with the other hens but won't eat from my hand like she usually does. I have not seen her eat but that does not mean that she isn't when I'm not looking. So all that to ask... Is it typical for hens hide out, possibly not eat or act depressed after something like that? If she is about during the day is that a sign that she might be ok? Any insights would be appreciated.

 

[Judy]

Yes, quite typical. Often they seem to "go into shock" for a while. I recently had one injured in a coyote attack who I thought was dead when I found her, lying on her side with her legs stretched out. Turns out she had only minor injuries, and she is fine now. It was probably two weeks before she acted completely normal. And yes, her being up and about would indicate she will be fine. It would be good to watch her enough to be sure she is eating and drinking, or just check her crop late in the day to be sure it's full.

Good luck!

 

[Thenino]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. That is good advice. When I got home from work at (6PM) today she was already on the roost. This is kind of strange because she has been going in about 7:30PM. I check her crop and it seemed to be empty. I offered her some bread pieces and she refused. Is it ok for her to go a couple of days without eating? She seems ok from the standpoint that she can walk around and get on to the roost. Im just not sure what to think.

 

[austinandkara]

I had a neighbor's dog get loose and attack one of our hens. She healed very well but for about a week she was very reluctant to come out of the coop and would stay close to the door. She is fully recovered now. As for the hen not eating, that may be normal given the shock that she went through. What I tried with my chicken is giving her treats to perk her up and get her appetite going. My chickens love yogurt-I just put it in a bowl for them.

 

[songbird]

It is crucial that she drinks though. She will have a whole other set of problems is she becomes dehydrated, and chickens drink a lot of water even normally. Try dipping her beak gently into a water bowl. Put some yogurt on her beak.
As for her lethargy, she is probably very painful. Pain and dehydration will cause lethargy...it's not just emotional response to the attack.

 

[czar]

My dog was locked in a chichen coop for 24hrs, killed 5. The owners say the other 2 chickens are in shock and hidding in coop. They say the chickens won't lay again and want to distroy them! Its only been 3 days, is it possable that they will never lay again, and how long should they wait?

 

[Thenino]

Hi, I cant say for these hens but mine was badly hurt a good two weeks. It turned out that she had a large cut to her intestines and was dripping. I thought she would probably die. But I sprayed her with antiseptic and mixed some wet oatmeal in a small bottle, opened her beak and fed her once a day. Amazingly she pulled through and is still my best layer.