Hen wounded by dog attack - is it treatable?

[speckled_egg]

Hi, nice to meet you all.

I found one of my chickens huddled up on the floor of the coop this morning, sporting drool stains on her feathers and a puncture wound on her back. My chickens free range during the day in a yard shared with two dogs. These dogs have "played with" and killed pullets before, leaving similar marks on otherwise intact corpses.

I am uncertain as to the extent of the injuries. She will eat and drink, but is loath to move. My girl is able to walk, but she does so gingerly. She is clearly in pain. I'm hoping to give her an antibiotic injection, but I'm not sure I'll be able to help her if she has broken bones. Is there any way to make a cursory diagnosis and does anyone have any recommendations for possible treatment? If she needs veterinary care or equipment, I'd need to do that today as most practices are closed tomorrow.

Thank you so much.

 

[jjthink]

Go with her to the vet right away if you can.
JJ

 

[jjthink]

There are so many possibilities here - from shock to puncture wounds to broken bones. It is often possible to save them with swift treatment - the immediate thing is to get her injuries assessed and under control.

She'll need a warm, stress free environment, Rescue Remedy drop or two in water for stress, oral/injectible antibiotics for any puncture wounds, topical neosporin for minor surface injuries, aspirin in water for pain if not bleeding internally or externally to any significant degree (1 baby aspirin per cup of water), etc. Lots of other things to do during recovery..but first things first...

Dogs who are known to maim and kill chickens sharing the yard with them

JJ

 

[chookchick]

Yep, what jjthink said.


Not sure what to say to this:

I found one of my chickens huddled up on the floor of the coop this morning, sporting drool stains on her feathers and a puncture wound on her back. My chickens free range during the day in a yard shared with two dogs. These dogs have "played with" and killed pullets before, leaving similar marks on otherwise intact corpses.


That needs to stop now! If you have to keep them in a run, whatever, keep your chickens from getting mauled to death!

 

[speckled_egg]

Thank you so, so much for the help and feedback.

She's been eating and drinking. She has perked up considerably and has started walking around again, though more slowly than usual. The only clinic in the county that sees birds is closed today and tomorrow, so I'm going to do what I can from home. I've got her inside in a cozy box and I'm right about to run to the store to pick up some baby aspirin and Rescue Remedy. The puncture wound is small, and there isn't much blood; my main concern is for the potential of infection and broken bones.

Sorry I wasn't very clear about the dogs: the chickens are allowed to free range, the dogs are not. The dogs are only allowed outside with the chickens under strict supervision. We've left them out a couple of times and have lost three pullets over the last year (which is how long we've had chickens). I know this is a flawed design and we're doing our best to reform it. Our plans to extend the coop have been delayed by terminal illness and death in the family, but we're trying to get it done within the month.

An extra thanks to jjthink for the treatment sheet.

 

[phalenbeck]

I pulled one of my Polish from a dogs mouth last week. Two had just been killed. She looked like hell-panting and not eating, wing looked bad, but settled down at night. She stayed in a box in towels in the living room for 2 days----some water by dropper. The third day she got up and started to walk around the living room so had to go back to the coop. Limped for several days--O.K. now. My point is these little buggers are tough. She is fine now, and in fact i cannot tell which of the 2 similar Polish was injured.

 

[buckeye lady]

Speckeled_egg-
Baby aspirin is a blood thinner, it inhibits platelets from bonding together to form clots. It stays in the body for as much as 7 days. If you chicken has any bleeding or you think it has internal injuries, Aspirin is probably not a good idea. Clean those wounds with soap and water and consider an oral antibiotic for prevention of infection. Keep the bird warm, quite and welll hydrated. I use gatorade in a syringe for stressed birds. If it was a large dog that attacked her, they usually grab the bird by the back around the rib cage and squeeze. She/he may have some bruised/broken ribs. Good Luck.

 

[carousel]

a friend saved this hen
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=99456
that was wounded back in Sept.
she cleaned the wound daily and had her on oral antibiotics for 10 days or 2 weeks.
and she HEALED.
She did live in the house for about 7 weeks!
but she is now 100%
she had 3 major wounds.
never stopped eating or drinking, we took her off her layer food and put her on a grower type food. She also got lots of healthy treats.

 

[chickenannie]

Wow, I looked at that other link, and what amazes me is that the hen is just sitting there letting her look at (and photograph) those wounds without painkillers. If that was a person, they'd be screaming their head off or heavily dosing morphine. How can these chickens show no pain like that?!

 

[carousel]

The hen did really well, she took about 6 days of having her wounds cleaned before she really started to have a fit so we stopped scrubbing and cleaning. after that we just slobbered triple antibiotic into her wounds, my friend kept her on newspapers instead of shavings to help keep her clean.
I Think the first 48 hours were key,
she clearly didn't have any internal injuries and started to recover, we kept her inside and warm, tried to keep her stress down.
I still remember my friend Holly calling asking how she should put her down, she was so shocked at her condition. But then she said she was alert, I not labored breathing so she deiced to try to save her. and REALLY glad she did!
here is a pic of girlfriend in this thread, 3 1/2 weeks after the attack.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=106197
I KNOW one of the things that gave us hope treating this hen was all the support from this list.
I know that if there are no internal injuries you have a good shot at a saving her