How long before recuperating bird can rejoin the flock?

[ChixFlix]

Dog got my hen last week; she survived after we sewed her back up, and she has a will to live. That's the good news.

She is eating well, drinking, standing, shuffling (her back skin was torn back in a large flap; we sewed it up, and noticed no other injuries, but I guess the shuffling is from skin pulling against the wound. I don't know, I'm just surmising.)

She has tried to fly up to the regular coop, but can't get even a foot off the ground.

Yesterday, I had her in the yard with the 5 remaining hens, and as she shuffled over to the house, one other hen attacked her back and poked two holes in her. They were jumping and flapping at each other like two roosters fighting! It was horrible.

I grabbed her and set her down in her pen, and she was exhausted.

After a while, she ate her "feel better" treats (tomato, cantaloupe, grated carrots) and about 12 worms. What an appetite!

But now I'm scared to let her be with the others at all - they can spot "wounded" a mile away. Unlike people, who get to go to hospital, they eat wounded ones. Very Darwinian.

Will the flock EVER take her back?
Will those back feathers ever grow in again to cover up the wounded area?
Will she ever fly again, or walk normally?

I know you aren't able to predict, but based on your experiences, what do you think? I guess I'm so frazzled, I'm grasping at straws. Any information, even if it's not what I want to hear, will help me decide what to do about this situation.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Opa]

Treat her wounds with an antibodic ointment and keep her away from the others until she is COMPLETELY healed and refeathered. Put her back with the others to soon and they will probably kill her.

 

[gallusdomesticus]

Keep an eye on the sutures. If she develops an abcess, the material that fills the abcess resembles cottage cheese and will not drain on its own or with a shunt. Look for swelling or discoloration (some discoloration due to bruising is normal) and a puffiness near the sutured line. If it develops, she will have to have her incision opened to clean it out. Abcesses are a threat when you don't use an internal antibiotic treatment along with the topical antibiotic cream.

I'm currently tending two hens who are recovering from a dog attack. I plan on keeping them separate from the flock until they're completly healed then they'll have to work their way back in the pecking order.