i need your opinion on whether to try to save this chick.

[PunkinPeep]

I have a four week old leghorn chick who got attacked by a six week old puppy today. the puppy's mouth, of course, is small, and i'm pretty sure that none of the wounds hit an organ or anything. but the skin was broken on the top of the head, under the wing, on the back, and probably a couple of other places. the puppy thought he looked like something fun to chew on.

i clearly have too many babies at my house right now.

anyway, this chick is being raised only for meat, and he will be butchered at 12 weeks if he makes it through this.

he is very active and struggles against me a lot when i try to clean him, so that seems to reaffirm to me that he doesn't have any really major injuries.

i have washed his wounds with saline solution, and i will treat with neosporin and spray him down with blue kote.

i don't have pictures because i have 3 small children crawling around here right now, and i can't really manage all of it at this moment.

would you wait a couple days and see how he does?

i need moral support.

 

[BirdBrain]

You won't lose anything if you wait a few days. Clean up as you are but keep watch that his wounds don't get infected. Don't know what your set up is, but flies like to lay eggs in wounds. Watch for maggots.

 

[Kasie]

Oh my! well if you wait a few days you dont have much to lose i would wait a few days and see where that gets you like the one said before me maggots would be the big issue good luck!

 

[PunkinPeep]

Thanks a lot for your responses. I was having a major meltdown when that happened, and i could not think at all.

So far, he seems o.k. I have him isolated inside with food and water.

Does anyone know if blue kote keeps the flies out? I haven't seen flies around here yet this year, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't swarm out of the woodwork to get to a wounded chick.

 

[mstricer]

You can eat leghorns?

The flies are everywhere here as soon as the sun returned and snow started to melt.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
hehe

yes, you can.

apparently, they were once the bird of choice for eating. i read a whole article about it. i'm planning to butcher them young, but they're definitely edible.

 

[mstricer]

I just thought I'd ask, my leghorns only weigh about 5 lbs with feathers. I butchered a orp rooster at 17 wks and it looked like it should have gone a lot longer

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
Yeah, i don't expect to get a whole lot of meat out of them, but they were free packing peanuts, and i don't have any other use for a flock of male leghorns, so such is life.

 

[mstricer]

I see now