Last week two dogs got into our backyard and made their way into the chicken run. We lost 3 hens before we even got outside. 2 Delawares and 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte. 3 more of the girls had what looked like mild injuries. We consulted a vet, cleaned their wounds and decided to let nature take it's course. Over the weekend we lost another Wyandotte. With a total of 4 girls gone.
It's been pretty chilly the past few weeks so we brought the remaining two hurt chickens inside into a makeshift brooder. 1 Delaware and 1 Silver Laced. The Silver Laced hen seems to have recovered alright. The last time we took them back outside with the others she was running around and sparring with the rest of the flock like normal.
However, the poor Delaware hen doesn't seem to be getting much better. She's hardly active and isn't acting like her normal chicken self. The dogs got her pretty bad it seems, all of her tail feathers are gone, and there's about and inch deep gash where she was bit on her rump. The veternarian said to make sure infection didn't set in by using peroxide and neosporin. We have been and it started to look a little better, the wound seemed to have closed up and was looking alright. But the past few days she only has been looking worse. She hardly walks at all now, she mostly lays down in the brooder, only standing to drink and eat every once in awhile. We actually had to seperate the two hens because the Wyandotte started picking at her wounds.
My quesiton is if anyone else has had an experience like this? What should I do? Did your hens get better? Should I consider culling the poor thing so she doens't suffer? I'm so upset. We raised all 16 of our chickens from day olds. (8 Delaware/8 Silver Laced Wyandotte) Now that we're down to 12 I wouldn't want to lose anymore.
Thanks for anyone's words of help.
It's been pretty chilly the past few weeks so we brought the remaining two hurt chickens inside into a makeshift brooder. 1 Delaware and 1 Silver Laced. The Silver Laced hen seems to have recovered alright. The last time we took them back outside with the others she was running around and sparring with the rest of the flock like normal.
However, the poor Delaware hen doesn't seem to be getting much better. She's hardly active and isn't acting like her normal chicken self. The dogs got her pretty bad it seems, all of her tail feathers are gone, and there's about and inch deep gash where she was bit on her rump. The veternarian said to make sure infection didn't set in by using peroxide and neosporin. We have been and it started to look a little better, the wound seemed to have closed up and was looking alright. But the past few days she only has been looking worse. She hardly walks at all now, she mostly lays down in the brooder, only standing to drink and eat every once in awhile. We actually had to seperate the two hens because the Wyandotte started picking at her wounds.
My quesiton is if anyone else has had an experience like this? What should I do? Did your hens get better? Should I consider culling the poor thing so she doens't suffer? I'm so upset. We raised all 16 of our chickens from day olds. (8 Delaware/8 Silver Laced Wyandotte) Now that we're down to 12 I wouldn't want to lose anymore.
Thanks for anyone's words of help.
Last edited by a moderator:
