Injured chicken better but won't eat much

[sheepchase]

My 16 month old Wyandotte was injured by a dog 6 days ago. It seems like she had a punctured air sac on her back. We brought her inside, cleaned her up, and treated the wounds. She was touch and go for a few days, but the wound closed on her back. By day two we started her on amoxicillin. By day 4 she didn't want to eat anything except egg and watermelon. By day 6 (today) she only wants to eat watermelon. Otherwise, she seems much better. We've walked her around inside. Yesterday or was almost 24 hours without a poop, but she finally did. How do I get her to eat? She is free range and had been scratching at the ground, but I don't think she's ready to go out yet.

 

[Debbie292d]

My 16 month old Wyandotte was injured by a dog 6 days ago. It seems like she had a punctured air sac on her back. We brought her inside, cleaned her up, and treated the wounds. She was touch and go for a few days, but the wound closed on her back. By day two we started her on amoxicillin. By day 4 she didn't want to eat anything except egg and watermelon. By day 6 (today) she only wants to eat watermelon. Otherwise, she seems much better. We've walked her around inside. Yesterday or was almost 24 hours without a poop, but she finally did. How do I get her to eat? She is free range and had been scratching at the ground, but I don't think she's ready to go out yet.

You could try some chick starter crumbles if you have some, or her own feed wet and made into a mash. For whatever reason, our adult chickens love it when I throw the leftover chick mash from the brooder in the yard. They act like it's candy.

Another thing she might scarf up on is canned tuna, but I would give her just a tablespoon or so of that at a time.

 

[sheepchase]

You could try some chick starter crumbles if you have some, or her own feed wet and made into a mash. For whatever reason, our adult chickens love it when I throw the leftover chick mash from the brooder in the yard. They act like it's candy.

Another thing she might scarf up on is canned tuna, but I would give her just a tablespoon or so of that at a time.

I'll try the tuna. She ate chick mash the first two days, but now refuses it. She looks at me like I'm crazy. Right now she won't even soldier fly grubs, just fruit. She gobbled some pear today with her watermelon. I'm afraid she's not getting protein. Tuna is pretty high in protein, so hopefully that will work.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My 16 month old Wyandotte was injured by a dog 6 days ago. It seems like she had a punctured air sac on her back. We brought her inside, cleaned her up, and treated the wounds. She was touch and go for a few days, but the wound closed on her back. By day two we started her on amoxicillin. By day 4 she didn't want to eat anything except egg and watermelon. By day 6 (today) she only wants to eat watermelon. Otherwise, she seems much better. We've walked her around inside. Yesterday or was almost 24 hours without a poop, but she finally did. How do I get her to eat? She is free range and had been scratching at the ground, but I don't think she's ready to go out yet.

Do you have photos of her wounds?
Any difficulty breathing?
Is her crop emptying overnight?
Dose of Amoxicillin? (Should be approx. 57mg per pound of weight, given orally twice a day for 10 days).

Was she laying eggs before being injured? The not pooping much is very concerning, even with watermelon and eggs, she should be pooping out something, even if it's watery.

Do provide the watermelon if that's what she's willing to eat, try giving bits of egg, fish or meat. Wet soupy chicken feed.

Sometimes they do go off their feed for the first few days, but generally start eating, but it sounds like she's going in reverse.

If she doesn't come around in a few days, then you may need to tube feed her. Baby bird formula or ground up soupy chicken feed are often used to tube. Hopefully you can find something to entice her.

You mention she has a punctured air sac on her back - do you mean a punctured lung? There are 9 air sacs and they are not located on the back.

 

[sheepchase]

I don't know much about their anatomy, so it maybe a lung. I included pics. It's closed up now, but still very fresh.
She is on 100mg amoxicillin twice per day. She no longer has any trouble breathing. She did for a few days. No wheezing and no open mouth breathing.
She went about 24 hours with no poop, but has had several today. We let her walk around the bathroom for a while, and she pooped all over the place. I think she may have needed a tiny bit of exercise. She ate her watermelon today and some pear, but didn't touch the chick crumbles or egg. I also gave her grit and oyster shell.
She is scratching at her litter and the bathroom tile like she does outside. She usually has free access to pellets, but gets most of her diet free ranging. It's too soon for her to go back out.

I'll going to try the tuna and yogurt in the morning. She's scarfing fruit, but I know she needs protein.

Thanks, let me know if you think of anything else, or if anything else sticks out to you.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She's so cute!
I'm glad she's not having trouble breathing anymore. It sounds like she's healing up.
Sometimes with dogs (canines/fox/coyote) they squeeze, so there can be some internal bruising/injury which takes time to heal.

With her moving about scratching, that's a good sign, pooping more is a good sign too. She looks quite alert which is great. I was expecting to see a hen that was lethargic, but not so!

She may have just decided that watermelon is the BOMB and is holding out for it

She may be a bit bored as well, so if you have time and your weather is agreeable, she may enjoy some monitored outside time near her flock. A lot of times just getting out for a little while they are happier and if they see other chickens eating food, this will encourage them too.

 

[sheepchase]

She's so cute!
I'm glad she's not having trouble breathing anymore. It sounds like she's healing up.
Sometimes with dogs (canines/fox/coyote) they squeeze, so there can be some internal bruising/injury which takes time to heal.

With her moving about scratching, that's a good sign, pooping more is a good sign too. She looks quite alert which is great. I was expecting to see a hen that was lethargic, but not so!

She may have just decided that watermelon is the BOMB and is holding out for it

She may be a bit bored as well, so if you have time and your weather is agreeable, she may enjoy some monitored outside time near her flock. A lot of times just getting out for a little while they are happier and if they see other chickens eating food, this will encourage them too.

Outside worked! Nothing else did, so I grabbed the dog cage and put out some food near her. She's eating soldier flies and pecking for ants. Ignoring the feed, but I'm fine with the bugs. She's chirping. Maybe we just need a visiting hour every day!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Outside worked! Nothing else did, so I grabbed the dog cage and put out some food near her. She's eating soldier flies and pecking for ants. Ignoring the feed, but I'm fine with the bugs. She's chirping. Maybe we just need a visiting hour every day!

Daily visits are a wonderful idea