Injured chicken

[troubleddreamer]

I have a younger chicken with me and it was attacked by our dog and I have brought it inside to separate her from the other chickens and put hydrogen peroxide on the wound to try and help it but I'm not really sure what to do. It looks like the wound has reopened, maybe due to her picking at it?

 

[BIggoMamma]

Same thing happened to my chicken. I also brought it indoors. I really did not hold out much hope for the chicken. It healed quickly. This is what I did. I cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide and betadine wash. I applied lidocaine cream for pain; somebody else on this forum said that lidocaine was toxic for chickens, but I am just telling you what I did. The cream really did seam to help. the chicken seemed to be in shock and in a lot of pain, it started sort of responding after the cream. You may want to ask a vet if it is toxic, but it did not bother my chicken. I put bacroban broad spectrum antibiotic cream on it and kept it on it twice a day and painted New Skin Paint on bandaid, as that was recommended to me by several people for pet chickens because chickens will rub a bandaid off and you cannot allow dirt to get into a wound. In 3 weeks my chicken was healed. I also put vitamin supplement and electrolyte in the crate with the chicken and kept it clean.

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

I have a younger chicken with me and it was attacked by our dog and I have brought it inside to separate her from the other chickens and put hydrogen peroxide on the wound to try and help it but I'm not really sure what to do. It looks like the wound has reopened, maybe due to her picking at it?

If you have any Blu-Kote, I would definitely recommend spraying some on the affected area. If you do not, you could put some Neosporin (without any medicine ending in -caine) on the wound and keep her inside.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a younger chicken with me and it was attacked by our dog and I have brought it inside to separate her from the other chickens and put hydrogen peroxide on the wound to try and help it but I'm not really sure what to do. It looks like the wound has reopened, maybe due to her picking at it?

Hi

Welcome To BYC

It could have reopened from her or other chicks picking at it.

One time cleaning with Peroxide is fine, any subsequent cleaning/flushing use saline, diluted betadine or soapy water. You may want to apply some Blu Kote or Pick No More to the wound first - let dry, then apply some Vetericyn or triple antibiotic ointment.

 

[squirtsmomma]

Just following the thread for advice. Saturday night a coon ripped open a pen, fought our rooster Elvis so bad my husband had to put him down, killed my RIR Bernice, and I have a banty hen "Little Mama" recuperating. Just looking for advice about cleaning her without causing her more pain. I don't see open wounds, but she's a mess and I think she's in shock. Keeping her warm, etc. so far

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Just following the thread for advice. Saturday night a coon ripped open a pen, fought our rooster Elvis so bad my husband had to put him down, killed my RIR Bernice, and I have a banty hen "Little Mama" recuperating. Just looking for advice about cleaning her without causing her more pain. I don't see open wounds, but she's a mess and I think she's in shock. Keeping her warm, etc. so far

Hi @squirtsmomma

I'm sorry to hear about Elvis and Bernice

Can you post some photos of Little Mama"?

If you see no obvious wounds let her recover from shock first before you examine her. Keeping her warm is a very good idea

Offer her some poultry vitamins or electrolytes - if you don't have those on hand you can give her a little Pedialyte, Gatorade or add a small amount of sugar to her water. Try to get her hydrated first - don't worry too much about food at this point, a chicken in shock usually won't eat, but do need fluids. Once she is a little better offer her some chopped egg or tuna mixed with a little yogurt and some wet down feed.

Keep the area she is in quiet and semi-dark if you can.

Does she seem like she is in pain? Sometime even if a predator did not actually get a hold of them, chickens can injure themselves during an attack trying to get away.

Let us know how she's doing.

 

[squirtsmomma]

Hi @squirtsmomma

I'm sorry to hear about Elvis and Bernice

Can you post some photos of Little Mama"?

If you see no obvious wounds let her recover from shock first before you examine her. Keeping her warm is a very good idea

Offer her some poultry vitamins or electrolytes - if you don't have those on hand you can give her a little Pedialyte, Gatorade or add a small amount of sugar to her water. Try to get her hydrated first - don't worry too much about food at this point, a chicken in shock usually won't eat, but do need fluids. Once she is a little better offer her some chopped egg or tuna mixed with a little yogurt and some wet down feed.

Keep the area she is in quiet and semi-dark if you can.

Does she seem like she is in pain? Sometime even if a predator did not actually get a hold of them, chickens can injure themselves during an attack trying to get away.

Let us know how she's doing.

Hey Wyorp Rock, thanks for all the advice. We were so busy with her and work and then both of us getting sick I haven't had a chance to get back on here, but the update is GREAT!
LittleMama had us and all the ladies where I work worried for quite a while. We put her in the "hospital", a large plastic tub we use for new chicks and putting a chicken aside if they need some seclusion. I pulled out one of my gallon waterers we use when we get a new batch of chicks and mixed up a gallon of chick vitamin water, put a low light on one end for extra heat because it was still cool at night then. I bought a bottle of vetericyn spray for injuries, but at that time I didn't know if she was injured badly. Brought her into the house in our laundryroom for the next 4 days.
The second evening I ran her a lukewarm bath and decided to just use a little dab of Dawn in it. She was still caked with either mud or blood or a combo and I couldn't tell how she was under her wings especially. I just turned down the bathroom light and immersed her, water went about halfway up and just held her there slowly pouring water over her. Wrapped her up in a soft towel and just held her for a while that night.

Her breast and back feathers under her wings started falling out 2 days later and although my husband thought he saw her drinking I never did so I was very worried. About 5 days after the attack, she drank water and took a liitle warm watered plain oatmeal from me. Its been gradual since then, but she's got a great appetite now and started laying eggs one week ago (3 so far). Two weekends ago I put her out in a closed in area in the yard for the day with shade, water and feed and let her move and stretch and get some fresh air. She's looking fluffy again, not quite all the way, but good. Her little comb is healing and she's very alert.

We're very excited.
Might seem like we went overboard with her for one chicken, but she's our baby. I'll post a pic if I get a chance.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hey Wyorp Rock, thanks for all the advice. We were so busy with her and work and then both of us getting sick I haven't had a chance to get back on here, but the update is GREAT!
LittleMama had us and all the ladies where I work worried for quite a while. We put her in the "hospital", a large plastic tub we use for new chicks and putting a chicken aside if they need some seclusion. I pulled out one of my gallon waterers we use when we get a new batch of chicks and mixed up a gallon of chick vitamin water, put a low light on one end for extra heat because it was still cool at night then. I bought a bottle of vetericyn spray for injuries, but at that time I didn't know if she was injured badly. Brought her into the house in our laundryroom for the next 4 days.
The second evening I ran her a lukewarm bath and decided to just use a little dab of Dawn in it. She was still caked with either mud or blood or a combo and I couldn't tell how she was under her wings especially. I just turned down the bathroom light and immersed her, water went about halfway up and just held her there slowly pouring water over her. Wrapped her up in a soft towel and just held her for a while that night.

Her breast and back feathers under her wings started falling out 2 days later and although my husband thought he saw her drinking I never did so I was very worried. About 5 days after the attack, she drank water and took a liitle warm watered plain oatmeal from me. Its been gradual since then, but she's got a great appetite now and started laying eggs one week ago (3 so far). Two weekends ago I put her out in a closed in area in the yard for the day with shade, water and feed and let her move and stretch and get some fresh air. She's looking fluffy again, not quite all the way, but good. Her little comb is healing and she's very alert.

We're very excited.
Might seem like we went overboard with her for one chicken, but she's our baby. I'll post a pic if I get a chance.

@squirtsmomma That's good news I'm glad to hear she is recovering, thank you for the update and sharing the information on how you have been taking of her, I'm sure this will be helpful to someone in the future.

 

[twochix]

I need some help. The new updates to this site is a little confusing. I'm hoping I'm not disrupting someones forum....
I'm pretty sure a raccoon got a hold of my chickens head through the chicken wire on their coop. She made it free, but her comb has been partly ripped off and torn on a good amount of it. I read about cutting it off, but I don't believe it is at that point.
I have put warm salt water on it. Then today I bought Vetericyn plus (poultry care). I have not treated her with it yet. I've been trying to do a little research first....
If I spray her comb is it okay to do so on the open wounds? Is it going to be painful? What if some gets in her eyes?
Hope someone has some experience with this, Thanks!