Injured hen (approx. 10months)

[Jespinojr]

I have a rooster who’s never attacked our previous hens, he’s usually sweet and would even take in chicks that aren’t his and make sure the hen would sit on her eggs to ensure proper incubation. I have a second starter flock and wanted the hen and rooster to get to know each other because we had gotten rid of our other hen and chicks (wasn’t ours to begin with, so they went back to their owner). The rooster seemed lonely and would call for the chicks when he would eat, so I placed the other hen (who still needs to learn how to properly incubate her eggs since her first batch wasn’t successful)

anyways I took precautions and kept her in a chicken coop/cage inside the area I keep my rooster. Unfortunately my girlfriend’s dad is one of those people who doesn’t know how to close or lock anything properly, so the next day I found the rooster inside the coop with her and she was beaten up close to death. She was scalped and her eyes are swollen shut, she was too weak to even stand on the first day and too weak to eat on the second. I’ve been forcing mushed food into her mouth along with water. However... This is her third day injured, she’s a lot more energetic but she still rather sleep than drink water or eat. When I try to feed her, she will pull away from me and rest her head along the edge of the crate I have her nesting in and just go back to sleep
She doesn’t drink much water either and when I force her to drink she will drink a small but then pull away and go back to sleeping

I’m worried she’s not getting enough nutrients or water but I don’t want to force feed her if she’s falling asleep with food and water in her mouth

 

[Jespinojr]

I want to add I cleaned the wound and placed a medicine that was recommended to me called “Vetericyn plus” and wrapped her head up with gauze and already did a change in the gauze. She stopped bleeding on the first day as well

just concerned since her crop seems flat and she rather sleep all day than eat food or drink water that’s in her mouth. She’s fully capable of eating and drinking. Just.... she rather sleep.

 

[Jespinojr]

Is there any recipe that’s proven to work. Do I even need to worry?

I hear people talking about yogurt and other things mixed but I also read about how you’re not supposed to give them dairy and other people saying yogurt makes them sick....

 

[Jespinojr]

She’s still not eating.... Even though one of her eyes is able to open up now....
is there anyone who can offer some advice?

 

[Abigail Joanna]

She's likely in shock still, recovering from that. Check how long her breed can go without food and water, and only start worrying if she's near the max time.

 

[Jespinojr]

Thank you, I looked it up but can’t seem to find anything on that specifically. She’s a barred rock chicken. I did see that most chickens can go 3-4 days without food and I have tried on the first and second day of her injury to mash up strawberries and mix it with water to give to her. Because it was mostly liquid she wasn’t having trouble. Now that one of her eyes are open she can see when it’s not just water and protests to it (also I read you can’t give them too much strawberries because it’s too much sugar for them)

but yeah I guess I can get more fruits and do the same method and feed her in a darker room so she can’t tell the difference between the straw carrying only water and the one with watery food?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The rooster seemed lonely and would call for the chicks when he would eat, so I placed the other hen (who still needs to learn how to properly incubate her eggs since her first batch wasn’t successful)

I found the rooster inside the coop with her and she was beaten up close to death. She was scalped and her eyes are swollen shut, she was too weak to even stand on the first day and too weak to eat on the second. I’ve been forcing mushed food into her mouth along with water. However... This is her third day injured, she’s a lot more energetic but she still rather sleep than drink water or eat. When I try to feed her, she will pull away from me and rest her head along the edge of the crate I have her nesting in and just go back to sleep
She doesn’t drink much water either

I want to add I cleaned the wound and placed a medicine that was recommended to me called “Vetericyn plus” and wrapped her head up with gauze and already did a change in the gauze. She stopped bleeding on the first day as well

She’s still not eating.... Even though one of her eyes is able to open up now....
is there anyone who can offer some advice?

Can you please post some photos of the hen and her wounds?
Are the wounds healing o.k.? Any bad odors?

I would hold a small cup of water to her beak to see if she will drink for you. Get her hydrated, then offer wet mush feed. Bits of scrambled egg can sometimes be interesting to them as well.
Small pieces of strawberry or even a little watermelon are fine to give.

Breed has nothing to do with how long a bird can survive without food/water - a bird needs hydrated daily.

You also mention she needs to learn how to properly incubate eggs since the first batch was not successful. What does that mean? Was she broody? Were the eggs fertilized?
Just because eggs don't hatch doesn't mean that the hen is at fault - there's many reasons that eggs don't hatch.

How old is the rooster?
How old is this hen?

If he beat her badly, then I would not put her back with him at all.
Do you have other hens?
Sadly, a rooster that beats on a hen often repeats the process. You may need to cull him.

 

[Abigail Joanna]

Can you please post some photos of the hen and her wounds?
Are the wounds healing o.k.? Any bad odors?

I would hold a small cup of water to her beak to see if she will drink for you. Get her hydrated, then offer wet mush feed. Bits of scrambled egg can sometimes be interesting to them as well.
Small pieces of strawberry or even a little watermelon are fine to give.

Breed has nothing to do with how long a bird can survive without food/water - a bird needs hydrated daily.

You also mention she needs to learn how to properly incubate eggs since the first batch was not successful. What does that mean? Was she broody? Were the eggs fertilized?
Just because eggs don't hatch doesn't mean that the hen is at fault - there's many reasons that eggs don't hatch.

How old is the rooster?
How old is this hen?

If he beat her badly, then I would not put her back with him at all.
Do you have other hens?
Sadly, a rooster that beats on a hen often repeats the process. You may need to cull him.

Some breeds do differ in length of how long they can go without.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Some breeds do differ in length of how long they can go without.

Really? Can you find that information for us?

Even if a bird could go without water for a day or two - why would you want them to?

Hydration is extremely important when dealing with an injured bird.

 

[Jespinojr]

@wyrop rock

so the attack happened on Sunday or Monday
I inserted photos of her wounds that are still healing. They stopped bleeding the same day and I had them bandaged and wrapped up until 2 days ago when I used a home made saline solution to help her with her eye (and to remove the bandage because it got stuck to the wound).
Yesterday she was finally able to drink on her own. Before I was using a straw to guide water into her mouth or let her beak feel for the opening and drink it like that. I tried with a cup before but she couldn’t or just wouldn’t drink it like that. This morning I’m also proud to announce that she is finally able to eat on her own as well. She barely pecks and still seems weak and would rather sleep than eat but she’s getting stronger and is even strong enough to scratch at an itch when before she didn’t seem to have the energy to even lift her head.
But I been spraying it with medicine and it seems to be getting better also THERES no odors or anything. Been even looking out for any signs of infections or puss or something out of the ordinary but it all seems fine. Her closed eye’s swelling has also gone way down. Before her eyes looked like a closed pug’s eye or chihuahua’s eye

As far as the other question went, she had a batch of eggs and I thought she was sitting on them because every time I saw her she was on them. I had another older hen that was brooding around the same time and her chicks hatched. When I noticed this one’s hasn’t hatched yet I looked inside and discovered she will sit on them for like 10 minutes then go perch somewhere else or just push them out from under her like it was in the way of her being comfortable. I tried incubating them myself but unfortunately due to a power outage in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep (which also caused the bulb I was using to pop) they didnt finish developing and they were pretty much dead at that point (how I have 3 heat lamp bulbs and a solar panel hook up just in case I need to use it)