Injured hen (approx. 10months)

I'm glad to hear she is getting better!

Have you tried to open her eye to see if it's still there and healed over?

If she has lost one eye, it may be difficult for her to integrate with the others - so have a plan for her - separate housing/coop, etc. I wouldn't count on a hen to be kind to chicks. As chicks get older, they may take advantage of a weaker bird that can't see well. That whole pecking order/dominance thing ya know. Sometimes things work out o.k. - you don't know until you try.
Introduction back into the hen flock, I would use a see-but-don't-touch approach. Once let out with the others, she does need to be well/fit enough to get away from the others if need be. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/
I will try that
Thank you
And she doesn’t let me try to open her other eye. If anything I can try putting saline on it like the other one, that’s how I got her current eye open but yeah we’ll see if it helps
 
So once again thank you to everyone but things have taken a bad turn

for the past three days my hen has been practically at 100% back to get old adventurous ways and what not. I got a small coop for her to be in outside during the day so she can bask in the sun, eat grass and hunt for bugs.

however a neighbor’s dog just came over and ripped it open and hurt her all over again

I found 4 small tears in her skin. No deep puncture wounds thankfully. Apparently the dog wasn’t out to kill her but play with her but did shake her up and toss her in the air. So far her right leg has the worse of it as it was dislocated (I set it back) but she’s still very weak in that leg. I already put the medicine I bought for the previous injuries. But I’m wondering what it is I should do? Is there any precautions I should take or anything I should look out for?
And what about the dog and damaged coop?
The mesh wire was ripped out from one of the corners.
 
So once again thank you to everyone but things have taken a bad turn

for the past three days my hen has been practically at 100% back to get old adventurous ways and what not. I got a small coop for her to be in outside during the day so she can bask in the sun, eat grass and hunt for bugs.

however a neighbor’s dog just came over and ripped it open and hurt her all over again

I found 4 small tears in her skin. No deep puncture wounds thankfully. Apparently the dog wasn’t out to kill her but play with her but did shake her up and toss her in the air. So far her right leg has the worse of it as it was dislocated (I set it back) but she’s still very weak in that leg. I already put the medicine I bought for the previous injuries. But I’m wondering what it is I should do? Is there any precautions I should take or anything I should look out for?
And what about the dog and damaged coop?
The mesh wire was ripped out from one of the corners.
OH NO! :hugs

It sounds like you are treating her o.k.
It may take her a little longer to recover this time if she was shaken.
Is she able to eat/drink on her own?

Have you spoken with your neighbor about the dog? I understand it can be upsetting and sometimes speaking with a neighbor about their animal can be a touchy subject.
If the dog is still running loose, then this could definitely happen again or the dog may even try for your other coop/chickens. Whether it just wanted to "play" or not, it did injure her.
Accidents happen and dogs get loose, even with an attentive owner. Hopefully they can correct any problems they have with keeping their dog on it's property.

Do you have a photo of the coop? You may need to re-enforce the wire somehow, I'm not sure.
 
OH NO! :hugs

It sounds like you are treating her o.k.
It may take her a little longer to recover this time if she was shaken.
Is she able to eat/drink on her own?

Have you spoken with your neighbor about the dog? I understand it can be upsetting and sometimes speaking with a neighbor about their animal can be a touchy subject.
If the dog is still running loose, then this could definitely happen again or the dog may even try for your other coop/chickens. Whether it just wanted to "play" or not, it did injure her.
Accidents happen and dogs get loose, even with an attentive owner. Hopefully they can correct any problems they have with keeping their dog on it's property.

Do you have a photo of the coop? You may need to re-enforce the wire somehow, I'm not sure.

Tbh I’m not the best with confrontations mostly because I have a very short fuse. The neighbors have a wall in the back yard but the dog still jumps out daily. She’s never been an issue before and we have a pitbull that she plays with but yeah
It’s too dark for my camera to take pictures of right now but I did try to reinforce it to the ground so it won’t be easily tipped over or lifted or anything

I’m not worried about my other chickens because I have them in an Alcatraz of coops 😅🤣😂
I even converted steel horse stables into coops for them. Virtually 0 chance of anything bigger than them getting in. Maybe a rat or snake but no snake big enough to eat them. They’ve already killed one and it was killed by chicks too.

I will however keep a close eye on my hen to make sure her injuries heal and let them know that their dog needs to be leashed up since she’s able to get out so easily. There’s lots of people with chickens and even small farm animals in my area, if she can get into my property so easily, I’m sure she can also make her way to theirs and do some damage to even some of the piglets down the road
 
Well I came in to check on her. I’m keeping her in my garage right now. I’m changing the “bedding” of her milk carton nest. She’s drinking on her own (making a mess but still drinking)
Her crop is still full of food. So I’m not worried about that part really unless she gets a sour stomach or something 😯🙄
But until I can reinforce the coop or make a whole new running area for her, I don’t have a place to keep her except the garage where it’s nice and dark and she can get plenty of rest without being bugged by any of our dogs or cats. Even though they don’t do anything but look at her, I don’t want to stress her out even more.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    439.6 KB · Views: 2
I forgot to mention

she’s been trying to stand and uses her wing to balance while stands with one leg. You can see her trying to put pressure on her right leg though but it’s still seems too hurt

I’m confident she’ll recover completely and be back to her old self in no time. Just sucks because she’s the sweetest chicken you could ever meet. Even if she doesn’t know you, she won’t peck at you for trying to pet her and if she does all she does is just hold your hand or finger gently in her mouth so she doesn’t hurt you but that’s her saying “don’t touch me”
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom