Injured jaw on my hen!!! Need you help please!!

[SmallFlockGirl]

Yesterday morning the worst happened. The wind blew my coop door opened. The boyfriend and I both didnt check before letting the dogs out. This didnt end well. I hear my girls (chickens) screaming in pain. They had gotten out and the dogs found them. I got to one before anything major could happen. But my baby Judith wasnt so lucky. I found her not moving on the ground. She is unable to open one eye and can slightly open the other. But my main concern is her not able to move her bottom jaw. Ive been hand feeding (with a dropper) water mixed in smashed up feed. What else can I feed her for nutritional supplements??? How can I make her more comfortable?? I am un able to take her to the vet just yet. Every place is closed and I dont have the large amount of money for an oncall vet. What can I do to help her till then?? ALL HELP IS WECLOME! ! Thank you

 

[gander007]

Alright and

so sorry we had to meet this way

You might want to bring her in the house and put her in a box with an old towel or something comfortable and for feeding you might want to try an hardboiled egg peal mash up good with a fork and serve this is good for her and do this for a couple of days ......


This one could be important ,,,, next try and get a little run area for your chickens incase this happens again as it takes some time to raise chickens and you do not want it wiped out in a moment .....

 

[SmallFlockGirl]

Thank you! Next step is to bring her inside. The boyfriend and I are in the middle of building a fence as we type. Its going to take up a good chunck of the yard and will keep the dogs away. The girls have their coop and run but the fence will give them their own yard. I only have three chickens at the moment, but do plan on more. And when you say peal do you mean the white part of the egg?
Thank you

 

[TwoCrows]

Hi there,

and welcome to BYC!

I am very sorry about your hen. These things do happen. If she were my hen, I would bring her inside and get her under a heat lamp. Infra-red lamp. A very healing light. Get it up to about 85 degrees. Injury can send birds into shock and shock can kill them faster than the injury. The first thing shock does is make them cold. So I would heat her up. Then assess her condition. If she is in a lot of pain and appears that there is no hope for her, I would put her down. If you think there might be a chance for her, I would keep her under heat for a few days. Keep her in a very quite place in the house where she has complete privacy. No noises or traffic. I would then assess her again in a few days. If she is not going to be able to live a normal life, then I would put her down. Chickens do have a wonderful ability to heal and it is possible she may. But don't let her suffer and do the right thing if she is.

Good luck with your hen. It is great to have you aboard and enjoy BYC!

 

[roostersandhens]

 

[sourland]

Do as the others have suggested. I would also suggest darkening the box and keeping her quiet. She is probably in shock. If the beak problem is only a sprain or strain, it should resolve. If it is broken, the prognosis is not nearly so positive.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your hen, good luck with her.

 

[drumstick diva]

dogs + chickens usually end in a very bad way for chickens.

 

[liz9910]

Welcome to BYC! I'm sorry that happened, good luck to you.