I had a raccoon attack 2 weeks ago. I thought the coop had been locked up, but at around 11 heard a weird sound that sounded like a chicken or cat. Double checked, and said, "You locked the coop, right?" was told yes and rolled over. Well about 3am I heard the same sound and knew this time that it was one of my girls. I ran down to find the run unlocked, coop unlocked and a huge, probably 20+ pound raccoon eating my favorite hen's head. I got the raccoon out and brought in my two girls. One was untouched but completely freaked out. The other was badly hurt and in shock. I put them in separate crates in my garage, covered them and left them for the night. The hurt hen just honestly seemed too hurt to scrub at the time, which was not the best thing to do... She had her comb chewed up, she lost an eye, had lots of blood in her mouth and nasal area and 2 puncture wounds at the base of her skull. She was missing lots of feathers, but her body seemed fine.
The next morning I scoured the house for any medicine that might patch up my girl. I had some old antiseptic from a wound that my dog had (nolvasan) and poured it over her head watered down in the morning. I had 6 clavamox tablets which I used for 6 days by dropping them into warm water and then administering 1 tab of liquid per day by syringe. I also put iodine in water so that it looked like dark iced tea. I put it in a spray bottle and sprayed her wounds about 6 times per day. I feel very bad that I didn't treat her pain, but everything I read included aspirin, and because there was so much blood, and her poop was black, I was afraid to promote bleeding. I did have valium and percoset in the house from a surgery, but I thought I would use that if I had to put her down.
My hen wouldn't eat so I fed her egg yolk, vegan protein powder, honey, yogurt, gatorade, kefir, and half and half soaked chicken feed through a syringe. I just fed the wettest, most high calorie food I could think of for the first 10 days.
I am happpy to report that after 2 weeks, she is doing well. Her scabs are healing, she got no infections. Her eye is covered by the lid which still has not opened. She is eating, back in her coop, and happy. I am kind of haunted by the fact that I didn't treat her pain, which I imagine was enormous. Throughout the entire ordeal she cooed to me ever ytime I spoke to her. She spent about 9 hours a day in my arms, which I hope was a small comfort.
I hope this awful ordeal helps someone. I didn't know what to do, just did the best I could.
