Minor injuries- dog chewed on bantam hen

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May 21, 2017
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As the title says, one of my bantam hens got chewed on by the dog. She has a small wound on her back. I bathed her and looked for more wounds and I couldn’t find any more that broke the skin. She wasn’t chewed on for long at all, I went out and stopped it as soon as I heard her calls. She’s acting like nothing happened- eagerly accepted food, making some noises, no gasping or anything. Just a little less skittish than usual, which I understand could mean she’s in shock.

The wound (bottom two pics are most recent):
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Full body pic to see how big the wound is.
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It’s been cleaned with rubbing alcohol and bactine spray.

To make things more complicated, she has ascites and I highly suspect my flock carries Marek’s disease, which can come out in times of stress. I want to make her recovery as stress free as possible to try and prevent this.
She isn’t a very friendly hen, so I don’t want to keep her in the house if I can, since I don’t think she’ll like that. She’s second in the pecking order (I have four other bantam hens) and all the others in the flock are smaller than her (the top hen is a serama mix).
What should I do now? Is there anything else I should do for the wound? I’m going to routinely spray it with bactine, if that sounds like a good idea. Should I put her out with the flock once she fully dries? I have the ability to observe them for as long as necessary today.
 
I have recently had a rooster attacked by a dog. He was worse than this. I sprayed his wound with some antibacterial spray (made for animal injuries) he slowly recovered and is walking again. I had to separate him from the others because they picked at his wound.
Your hen doesn't look to bad, I think she would be fine with the others, just watch them all for a bit to make sure they don't peck at her would. I'm not to sure about bactine or what it is, but if it works then ok
 
I have recently had a rooster attacked by a dog. He was worse than this. I sprayed his wound with some antibacterial spray (made for animal injuries) he slowly recovered and is walking again. I had to separate him from the others because they picked at his wound.
Your hen doesn't look to bad, I think she would be fine with the others, just watch them all for a bit to make sure they don't peck at her would. I'm not to sure about bactine or what it is, but if it works then ok
Thanks for the advice. Bactine is an antiseptic spray. I will watch her very carefully. Honestly I’m not sure if the others would even be able to reach her wound.
 
I’m pretty proud of Olive. I put her box in the pen, she hopped out, and ambled slowly to the feeder. The top hen gave her a few disciplinary pecks, but nothing more. Then, the third-in-command hen was acting cocky, so Olive FLEW at her and quickly showed that she would not tolerate that. They’re now all preening together.
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I’m pretty proud of Olive. I put her box in the pen, she hopped out, and ambled slowly to the feeder. The top hen gave her a few disciplinary pecks, but nothing more. Then, the third-in-command hen was acting cocky, so Olive FLEW at her and quickly showed that she would not tolerate that. They’re now all preening together.
View attachment 2529010
That's awesome, hope she heals soon
 
I’m going to add a strange observation to this thread- when I was running towards the coop, where Olive was cornered by the dog, I noticed that the three other hens were all around the entrance of the coop, looking in. The lowest ranking and most skittish hen was nearest the coop. Their tails were all fanned, and they could definitely see the danger. So why were they nearby, instead of hidden somewhere or up high? All my bantams (except Olive) are good flyers, and one of them flew over a shed once because she got startled by a (different) rowdy dog. I don’t know if this is a common occurrence, but it was strange to me.
 
I’m going to add a strange observation to this thread- when I was running towards the coop, where Olive was cornered by the dog, I noticed that the three other hens were all around the entrance of the coop, looking in. The lowest ranking and most skittish hen was nearest the coop. Their tails were all fanned, and they could definitely see the danger. So why were they nearby, instead of hidden somewhere or up high? All my bantams (except Olive) are good flyers, and one of them flew over a shed once because she got startled by a (different) rowdy dog. I don’t know if this is a common occurrence, but it was strange to me.
That is wierd. Maybe they were trying to scare the dog?? Definitely strange
 

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