Mites, lice, or fox attack??

[Trish1974]

This is Mutton Chops. I saved her from a fox this morning and stole her from the neighbor. Here's the story:

We have had a fox problem in my area for several weeks now. I keep my flock in a secured run and my neighbor free ranges. His flock is constantly at my house. He has lost half his flock in the past 2 weeks. I asked if he would keep his flock locked up because they are leading the fox to my place and he said he didn't have any means of keeping them contained, plus it was "cruel". Okie dokie...

So this morning as I was coming out my front door, his easter egger flew up on the porch right at me and the fox ran out from underneath my truck that was parked directly in front of the porch. She jumped up on my porch swing and I got a crate and she let me pick her up and put her in. Since he does not care about the welfare of his hens and won't keep them off my property, I am keeping her. I do not want to see her die especially on my property.

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It is possible the fox may have tangled with her before I got out the door. Her back feathers (see pic) were ruffled in various spots. I noticed she has missing feathers under her neck and her comb is crusty looking. She has also been picking feathers out of her chest since I've had her in the crate. Are these signs of mites or lice? Or just trauma? I got a good look at her on Sunday and she did not look this rough. I do plan to do the 30 day quarantine thing but would still like to know if there could be something wrong with her.

 

[Venevee]

I had an orpington mother who had about 12 chicks at the time when she was attacked by a coyote. The coyote carried her off the property and we were sure she was not going to survive. About five hours later, she came running back into the yard, entirely tailless calling for her chicks and gathered them up. Aside from the fact she had no tail feathers, she was perfectly fine and her feathers eventually grew back.

It seems like the fox just pulled out some feathers and the hen managed to escape. Have you checked her for bite wounds? If she doesn't have any she should be fine but she might be pulling out her own feathers from the trauma.

To see if she has lice, check near her vent area, and around her body for them. Sometimes lice will crawl onto you if you are holding a chicken with lice, but they won't stay on humans. More then likely, she is just traumatized from the incident, and you just need to keep her in a dark, quiet spot to help her recover. Provide plenty of food and water and try to make her comfortable.

 

[Rickba]

looks to me like she had a pretty good tangle with the fox. Kudos to you for the rescue. This post will probably be deleted by the bleeding hearts but the only way to effectively deal with the fox is to either trap it or kill it. That fox has his/her sights in your buffet and most likely has young to feed this time of year. It will be very persistent 'til either it gets what it wants or you defeat it. A predator will always come back and soon or later bring his family and friends. This is an issue you need to nip in the bud quickly.

 

[Trish1974]

Yes Rickba, I agree. I can't ever get a good shot on the fox because its so quick and my neighbor shot at it twice last week and missed. Too many raccoons around to try and trap. This is the third different fox I've seen in 2 weeks.

 

[Rickba]

Sorry you have to deal with this problem. I'm not trying to brag but If I lived closer to you I'd take care of the foxes for you. I don't miss.