My alpha hen got attacked

[JerAtwater]

So 3am Saturday night i awake to my feathery friends squawking. I've heard that sound before and I fumble around looking for my flashlight (that my daughter took ro play with). Phone light it is and flip flops. I contemplate grabbing the rat killer (.22 bolt) but dash out into the dark without once i heard the violence.
The coop door was open because I wanted to sleep in and Joey Jr is a clucker early to get out. The run door was shut.
Half the run is covered in thick brush. Good for hiding from arial predators, but also good for not allowing me to see into very well.
I finally pan over to the far edge of the run to see my little buddy wing up and head in the dirt as a shadowy creature scurried away.
I pan more, this time out of the run to see something crossing across the open to the otherside of the yard. I couldn't quite make it out. Fox? Wasn't coyote size. Opossum? Raccoon?
I pan back to the run and my feathered friend is upright and staggering around, with a noticeable limp. At least she's alive!
Head bloody and limping around i get to her and try and access and console her.
Not a whole lot i can do with minimal light and a couple hours from dawn.
I put her down in the coop and tell myself if she's alive in 3hrs when the sun comes up that i will do what i can to take care of her.
6am and she looked half dead. Maybe just exhausted? I pick her up and look her over. Plenty of feathers scattered about but wings and sides look intact. Eyes look swollen with blood around her head. One eye shut, but present.
I take her to some water and food. Small little bites and a little sip and she hobbles away.
I take it as a good sign.

Do I need antibiotics? How do i tell?

 

[JerAtwater]

Damn, that was a long Post. Sorry.

 

[JerAtwater]

 

[JerAtwater]

Seems like her jaw/beak is a little week. I gave her some grapes, which she loves and she just kinda open beak pecked at them.


Is it possible that the jaw is broken? Maybe just swollen?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The attack was Saturday? Is the photo from today- Tuesday?
What have you done so far to treat her wounds?

Check her over really well for any hidden wounds/cuts/punctures - chicken feathers hide a lot. She may have suffered some internal injuries as well.

General care for head/facial injuries would be to flush/cleanse the eyes with saline and apply Vetericyn eye gel, Terramycin eye ointment or another suitable ophthalmic ointment.

Keeping her hydrated is very important. If you have them, offer poultry vitamins. See that she is eating her nutritionally balanced poultry feed - if it's hard for her to eat, make it into a wet mash. You can also give her some chopped egg to see if she will take that once she is drinking.

Your predators will be back, so consider trapping and dispatching. If the run is not a secured run, then keeping the coop door closed at night would be a good idea.

 

[chickens really]

She is in shock....You can wet her some feed and see if she eats it?....You could lock her into a Dog crate for a couple of days to let her rest...Keep your Coop locked up every night....Sorry that happened...
Wash out her wounds with Epsom salt....go to a local farm store and get some antiseptic spray.....
Best wishes....

 

[JerAtwater]

Picture is from Sunday midday.

She is eating and drinking a little. I also gave her some yogurt, figuring it was easy to eat.

I lifted her wing and checked for any sign of damage to her sides.

I stopped at Tractor Supply and stared at the vet stuff and had no idea what to get, so i came here.

I penned off a section of the coop so she could rest on her own.

Coop door gets shut at night from now on.

I can see some sign of digging under the run fence from last night. Could be the damn rats that I've been taking out little by little.

I will give her a good thorough look over when i get home. I didn't want to torment her anymore the other day.

She's a tough bird.

She even laid an egg Sunday. Haha

 

[chickens really]

Get a live trap and set it up next to your run...Bait it with canned cat food or sardines....

 

[barred2rock]

Get a live trap and set it up next to your run...Bait it with canned cat food or sardines....

Or raw chicken, it clearly likes chicken.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Antibiotics, if you can get them, wouldn't be a bad idea. Just a precaution against anything she could have picked up. Even scratches can carry bacteria and such. A good cleaning of anything that looks like an injury is a good idea too.