My dog just killed two of my chickens and seriously injured a third.

[Coop de Grille]

The one that is injured has her back all ripped up under her wings. She is walking around but I put her in a dog cage to separate her from the rest of the flock. Is there anything I can do for her? What is the chance she can recover from her injury?

I had my girls out free ranging and my husband came home through the front door with groceries and let the dog out. He didn't know the girls were outside.

 

[Chickenfan4life]

Our dog got out and put a six inch gash on our cuckoo marans hen. She made it just fine. I would clean it gently with warm water, maybe peroxide. Put neosporine in it and put her in a kennel or a box, and leave her to recover on her own. The number one thing you should be worried about is flies. I don't think they are gonna be a problem in the winter, but you never know. Follow these instructions and your hen may very well make it.

P.S Ya might wanna lose the dog. Please don't take that as offensive, but now that the dog has killed, it will want to kill again and again. We have lost 35 chickens to a dog that started just killing 2 and 3 chickens a day. I would do something about the dog if I was you.

 

[centrarchid]

All depends on nature of wounds. Keep her from getting too cold and tomorrow allow her access to food and water. Posting pictures can allow setting up for treatment.


Longer-term issue is dog's improper interest in birds. Effort needed to prevent such as dog will occasionally escape despite best efforts. Re-training of dog should begin while issue fresh on your mind.

 

[Emmalion]

My dogs have killed a few of my birds when I first got them. With training they now will enjoy meals together and free roam with each other without a problem. It's all in the training. I have 2 bird dogs and one with a very high chase instinct.

As for the wounds I can attest that I have had hens heal some very nasty looking injuries from attacks. Including one where her entire neck was degloved up to the scalp. She healed up great in a few weeks.

Make sure to keep it clean, and if you use neosporin make sure it is without the pain reliever in it. Try not to keep it covered too long and make sure to keep her away from the other chickens so she doesn't get pecked at. They love the sight of anything blood red.

Post a pic if you can of the injuries and we all can lend a hand into how to treat her.

 

[ClevelandBawks]

Googoo, our BR, was degloved down her whole back this summer by our dog. Miraculously, she made it through and laid her first egg last week and is back to bossing everyone around. We cleaned her wound with diluted Betadine, coated it with Neosporin (no pain reliever type), then switched to nothing but Blukote once we realized she was pecking her wound. We kept her isolated for two weeks in a dog crate, until the wound dried out a bit and she was seeming peppier. We kept her in the basement (stinky) and softened her food, gave her scrambled eggs, etc.Blukote was critical--without it she would have been mauled by the others. I put it on her morning and night. When we reintroduced her to be others, we put the dog crate in the coop for a couple of days before we let her loose with the others. They seemed really happy to see her.

So obviously she had no internal injuries, despite the outrageousness of her wound. I still can't believe she made it. Sadly, Larry our BO hen was killed by the dog--a much smaller wound, but she must have had internal bleeding: she didn't make it through the first night, poor thing.

We're still struggling with the dog. She went to boot camp for training, and we're working with her -- she won't even look at the chickens now. But she's got other issues, too. Long story. We might rehome her despite her improvement.

Good luck with your bird! I hope she didn't get crushed inside. If she didn't, she's got a good shot! I'm glad we tried to help Googoo--I almost out her out of misery the minute I found her staggering around the yard. She was lucky!

 

[Kimmi500]

So sorry for you! I also had a pullet attacked by our dog. She had a huge chunk of skin missing along her back and under her wing. All of her muscle structures were exposed. I didn't think she had much of a chance. But these great people on this forum told me to gently wash he wound, use some neopsorin w/o pain relief, and spray with blukote. Within 6 weeks you would never know she was attacked. Be vigilant and keep a close eye on her. Good luck!

 

[Coop de Grille]

Thank you everyone. I am home on my lunch break and just checked on her. She is alive, but not very happy being in the crate alone. I will give her some scrambled eggs and when I get home after work I will take her out of the crate and try to get some pictures of her back to post here.

 

[Coop de Grille]

I'm sad to say she passed away today. She was eating and drinking just fine, I don't know what happened. Her injuries must have been too severe.

 

[yammafarmer]

So sorry Coop de Grille.
Emmalion, how did you train your dogs to leave the chickens alone? Do you have a rooster? And did you lose any chickens in the process?

 

[BrendaJ]

So sorry. The stress from the event might have just been too much. Your dog can be trained. Dont be too hard on yourself. The dog got let out & you didnt know.
I still dont let my dogs & birds out together unless im out with them. You just never know. I have my area cross fenced. The dogs have there area & the chickens have another for free range when they are outside of the run/coop. Take care