My hens were attacked by two labs, alive but injured....

[fifenashia]

This morning my three hens and duck were out grazing in our yard, it is fenced with a 4ft livestock fence but the neighbors 2 large labs found a weak spot and got underneath. When I looked out they had my 2 girls in their mouths! No necks were snapped (Thank God) but we lost a LOT of feathers! And there are some puncture wounds that clotted pretty quickly it looks like. My Easter Egger has the worst of it with her bum completely featherless and some good gashes on her. My golden comet looks significantly better but is acting like she is in shock and my duck is moving, flapping wings but has a gash on her breast and right above her right shoulder. I haven't really closely inspected them for fear of hurting them.

My golden comet was limp and from my vantage point we all thought she was dead but upon further inspection my husband declared her to be alive still and in shock. When I approached her she stood up and took a step towards me before closing her eyes and what looked like falling asleep standing there. We bundled all of them back into their coop. My easter egger walked into the coop on her own and nested down in the ducks usual spot, and the duck was waddling back and forth in my fenced in garden area until my husband picked her up and put her in the coop.

I have put up plastic sheeting to keep rain off the floor in case the girls could not get to the box above. and then I put down fresh dry straw and clean water with a packet of commercial electrolyte and vitamin mix. The two that were hit the worst did get into their box (the worst one got up there on her own) and have laid down together in there.

We did hit Tractor Supply and picked up tetracyclene (my spelling is atrocious) antibiotics to add to their water as well as vetricyn (my spelling is so off) to clean wounds with, but all I have done so far is put the electrolytes in their water. My brother in laws are reassuring me that chickens are hearty and the main concern now would be infection. Should I leave them all down in the coop or bring them inside? Has anyone had experience with antibiotics in water or the wound wash? Any suggestions to improve their chances would be so appreciated!

The plan right now is to minimize stress and call our vet first thing in the morning.

 

[dkvart1]

I don't have an answer, just wanted to say how sorry I am this happened and I hope your birds recover.

 

[chickengrl]

Since so many are hurt, you could leave them in the coop and just make sure that none are getting picked on. If it is cold where you are, they will need to stay warm. if you have one in particular that seems worse off, you could bring that one in so you can keep a closer eye on her. Clean the wounds with weak betadine solution, about medium tea colored, first. trim back feathers some if they are getting in the way of staying clean. Some soap and water (more water than soap) to clean will work if you don't have betadine. Punture wounds clean best if you have a syringe and can squirt some inside and it drain out. Wounds that aren't a puncture wound you can cover with neosporin that does not contain "pain relief". Chickens can't handle the "cain" local anesthetics like lidocaine. I would leave puncture wounds open so they can drain. So, don't put neosporin over those. If you can the injectable penicillin in the refrigerator at the farm store is supposed to be better for wounds. If you get it someone on here will know the dose. Giving a shot isn't that hard. Go ahead with the tetracycline if you can't go for the penicillin. The chicken in shock may very well come out of it. They seem to do that when they are traumatized like that. Really sorry the dogs got to your birds. Oddly enough I have 2 black labradors and they are good with the chickens. I don't think they represent the breed well in that respect. I hope the above is helpful.

Oh! Welcome to BYC!

Sorry you had to join under difficult circumstances. There are great folks on here who know lots about chickens. Weekends can be slow for getting help, but usually there will be at least someone to help a bit.

 

[fifenashia]

Thank you for your response. I'm worried about messing with them to clean them up that it will stress them out more. Especially since it's kind of cold and rainy today. I will do my best to clean them up though and we will pick up blu cote tomorrow for them.

 

[fifenashia]

When we got home this evening, one had already died and we pulled the other one out to get her cleaned up and into the house, after looking her over my husband has confirmed that it's too late at this point, she needs to be put down

Next we pull the duck in to see how severe her injuries are. And then I have one very unhappy but healthy chicken left that I'll bring in so that she is with her duck sister for the night...

 

[dkvart1]

I am so sorry.

 

[chickengrl]

sorry you lost them. Does the owner of the dogs know about this? Honestly you should be compensated for something. Not near enough for losing your birds, but they should have to do something in payment.

 

[fifenashia]

Thanks for the support, the duck appears to be okay for now. Both are inside in my spare room in the dog's crates (of all places) with paper and wood shavings, fresh food and electrolyte water. Once they calm down we are going to put some bacitracin on the ducks wounds.

The owner does know, he came and helped get them out of the yard. He was very apologetic and quite horrified actually, he kept leaving and them coming back to check on us. He is currently building a coop, they just bought some Baney's and comets because his daughter always talked to our hens when she came out to play (our properties are only separated by a creek and a lot of brush, but while at the coop you can see parts of her swing set and I did hear her talk to the girls a lot

He did offer his chicks to us, but I honestly don't want them. I know I need to get some chicks this week now since I am down to just 2, especially so they can be grown and in the coop before fall/winter. But these weren't farm chickens, these were pets that happened to lay eggs. Every day after work they would come running up from anywhere in the yard like a bunch of puppies to greet me at the gate. When we do get more, we will go as a family and pick them out together.

We are devastated, but time heals all wounds.

Thank you again, this has been a wonderful site so far!

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

I'm so sorry

 

[fifenashia]

*Update*

Last night the vet on call called me back, by then it was too late for my hens. But he was very helpful as far as duck is concerned. He recomended antibiotics (which would have run us 100bucks on an emergency visit) but we had already visited tractor supply and picked up a packet of tetracyclene. My question was about dispensing and amount needed. He had us mix a spoonful into about 3/4 cup warm water and force duck to drink at least a good 5cc's of it. We had no syringes so we improvised and used a straw. He also said the veterycyn spray we picked up would be fine for her. So last night we started her on the antibiotics (covering her eyes made it easier to get the her bill open and liquid down). And then we sprayed her gashes with the wound care.

This morning, my husband took her in a cat carrier to the vet's just to have her looked over. The vet reported that we are doing everything he would have done himself, he checked her wings and thankfully no breaks were found. She does weigh 2.9 lbs

and is healthy as can be aside from her injuries. some punctures on her wing and then a gash underneath on her breast. So treatment for now is continued antibiotics 2x a day and keep spraying her wounds with the veterycyn. Hubs asked about Blue-cote but vet said he preferred the veterycyn so we plan on keeping that going. After a few days she should be fine to go back out to the coop.

So we have my surviving hen in my Boxer's crate with paper and wood shavings, and right next to her is my duck in my Boston Terrier's crate with the same set up. Both are getting the special water with electrolytes to help boost immune functioning after the stress they went through. Duck needs to be inside for the next few days so she can heal up more. So I will keep them both here so they have each other for company at least. Next we need to start another brood, I don't want Red to be by herself for very long and a new flock will need to establish the pecking order. It's hard to think about that now though. Taking it one day at a time.

What an ordeal!