My turkey almost killed my hen. Final update - She's gone.

[Sjisty]

Hi all -

Still no change. Her eyes are bright, her tail is up, but she just isn't eating. She sleeps most of the time. Her poop is a little bit of green and the rest white and almost frothy. She is still living in my kitchen and I'm still force-feeding her. I hope she doesn't have internal injuries. She got a pretty good stomping. The large bare patch under under her wing appears to be healing. Her smaller patches have pretty well closed up and her bruises have faded. If she pulls through this she is going to be the most spoiled chicken in Florida!

 

[ChooksChick]

It took my hen 2 weeks to fully recover from an injury, and the shock reaction was very slow to fade- lack of appetite, etc.

Keep at it and she'll keep healing. Put her near a window occasionally to see if it perks her up!

 

[Sjisty]

Thank Renee - you give me hope. I do put her outside for a little while in the sun each day. I stay out there with her so no one will hurt her. I'll keep on trying.

 

[amber77006]

I understand your frustration with the lack of eating.

A possum attacked one of my chickens. She slept 99% of the time and showed no interest in food. I had to feed her liquid-y foods and water at least 4x a day. It was 8 days before she verrryyy slowly began to eat and drink on her own. She's 100% better now, back outside with her friends, so there is hope!

Have you tried feeding her with a syringe, like this?
http://www.growforce.co.uk/product_images/1061/1/10-cc-plastic-syringe.jpg

My local CVS & Walgreens pharmacies would give them to me for free.

Fill the syringe and place a few drops at the end of her beak. As she begins to open her mouth, and lick, very slowly push out more liquid. I didn't squirt directly down her throat because I was afraid of choking her, instead I used the drip-method.

It's a slow process and messy - most will fall on her chest feathers and down the floor. By the end of the week, my chicken smelled like sour milk from the yogurt spilling on her feathers, haha! You could hold her in one arm and do the feeding over an old towel thrown on the ground.

You can use all kinds of liquid-y food combos......pedialyte, yogurt, egg yolk, the "broth" from a can of tuna.

Your chicken is drinking on her own, and showing some interest in food - that's half the battle! She just needs a few more calories to sustain her while she heals.

 

[Sjisty]

She ate! She ate! She ate! Yippee!

She's very weak and thin and I didn't see her eat, but she has something in her crop and her poop was solid this afternoon. When I took her outside today, she actually scratched! That's the first time since she was injured that she even tried to scratch. I have never been so happy about brown solid poop!

I think I will still force feed her tonight and maybe in the morning and then see where we go from there.

 

[redhen]

 

[erner]

Good for you, killing that turkey! We have a hen that is really mean.

My sister has been calling her Cranky. She'll be going to the auction pretty soon.

 

[Dust Bunny]

good news! hope she continues to improve!

 

[babsbag]

Good job. You make a good chickie nurse

 

[Sjisty]

Penny died today. She tried to rally, but over the last 24 hours started going downhill fast. We lost her about 30 minutes ago.

Thanks everybody for trying to help me save my baby - I guess she just took too much of a beating from the turkey.