Need help for my hen.

[oops0143]

I've had a hen come to my backyard now for four years, she sleeps up in a tree at night time....Last night a raccoon got her, my husband fought the raccoon until it let her go... Her wound is pretty bad all around her neck and my hubby saw maggots, I called several vets, including my dog's vet and they don't take care of chickens, so I looked up online. It said to wash her with soapy water then rinse her, then saline water, then 50/50 peroxide and water, then iodine, the iodine we were supposed to leave in, last an
extra strengh antibiotic creme which has a pain killer. We've done all that, but the hen seems to be in shock, she let's my husband pick her up and wash her with no problem, she used to eat out of his hand before, so she knows him pretty well. I have two concerns, one will this procedure kill or get rid of the maggots for I'm afraid they'll eat her alive, second she is not eating or drinking water. Even though I don't pick up her eggs if she lays them, and the fact that she is not my hen, we've grown to care for her and both of us are very worried. Does anyone know what else I can do to bring her out of shock and get her to eat? Do you guys think the maggots are all gone? My hubby is outside with her right now and we plan to put her in a doggie cage and bring her inside the house until tomorrow...I don't even know if that is a good idea. Will appreciate very much your thoughts, please no mean thoughts, both my husband and I are animal lovers and are always taking care of animals, we even have a dove inside a bird cage because she fell in our back yard and other doves were picking at her, she had a broken wing, and is fine now even though she can't fly. Help us!

 

[I<3MyChickens-Jewel&Flash]

Aww poor girl. Whose hen is it? I had a white hen who would always stay in trees at night. She wasn't as lucky as yours.

keep water and food by her. Some cracked corn even fruits and veggies.

put her beakbin water to show her where it is.

I had used a dog kennel before and racoons and fox dug under it and got to the chickens. Now mine are in a rabbit hutch in my garage.

the stuff should help buy keep her inside until it heals..else maggots will continue to get her

 

[1muttsfan]

Sorry to hear about your hen. Wound care and good nursing is probably all you can do. You should not use ointment that contains a painkiller on birds, however.

 

[oops0143]

Thanks both of you for your replys....To answer the first question I really don't know whose hen it is, I think she thinks she's mine, we feed her and as I said she comes to sleep up in a tree. We've asked all the neighbors and nobody knows. I am super worried, she won't eat or drink water and the website said we should do the procedure three times on the hour each day, I'm afraid this will add to the shock...What do you think? What about the maggots? Does anyone know how to get rid of them? We've gotten rid of most of them, but more keep showing up, I want to bring her inside the house, but am worried that the maggots will spread and harm us or our other animals. Thanks I won't be putting that antibiotic anymore then, that's what a vet suggested though.

 

[pheasant101]

I have had a puppy get ahold of a chicken and eat part of her wing. after long hours of looking and gathering advise I washed her realy good with peroxide and used a neosporine ointment and wrapped her wing in gauze I wrapped the hole thing so there was no visible wound showing, I kept the first wrap on for a good three days and kept here in the house at night and in her own pen by our porch which is fenced in. I cleaned her wound and washed it every other day ofter that with peroxide and re wrapped it. I realy lobbed on the ointment and I think it would also keep flies from getting in it. It realy looked bad as it healed as the dead meat that was around it rotted and fell off and then she began to heal. She is our best laying americauna and she even continued to lay two days after this happened. (In our doggy bed) It took a week or so and then I started to let her back out with the other chicks and after about two weeks or so I kept the bandaid off. Good luck with your girl. It will look bad before it gets better.
I also found peroxide in a spray bottle that worked real nice.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Regular Neosporin is a very good idea but do NOT use the one with pain reliever. Most regular vets do not know anything about birds so I can kind of understand the mistake but they should have researched that before telling you to use it.

You definitely need to keep her wounds clean and prevent flies from laying more eggs in them or she doesn't have a chance. Bringing her inside, getting her all cleaned up and keeping her inside until the wounds heal up is a very good idea. Shock is also a danger with birds so keeping her warm and quiet will help a lot.

I may have mis-read your post but doing the wound cleaning routine three times every hour seems like overkill to me. You especially don't want to keep using peroxide over and over as it does not help the healing process and can be very irritating to the wounds. I'd get the wounds thoroughly washed out with saline or warm water, give them a good rinse with Betadine and then put on some plain Neosporin. Then just keep a close eye on her, I would be reapplying the Neosporin daily.

Edited to add: An oral antibiotic would probably be a very good idea as well though I'm not sure right off the bat which one would be best.