- Oct 22, 2012
- 6
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Hi,
My husband and I just started keeping hens. We've had our girls for about 6 months. I'll tell you it is more difficult than I expected. It isn't the cleanup or work associated with it, it is how attached you get to them so when they get hurt is is really tough to deal with. Sadly on Saturday at about 3:30am we woke up to cries of help from our hens because a raccoon had gotten into the coop. When we got out there we found one of our girls on the ground still alive but hurt, looks like it was trying to bite her head off :`(
So for the last two plus days we've had her inside the house, we've been putting neosporin on her eyes which were hurt and I think the beast squeezed her crop enough for her to regurgitate fluids which became hard and crusted. She's been having difficulty breathing so we have been trying to soften up the crusty stuff to remove it. She also isn't eating or drinking so we have been trying to give her a little bit of fluids with an oral syringe. Of course all of this is torture to her, I don't want her to die though. Today I noticed that her crop is hard so we are going to try to give her a bit of olive oil and she is now acting like she is egg bound which is not surprising, I just hope the egg didn't break.
If anybody has any suggestions for me on how to care for my poor girl please let me know.
She's still standing and walking a bit and moves hear head around when she hears me speak to her.
-YDSD
My husband and I just started keeping hens. We've had our girls for about 6 months. I'll tell you it is more difficult than I expected. It isn't the cleanup or work associated with it, it is how attached you get to them so when they get hurt is is really tough to deal with. Sadly on Saturday at about 3:30am we woke up to cries of help from our hens because a raccoon had gotten into the coop. When we got out there we found one of our girls on the ground still alive but hurt, looks like it was trying to bite her head off :`(
So for the last two plus days we've had her inside the house, we've been putting neosporin on her eyes which were hurt and I think the beast squeezed her crop enough for her to regurgitate fluids which became hard and crusted. She's been having difficulty breathing so we have been trying to soften up the crusty stuff to remove it. She also isn't eating or drinking so we have been trying to give her a little bit of fluids with an oral syringe. Of course all of this is torture to her, I don't want her to die though. Today I noticed that her crop is hard so we are going to try to give her a bit of olive oil and she is now acting like she is egg bound which is not surprising, I just hope the egg didn't break.
If anybody has any suggestions for me on how to care for my poor girl please let me know.
She's still standing and walking a bit and moves hear head around when she hears me speak to her.
-YDSD
Be sure to fix your coop - that raccoon will be back and I want to make sure the rest of your girls are safe. If you need tips of predator proofing let us know.
