Hi folks. I’m new to BYC and I’m very happy to have found this community! I wish I had been brought here by better circumstances, but I guess here I am and here we go (this is gonna be a long one, as I want to provide as many details as possible)…
Best I can tell, on Thursday night/Friday morning, my 6 week old pullet was sleeping too close to a chicken-wired window in their coop and a cat or some other predator grabbed her through the wire and tried to drag her through, managing to tear off her wing in the process. I was devastated when I found her like that Friday morning, and feeling a lot of guilt. I really thought as long as I made sure that nothing could get inside the coop, my birds would be safe but apparently I was wrong.
I brought her in, cleaned and sanitized her wound with peroxide, and put her in a dog kennel in my laundry room with some clean bedding, food and water before going to work. At work I found this forum and read several posts about birds with similar injuries, and felt hopeful that I could help her through this and she could recover. After work I called my local vet, who was not very helpful (in their defense they don’t take birds as patients, but still). Basically all they said was “chickens are resilient, feed her and keep her clean and maybe she’ll be fine.” I bought antibiotic wound spray, triple antibiotic ointment, and Flock Leader Recovery 911. I tried to find some penicillin to give her, but couldn’t buy it anywhere locally without a prescription.
All day Friday and most of the day Saturday she seemed surprisingly fine. She was alert, she was eating, drinking, and pooping normally, and she was able to stand and walk around her cage. If you weren’t looking at her injury, she appeared to be a completely healthy chicken. I applied the spray and ointment multiple times both days and each time inspected her wound for visible signs of infection. It seemed okay; no weird discoloration, weeping, bleeding, or foul smells.
Then, Saturday evening around 7pm I checked on her and she was lying down asleep. An hour later she was still lying down and her breathing seemed somewhat heavy/labored, and she was the same every time I checked her for the rest of the evening. This morning she’s still lying down and doesn’t seem able to stand, but she seems alert. She watches me and peeps at me, and she eats when I put her scrambled egg/oatmeal mash in front of her, and there is normal looking poop in her cage that wasn’t there last night. Her breathing seems easier but she appears unable to stand.
So I guess I’m posting to ask for opinions - is this the end of the road for her? Do I need to just suck it up and end it for her? Or could she still pull through? I understand that her injury puts her at very high risk of infection and without penicillin and a veterinarian that will see her, the best I can do for her very well may not be enough. Last night I was convinced I’d probably have to end it today, but then this morning when she was eating and peeping at me and seemingly so alert, it made me feel conflicted. Is it possible that she just needs some time and rest? Is it normal for her to seem fine at first after a traumatic injury and then for this apparent weakness to come a couple days later? Thanks in advance for any input offered. I really just want to do the right thing for my poor girl.
Best I can tell, on Thursday night/Friday morning, my 6 week old pullet was sleeping too close to a chicken-wired window in their coop and a cat or some other predator grabbed her through the wire and tried to drag her through, managing to tear off her wing in the process. I was devastated when I found her like that Friday morning, and feeling a lot of guilt. I really thought as long as I made sure that nothing could get inside the coop, my birds would be safe but apparently I was wrong.
I brought her in, cleaned and sanitized her wound with peroxide, and put her in a dog kennel in my laundry room with some clean bedding, food and water before going to work. At work I found this forum and read several posts about birds with similar injuries, and felt hopeful that I could help her through this and she could recover. After work I called my local vet, who was not very helpful (in their defense they don’t take birds as patients, but still). Basically all they said was “chickens are resilient, feed her and keep her clean and maybe she’ll be fine.” I bought antibiotic wound spray, triple antibiotic ointment, and Flock Leader Recovery 911. I tried to find some penicillin to give her, but couldn’t buy it anywhere locally without a prescription.
All day Friday and most of the day Saturday she seemed surprisingly fine. She was alert, she was eating, drinking, and pooping normally, and she was able to stand and walk around her cage. If you weren’t looking at her injury, she appeared to be a completely healthy chicken. I applied the spray and ointment multiple times both days and each time inspected her wound for visible signs of infection. It seemed okay; no weird discoloration, weeping, bleeding, or foul smells.
Then, Saturday evening around 7pm I checked on her and she was lying down asleep. An hour later she was still lying down and her breathing seemed somewhat heavy/labored, and she was the same every time I checked her for the rest of the evening. This morning she’s still lying down and doesn’t seem able to stand, but she seems alert. She watches me and peeps at me, and she eats when I put her scrambled egg/oatmeal mash in front of her, and there is normal looking poop in her cage that wasn’t there last night. Her breathing seems easier but she appears unable to stand.
So I guess I’m posting to ask for opinions - is this the end of the road for her? Do I need to just suck it up and end it for her? Or could she still pull through? I understand that her injury puts her at very high risk of infection and without penicillin and a veterinarian that will see her, the best I can do for her very well may not be enough. Last night I was convinced I’d probably have to end it today, but then this morning when she was eating and peeping at me and seemingly so alert, it made me feel conflicted. Is it possible that she just needs some time and rest? Is it normal for her to seem fine at first after a traumatic injury and then for this apparent weakness to come a couple days later? Thanks in advance for any input offered. I really just want to do the right thing for my poor girl.
This morning when I picked her up to inspect and clean her wound, she wouldn’t use her legs at all when I went to put her back in the cage. Yesterday I could sort of set her on her feet and she’d walk off, but today she wouldn’t try to stand or walk at all. But she did scoot herself into the warmth of the heat lamp! I didn’t have any heat on her before, because I read a comment on here that said a slightly cooler than normal environment might be better for inhibiting the spread of infection. But this morning when she seemed so weak I decided to set up a heat lamp so that it covered part of the cage and she did scoot herself a few inches into the heated part.
