Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

@hyzenthlay

You have done well so far...I suggest you keep her inside for 24 hours or so, make sure she has eaten, drank and pooped normally. The wound you show doesn't appear serious and should heal quite well but bird bones are fragile and she undoubtedly was struck hard by the hawk so bruising and internal injuries can happen and don't show on external exams. Keeping her calm and quiet will allow her to spend her energy on recovery rather than keeping warm and trying to hide her weakness or soreness from other flockmembers.
Clean the area around the wound (I think you already did this) but look closely to see if any small feathers around the edges lay into it, these can stick to scabbing and cause more pull on the edges when the bird moves, so we trim them with a small pair of scissors. Triple antibiotic (without painkiller) can be used on the wound. I do suggest picking up some BluKote for use when she is ready to reintegrate, but no rush since it will be a couple of days.
I am glad you were able to intervene so quickly and hope her recovery is quick and uneventful!

Thank you!! Based on this, I put in an Amazon order for BluKote, so it should be here in a couple days, in time for me to spray her before she goes back out with the flock. It looks like she's pooped once since she's been in the cat carrier, but I'll watch for another one at least, since that's surely what she was digesting before the attack. I will also watch her for any signs of internal injury or broken bones--thanks for the heads up on that, it hadn't occurred to me. I will also check for small feathers around the wound. I didn't notice that in my first inspection, but I wasn't looking for it, either, so I will check to be sure. I will also check to see if I have antibiotic ointment without painkiller--if not, I can pick some up at the drug store. Thanks again for the great advice!

HYZ:

For my two cents....neosporin (without pain med)...if you really need it 'closed up', use surgical glue.(need a friend who's a vet)....or in a pinch...super glue....my experience is that given a bit of TLC and nothing vital was compromised, they will bounce back....there are many tales of folks on here fixing all sorts of problems that would kill a human.....

Given the pics, I think your girl made out pretty well....and your flock got a lesson....hope things work out well!!! (my two cents)

Thanks, stake! I was just talking with my husband, who is a doctor (but no avian vet!) and he said he could do the stitches, but suggested it might be better to leave it open so that it heals from the inside out and we don't trap infection inside. He hasn't seen Buttercup's wound in person yet, though, just the same pic I posted here. I was worried about the stitches causing her more pain and trauma, anyway, so if we did do something we'd probably do glue like you said. I hadn't thought of that, but I like that idea a lot better than stitches for her. I guess we will watch over the next 24 hours and see how the wound seems to be healing and if it looks like it will close up on its own or if she keeps pulling it apart when she moves. One good thing is that it didn't seem to be bleeding almost at all.

@hyzenthlay I'm so glad that she's ok! I would definitely stick with what everyone else said. Make sure it's cleaned really well. You can use peroxide but only for the initial cleaning then stick with neosporin (without pain relief). I think that the location it's in, stitches wouldn't help since they would pull everytime she moved her head. You should keep her in for at least the first couple days to watch her and make sure she's eating (she may go in to shock for a few days). Before you put her back out, give her a good spray with some bluekote and she should be just fine
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Thanks, Auroradream! :) You may well be right about the stitches getting pulled out. We'll watch and see how she does, I guess. She does seem to be in a bit of shock--I saw this once before when my Ameraucana met the neighbor's dog--that ordeal seemed worse and Delphine was more trembly/wobbly and apparently traumatized than Buttercup, but she did pull through and is outside happy and healthy in the coop now. I took her to the avian vet, though, since her injuries seemed worse, and she got put on a course of oral antibiotics and topical cream, plus I think subcutaneous fluids at the vet's office. I can't remember if she got stitches, but I don't think so because what she had was more of a puncture wound and a bunch of abrasions if I recall correctly. I guess if Buttercup starts looking poorly, she may end up at the vet as well. I wish I could see her eat or drink--I suspect she may have sneaked a bite while I wasn't watching, but whenever I go to the basement to look at her, she stands up and seems to be on high alert--certainly not snacking or having a sip of her vitamin water....
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It sounds like you all are going to have some great birds this year!! I'll be watching for what birds become available near me in the spring! :)
 
@Chaos18

If I can't get anything to hatch from him, maybe I'll get some off of you next year. Or maybe I'll get from both of you and make a cross between the two lol
 
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It has just been confirmed! One of my lavender ameraucana pullets is laying! I caught her coming out of the coop shed where there's been a hidden nest for about a week in some coconut husk basket liners. The egg was warm, still damp, and very fresh! It's about time!
 
Today I collected 55 "incubating eggs" (as opposed to eating eggs). 32 are from my Legbars. Even got another duck egg. And found the very first Silkied Ameraucan egg of the season. It's pretty dirty, I think I need to give them a nestbox now.
 
@hyzenthlay

It is amazing how well birds can heal...sorry about the graphic photo , don't remember if i posted this before, but this hen was laid open by an over aggressive rooster.... we kept her isolated, kept the edges clean and covered with triple antibiotic, no stitches and no antibiotics, but she was healed well enough to return to the coop in 5 weeks and no long term problems, in fact she returned to laying after 8 weeks and has raised 2 batches of chicks for us since the injury. So don't give up hope when injuries are ugly, birds are amazingly tough when given a bit of help!
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And the pictures are a bit hard to see, but she was opened right into her abdominal cavity, I could see her intestines, that is why I didn't try to close the wound, I figured infection would be a sure thing if we closed it, not sure if the skin would have stretched back over it anyway.

I also had another hen somehow impale herself on a 1/2" stick last summer...right through the meaty part of her breast and in quite deep...again we removed the stick, cleaned it, coated it and she recovered in pretty short time. I have pictures somewhere of that also but not sure where at the moment.
 
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@hyzenthlay

It is amazing how well birds can heal...sorry about the graphic photo , don't remember if i posted this before, but this hen was laid open by an over aggressive rooster.... we kept her isolated, kept the edges clean and covered with triple antibiotic, no stitches and no antibiotics, but she was healed well enough to return to the coop in 5 weeks and no long term problems, in fact she returned to laying after 8 weeks and has raised 2 batches of chicks for us since the injury. So don't give up hope when injuries are ugly, birds are amazingly tough when given a bit of help!
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And the pictures are a bit hard to see, but she was opened right into her abdominal cavity, I could see her intestines, that is why I didn't try to close the wound, I figured infection would be a sure thing if we closed it, not sure if the skin would have stretched back over it anyway.

I also had another hen somehow impale herself on a 1/2" stick last summer...right through the meaty part of her breast and in quite deep...again we removed the stick, cleaned it, coated it and she recovered in pretty short time. I have pictures somewhere of that also but not sure where at the moment.
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Oh my goodness!!!! It is absolutely amazing to me that she recovered from that at all, much less with no lifeflight so the nearest trauma center and an ICU stay!
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That injury is pretty horrifying. You must've taken great care of her, and I really appreciate you posting that to show their resilience. It certainly gives me more confidence that Buttercup will do just fine without stitches as long as we keep her clean and quiet. I'm not going to ask what happened to your overzealous rooster after that event....

Buttercup seems to be resting comfortably in her cat carrier in the basement. It is very warm down there because our ductwork must be leaky, probably 80 degrees--hopefully that won't be a problem for her transitioning back outside in a few days. I do have one of those flat panel heaters in the coop for the coldest days--I can always turn that on and put her in isolation next to it. I can't tell if she ate or drank, but she is moving around (spilled a lot of the water, in fact), and had another big stinky poop that looked normal, so I take that as a good sign.
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I'll move a big dog crate or pen down there for her in the morning so she can get up and stretch her legs a bit more than the cat carrier allows.
 

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