PLEASE HELP! TO CULL or NOT? UPDATE ON DOG ATTACK..NECK INJRY! WARNING.... NEW PICTURES!!

[UrbnHalfDzn]

Hi- I asked for help regarding my injured chicken Nelda.. last week. She was doing well until her salt soak yesterday. She wont eat or drink anymore and is growing more lethargic every hour. I applied Neosporin and have attended to her wounds.. I am unsure as to what to do about the worsening dark spots on her wounds.... this afternoon there seems to be some kind of mold growing or FUZZY stuff growing on top of her open wounds.... I saw this yesterday but got off most of it. TODAY it is worse! She keeps her neck folded and no air is getting between her neck skin.. I think she does this to keep herself "protected" in the wound area..... but.. as far as I can tell.. she is going to die a slow painful death if I can't help her to heal this wound. She was laying eggs until yesterday too. At this point she is growing more unresponsive. I have given antibiotics, electrolytes, salt soaks.. and ointments... don't know what else to do... Should I cull her? Should I be soaking more than once a day?



You can see my old posts where there are about 10+ pictures of the progress of this wounding.

 

[Kyzmette]

I promise you, chickens can bounce back from worse. I've had dog attacks on my chookies because I have a horrible neighbor with a demon dachsund, and every time it happened I thought there was no way they could live through it, but they did. One of my hens lost every bit of skin around her neck and part of her upper back, exposing one bone, and she's doing fine now. Keep using the neosporin and just let her heal. She's probably in shock if you bathed her in salt... you just put salt on a huge open wound, so the pain must have been unimaginable.

Don't use anesthetic on her, nothing with "cane" or "caine" in the name. You can grind up an aspirin and put it in her water if she's not bleeding freely. Keep her safe and warm and let her heal naturally. As the skin grows back it will look really gross, but that's just the way it works. Feed her high protein, like a mashed up egg, and electrolytes and poly-vi-sol (infant vitamin drops available otc at the pharmacy) in her water. Raise her water and food so she doesn't have to move her neck far to eat. If she's not drinking, take a spoon of water and raise it to the bottom tip of her beak, and she should swallow what gets in her mouth.

Get the water with electrolytes in her post-haste!

 

[UrbnHalfDzn]

I'm sorry.. it was Epsom salt.. like the kind for wounds... and burns. Should have been more specific. I only put a small ammount in the warm water.. kind of like a sitz bath for wound care. A vet told me they used to hose down the horses with really bad fly strike wounds and that water therapy is good for this kind of skin wound. Plus I gave her a baby asprin before her soak everyday. I hope its not like pouring table salt on a wound. I would cry if it hurt her like that! OH MY! Thank you soo much for the encouragement. I am looking thru almost any post I can find with infected wounds... hoping to tube feed her tomorrow. She took some gatorade a few minutes ago. Any other suggestions are welcome! Or tips or web links anyone can think of that would help me get through this OBVIOUSLY long road ahead with Nelda.

 

[Kyzmette]

These are pics of my Puff and Caramel after they were mauled. Take a deep breath. Chickens are amazingly resilient.

I'm not an expert by a long shot. There are others here who may give much better advice. I also found Duramycin at the local Tractor Supply and put it in their water.

 

[UrbnHalfDzn]

Take a look at my old posting. My Nelda today is doing great! She (just 2 days ago) has finally rejoined the flock inside the chick coop at night. She stayed in a grey large tote for a very long time. Her feathers have grown in and she is doing wonderful. I purchased charcoal (wonder dust) to help keep her wound from being oozy and not scabbi g. I also used vetramyacin spray on her back and neck. I could see her spine and her skin hung in thteads of the front of her neck. Just some encouragement from me to not kill your chicken.

 

[UrbnHalfDzn]

You have to keep your wounded chicken separate from the others for at least 3 months or the other chick's will peck at their wounds and possibly kill. I learned that from this ordeal. Slow reintroduction is best.

 

[UrbnHalfDzn]

Epsom salt soaks in a large sink full of warm water will help and squirting majorly diluted hydrogen peroxide will help too of you have nothing else and are on a tight budget. She tolerated baby aspirin for pain. I would give my Nelda one baby aspirin just before her daily wound cleaning. I cleaned her wound daily by soaking in sink for 3 weeks then shifted to every other day with charcoal applied after cleansing. .. when she started to scab over... I went to every 3 to 4 day soaks. The vetramyacin eliminated the soaks all together and was very helpful. I kept her in the kitchen in the large tote of clean hay with a make shift perch on 2 bricks and her water and food very close.

 

[UrbnHalfDzn]

Anyway. ... just a final update to everyone who helped me save my sweet Nelda and to encourage anyone who is on here searching for a way to save their badly injured chicken!!

 

[Sarevan]

I'm so happy that she recovered, think you could post her healed picture? Would be a good way to show they can recover from injuries with care and patience.

Happy for you both!

 

[UrbnHalfDzn]

Ok! Yes! Absolutely! I will take a new picture of Miss Nelda first thing in the morning! I must mention. ... she does not like her new pecking place in "the order" of things around the other chicks. Due to her injury and the separation time .....she is now last to eat and low lady on the ladder. .. but. . She is alive and I'm happy with her about that!