Please help! Two criticaly injured hens from fox bite!

[Teacosy]

Please help me! I rescued 6 battery hens yesterday to add to my flock of four other rescue hens. This morning I went to let them out of the coop as per usual and found two hens missing, a heap of feathers everywhere, one dead hen, one hen slumped under the roost and all the rest of my poor traumatized hens. The fox had somehow ripped the mesh off the door and had a bit of a party.
One of my girls has a pretty horrific wound to her neck and cant stand or hold up her head but has been drinking water and had a few nibbles at her food. The other injured girl has been bitten on her back, she can still walk but sounds as though she is gurgling (like fluid in the lungs) she has eaten a small amount but has not drunk anything. Both girls are tucked up in my laundry now in dark cubbies. I have put iodine on both of their wounds, is their anything else I should do??? Will they survive? Please help!!

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Can you post pictures of their wounds?

 

[Mutt Farm]

What a horrible thing to have happen. I can't be of any help to you. I'm so sorry. Hopefully they recover. It sounds like you have done your best so far.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

You may want to bandage the wounds after flushing them with water and adding neosporin. You should bring the hurt chickens inside and make sure they get water with electrolytes in it. I wouldn't stress them by force feeding them, but if all else fails you may have to tube feed. Still, you should wait on that, your chickens will be fine for a day or so without eating assuming that they survive. Good luck!

 

[Teacosy]

The first picture is of the hens back and the second is of the neck of the other girl. Unfortunately i couldn't take very good pictures as I didn't want to hurt them

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Well it is hard to see, but it looks okay, many chooks have survived much worse, but you must be extremely vigilant about not letting the wound become infected. Predator bites are horrible. Also, try feeding your birds scrambled eggs, tuna, etc., to keep their strength up. I hope your birds survive!

 

[Teacosy]

What a horrible thing to have happen. I can't be of any help to you. I'm so sorry. Hopefully they recover. It sounds like you have done your best so far.

Thank you! I am beside myself! I am hoping with all my might they pull through!

 

[LeafBlade12345]

You are very welcome. I really hope they get better...you should bring them in and put them in dog crates of boxes so they can rest and you can keep a close eye on them.

 

[Teacosy]

Well it is hard to see, but it looks okay, many chooks have survived much worse, but you must be extremely vigilant about not letting the wound become infected. Predator bites are horrible. Also, try feeding your birds scrambled eggs, tuna, etc., to keep their strength up. I hope your birds survive!

How often should I clean their wounds? The poor girl with the bitten neck isn't looking to good I will try them with some tuna in an hour.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

I would clean and change the bandages two or three times a day, the more the better. Good luck!