PLEASE, need advice on hurt chicken

[Super Admin]

Well..my hen that has neck injury is still looking sad. Do neck injuries heal or should she go to the chopping block? She still can't eat on her own and I really don't know what to do. She is drinking water when we put up to her beak but has eaten very little and it has been a week. Does anyone know about how long the healing process can Hi all! New to this forum. I had a chicken attack last Monday and saved a chicken from I think a fox. Did not have top covered...now we DO! First batch of chickens ever (they are New Hampshire Reds) and still leaning. She was grabbed by the neck so most of her feathers around the neck are gone. Her bare neck is turning colors as if black and blue. I cut away all the matted feathers and slathered her neck in neosporin. We have been giving baby tylenol. Her poop is dark green covered in yellow slime. She has a hard time holding her head up and when she does, it is crooked. Could she have dislocated her neck? Just wondering about how long should we give this chicken to get better and feed and scratch on it's own?? We can't hand feed her forever. She seems very lathargic even though it has been a week. On the bright side we have been doing "physical therapy" with her. She walks around outside. She's a little shaky and you can tell she wants to peck and scratch. Oh, yeah, she is very smelly especially in the tail area, can you give a chicken a bath? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Last edited by hauckzoo (Yesterday 4:07 pm)
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[threehorses]

Can you link your previous post, please, so that we can see what happened before?

 

[Super Admin]

Quote:

 

[threehorses]

How did everything else turn out? Her droppings - are they normal?

You need to mix her food in with the water you give her. She won't eat on her own until she has enough food in her to eat on her own. In other words, mix her food (crumbles, yogurt, some boiled mashed egg yolk) into the water to make a thick broth or very thin soup and give that to her. Try adding a little oatmeal that you put in the food processor and processed into a powder while dry. That gives them energy, the oats, but all broken down into a powder you don't have to worry about her having to get it through her crop.

Does she walk? Did the wounds heal or are they scabbing over? How does that look? She probably had a neck injury, and it will take a very long time for muscular issues to resolve if they ever do. The thing is to keep giving her food - enough to be what she'd usually eat in a day - so that she has FUEL to heal. With out fuel, she won't, but it's easy enough to get more concentrated nutrition in her.

Are you giving any vitamins - like polyvisol? Not the kind in the water for chickens, but baby vitamins by Enfamil, non-iron formula available at cvs pharmacy. She could get 2 drops in the beak's side twice a day for a week or until she has more pep, then once daily but three drops for a week and after that we can reevaluate her. Don't put it down her throat - drop it on the side-beak opening so she swallows on her own. Don't mix with her water - give it directly.

It's not been long enough for this to heal yet and she might always be gimpy. The thing is making sure that she eats on her own eventually. That's the decision of chopping block, as you put it, or not.

And don't feed scratch, please. It's a treat - not a feed. With this stress, her crop won't empty normally - all her food should be very concentrated (her laying pellets dissolved in water, the mashed egg, yogurt - all would fall apart if you put them in a glass of water and stirred - easily dissolved, won't block her crop).

She's lethargic because it's only been a week, and because she needs more fuel in her food.

But the physical therapy sound good - if she walks, that's really good. Give her a couple more weeks.

And please do clean her vent. The yogurt, given daily (1 teaspoon to one tablespoon) will help clear up her droppings. If it doesn't within three days, respond to *this* post and we'll go from there. But clean her vent and dry it well. You can actually add a little baby powder back there just like you would on a baby to keep it from soring up, and prevent flies from laying and egg (read as creating maggots) there.

She needs more time.

Thanks for reposting the post.

Hi all! New to this forum. I had a chicken attack last Monday and saved a chicken from I think a fox. Did not have top covered...now we DO! First batch of chickens ever (they are New Hampshire Reds) and still leaning. She was grabbed by the neck so most of her feathers around the neck are gone. Her bare neck is turning colors as if black and blue. I cut away all the matted feathers and slathered her neck in neosporin. We have been giving baby tylenol. Her poop is dark green covered in yellow slime. She has a hard time holding her head up and when she does, it is crooked. Could she have dislocated her neck? Just wondering about how long should we give this chicken to get better and feed and scratch on it's own?? We can't hand feed her forever. She seems very lathargic even though it has been a week. On the bright side we have been doing "physical therapy" with her. She walks around outside. She's a little shaky and you can tell she wants to peck and scratch. Oh, yeah, she is very smelly especially in the tail area, can you give a chicken a bath? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Last edited by hauckzoo (Yesterday 4:07 pm)
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