Polish attacked by hawk! ( graphic photos)

[SurferchickinSB]

Hi there, just wondering if any members on here may give me more suggestions as of what to do. One of my white crested Polish was being attacked by a hawk yesterday and as I ran out, the hawk flew away and left her on the ground. I thought she was just in shock so I just put her in the coop because it seemed like she was really quiet and I didn’t see anything on her, just a little bit of blood coming out of one nostrilI waited till this morning to look her over and she has a huge hole in her chest and the reason I didn’t see it was because all the feathers were pushed into it, about 2 inches or more. I cleaned her up and washed out the wound which seemed a little oozy by this time , so hopefully it doesn’t get infected! I have so far washed her with Hiba cleanse and then flush the wound with an amoxicillin and a water concoction that I made. I had to cut all the feathers away from the wound. I am planning to stitch her up this afternoon as long as it doesn’t appear to be getting infected. I have given her some electrolyte water and she has eaten meal worms out of my hand. The wound is about an inch or more deep and cuts through her breast meat and may be a inch and a half long. I am going to stitch her up with dissolvable stitches, only surfacelly, but don’t know what else I can do. I have also started her on a round of antibiotics. I only have amoxicillin and penicillin, does anyone know which one is better for deep wounds? I am not sure if the wound is deeper than that but that’s what it appears to look like to me.

 

[azygous]

Sometimes it's safer to leave a deep wound open to drain, and it's easier to flush with saline each day to control bacteria. If you close the wound with stitches, you may end up closing bacteria into her body where it's free to multiply. With an oral antibiotic, you may be okay, though.

I would choose amoxycillin over penicillin. I've not had good luck with penicillin, but I've never done the injectable which I hear is more effective than the oral form.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree that leaving it open unless you can see a vet, and using amoxicillin over penicillin would be better. Hibilens or chlorhexidene is very good to use, and plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment is good. A clean towel for bedding will help to keep the area clean. Let us know how she heals.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Update on Cleo and her hawk attack. Cleo has fully recovered and she laid her first egg a couple days ago. Thanks for the people on BYC that helped me out and gave me recommendations! Special thanks to azygous and Eggcessive.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

@azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

Poor thing. Above, I have tagged a few very helpful members.

 

[azygous]

Chewable aspirin, 81 grain. One tablet in the morning and another in the afternoon.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Great, thank you! I will let you guys know how the story turns out whether it is good or bad. I will keep you updated and thank you for everyone’s help!

Here she is tonight, she is roosting in a box with one of my other girls that I like to keep in the house at night. Cleo is a white crested blue Polish but her crest isn’t white right now because it’s stained with the medication I put on her head a few weeks ago when all her head feathers got pulled out by some of my other girls. Her feathers have grown all back, she just has a purple crest at the moment.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

@azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

Poor thing. Above, I have tagged a few very helpful members.

Thank you! I have done mini operations but nothing this deep! Just scared it’s going to get infected! It’s just a big open hole! I am also wondering if the internal flesh, breast will heal together if I only stitch it externally?

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Sometimes it's safer to leave a deep wound open to drain, and it's easier to flush with saline each day to control bacteria. If you close the wound with stitches, you may end up closing bacteria into her body where it's free to multiply. With an oral antibiotic, you may be okay, though.

I would choose amoxycillin over penicillin. I've not had good luck with penicillin, but I've never done the injectable which I hear is more effective than the oral form.

Thank you! Unfortunately I already stitched it up because it was separated about an inch and a half wound across and you can see her breast meat and her innards and I didn’t think it would heal without it being stitched across, but I did leave the end of the wound open, so it could drain and I could still irrigate it with a small syringe an antibiotic solution that I have put together with water. I am worried about infection though, because I had to pull about 20 feathers out of the wound and the feathers were at least 2 inches long.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I agree that leaving it open unless you can see a vet, and using amoxicillin over penicillin would be better. Hibilens or chlorhexidene is very good to use, and plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment is good. A clean towel for bedding will help to keep the area clean. Let us know how she heals.

Thank you! Unfortunately I have already stitched her up. The wound was really deep and it had lots of feathers stuffed inside of it and that’s why I didn’t see it at first.