Possible internal bleeding?

[Villainess]

I am definitely keeping an eye on my other birds, but I think I’ve got the WHAT part of the problem solved.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/horrible-swollen-thing-coming-out-of-my-hens-mouth.763473/
The hubby said it looked exactly like the hen in the above link. Now if only I can figure out the HOW part to prevent it from happening again

Thank you all for your assistance!

 

[MGG]

Wow! Gross! It does look like that

 

[Villainess]

It is pretty gross looking!

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry that your hen was severely attacked. It looked like her eye was punctured, and her tongue might have swollen into the shape of a ball when she was attacked. Do you have raccoons or foxes in your area? I would keep your other chickens locked inside their coop and run securely, and think about a gamecam and a raccoon trap to try and trap them. You did the right thing ending her suffering.

 

[Villainess]

@Eggcessive I’m still not 100% sure how/what happened, but all the pictures I could find online pointed to a throat prolapse. Is this pretty common?

We definitely have raccoons and foxes here. We probably have the same predators in Indiana as you do in Ohio. We had two raccoon attacks and a mink attack that resulted in some losses, so we have fortified the coop and run as much as possible. We do have some live traps that we’ve caught some raccoons in (and the neighbors cat ) but I would be interested to see what other critters hang around since I’m surrounded by woods and pastures with creeks in between.

Thank you for your input and suggestions!