Prayers for Grandpa

[Kayler2699]

Update next day: Grandpa is doing amazing and is handling this like a trooper. She is up and active and wanting to walk around with her babies!

Hi everyone, this is Grandpa. She survived a hawk attack today defending her babies. Sadly we lost half of them but I’m glad she survived. Her wound is pretty bad.skin was ripped away exposing a good chunk of muscle. I know how to treat wounds and so I have that part done but my question is how long does it take for skin to grow back? The area is probably a couple inches long and a couple inches wide. I teach special ed and she is my students favorite chicken out of my flock. Currently she is resting away from the flock with her co-momma with the remaining babies. Her co-momma is untouched and fine and so are the remaining babies. If she dies I have no idea how to break it to them because they do not have the ability to comprehend death and I know they will ask about her come fall. The wound is pretty bad, thankfully not bloody, but still pretty bad and she must be in so much pain.

I do just want to add that her whole wound is covered the black part sticking out from the bandages is just skin with no feathers. She is a silkie so black skin is normal.

 

[GodLovesU]

Poor girl!Will be praying.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry she got hurt. Had a chicken with a similar wound, it healed in about 3 weeks. You should not cover the wound, however. Just wash with sterile saline twice daily and coat with triple antibiotic ointment that does not contain pain reliever. It will heal from the edges in toward the center.

 

[Kayler2699]

Sorry she got hurt. Had a chicken with a similar wound, it healed in about 3 weeks. You should not cover the wound, however. Just wash with sterile saline twice daily and coat with triple antibiotic ointment that does not contain pain reliever. It will heal from the edges in toward the center.

Thanks I didn’t think about a triple antibiotic! TSC was closed today (in case you live outside of the USA July 4th is our Independence Day so a lot of places are closed) so I couldn’t get any wound care stuff like that today. I’ll definitely take your advice and do what you said. I was able to go to Walmart and get the sterile saline. Thankfully her wing covers her wound so when I found her in the coop the wound didn’t have much debris in it. I just feel so fortunate that she survived. I saw a pile of silkie feathers in the yard and my heart sank and I prepared myself for the worst. I was relieved to find her alert and attending to her babies. This is not my first hawk surviver but this is my first one with this much skin removed.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thanks I didn’t think about a triple antibiotic! TSC was closed today (in case you live outside of the USA July 4th is our Independence Day so a lot of places are closed) so I couldn’t get any wound care stuff like that today. I’ll definitely take your advice and do what you said. I was able to go to Walmart and get the sterile saline. Thankfully her wing covers her wound so when I found her in the coop the wound didn’t have much debris in it. I just feel so fortunate that she survived. I saw a pile of silkie feathers in the yard and my heart sank and I prepared myself for the worst. I was relieved to find her alert and attending to her babies. This is not my first hawk surviver but this is my first one with this much skin removed.

You're welcome! You can use Nieosporin from Walmart or Walgreens. And when our hen was attacked by a neighbor's dog, we made up our own sterile saline and added a pinch of baking soda to buffer it (helps make it the right pH, I believe). Then we put it in a squirt bottle and used that to flush the wound thoroughly twice daily, to clean it without scrubbing. Blotted dry with a clean towel, then put the Neosporin on. If you think your hen might be in shock, give her some Poultry Cell, Rooster Booster or electrolytes in water, or GatorAde, Pedialyte or even sugar water to perk her up. She just needs her regular food although she might like it moistened or even soupy for a while, and don't forget to supply grit, plus oyster shell if she's a layer. She should do fine, chickens are amazingly tough and resilient!

 

[Kayler2699]

You're welcome! You can use Nieosporin from Walmart or Walgreens. And when our hen was attacked by a neighbor's dog, we made up our own sterile saline and added a pinch of baking soda to buffer it (helps make it the right pH, I believe). Then we put it in a squirt bottle and used that to flush the wound thoroughly twice daily, to clean it without scrubbing. Blotted dry with a clean towel, then put the Neosporin on. If you think your hen might be in shock, give her some Poultry Cell, Rooster Booster or electrolytes in water, or GatorAde, Pedialyte or even sugar water to perk her up. She just needs her regular food although she might like it moistened or even soupy for a while, and don't forget to supply grit, plus oyster shell if she's a layer. She should do fine, chickens are amazingly tough and resilient!

Thank you for the additional info! I don’t normally have hurt chickens so i just know the basics. I have had chickens for 17 years but I have never had a wound this big before.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you for the additional info! I don’t normally have hurt chickens so i just know the basics. I have had chickens for 17 years but I have never had a wound this big before.

We're going on 13 years and it only happened to us once. Rather shocking, I guess we get complacent. And you're welcome again! Just watch out for fly strike.

 

[Kayler2699]

We're going on 13 years and it only happened to us once. Rather shocking, I guess we get complacent. And you're welcome again! Just watch out for fly strike.

Oh I am watching her closely for that! She is in a clean area so I’m hoping it’s not going to be a huge deal.

 

[Rose Quartz]

Idk how long, but i do know that my friends sheep had a baby born this early spring whose whole side had the skin peel off. She put coconut oil on it multiple times a day and it grew back like it never happened.

 

[Kayler2699]

Idk how long, but i do know that my friends sheep had a baby born this early spring whose whole side had the skin peel off. She put coconut oil on it multiple times a day and it grew back like it never happened.

I will have to look into that. I don’t know if chickens can have coconut oil but I’ll definitely look into that. I’m sure it’s really good at locking in the moisture to help promote healthy skin growth.