Predator attack but survived

Sezdia

In the Brooder
Oct 24, 2020
12
1
26
Hey all. Anyone know what kind of attack this could have come from? Silkie hen a little over a year old. She navigated her way out of the coop with the chicks she hatched and was nesting with them hidden on the side of the garage. Was woken up to an awful sound and screamed out the window while we made our way downstairs. She was nowhere to be found, just a pile of feathers. We searched for a while and came up empty handed. This morning when her chicks emerged from hiding (thought we lost them too) she heard their peeps and came running. She is totally missing tail feathers, feathers on part of her back and by her neck. Wound was washed and she is in a hutch alone right now but angry she can still hear her chicks. Afraid to put them in with her due to the wound. She is eating and drinking. I must say we also lost two baby chicks and a 3 month old silkie sometime during the early evening as well. They never showed back up in the run or coop. I have read that chickens are resilient and can survive an attack. Is this injury too severe? Is there anything else we need to be doing for her at this point? We live in the country so there are plenty of predators lingering. We hear coyotes often but she was hidden pretty well outside which makes me think it was something smaller that is after the chickens
 

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First, you need to find where the predator is coming in to kill your chickens. Look for vey small openings or cracks such as under doors or gates or where structures join. You need to prevent this from recurring.


1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite or puncture makes indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/250mg once a day for ten days.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.
 
First, you need to find where the predator is coming in to kill your chickens. Look for vey small openings or cracks such as under doors or gates or where structures join. You need to prevent this from recurring.


1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite or puncture makes indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/250mg once a day for ten days.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.
Thank you for the information above. The coop is totally secure, the run is fenced in but they do free range so the gates are often open during the day. The ones that did vanish from the run/coop were done in the early evening before we locked up. The silkie that was attacked and survived was attacked outside because she ran and hid under objects along side the garage with her chicks. We got the girls wrangled into the coop and locked up early then set cameras out last night and around midnight I got a motion alert on my phone. Turns out it was a bobcat, ant a very large one at that. Looks like free ranging days are going to come to a halt for some time.
The injured hen was treated for shock. Woulda flushed and antibiotics put on. We discovered more wounds during the second round of cleanup. She is hanging in there but injuries are much worse than originally noted. We are watching her around the clock to be alerted for signs of struggle. I hate to think about putting her down and naturally she is my favorite but I don’t want her to suffer. Fingers crossed she recovers! Thank you agaib
 

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