Predator attack

[RoyalCoopMom]

Something got in my coop last night. Killed one chicken and injured another. Her comb is pretty beat up. How do I treat her? With people topical antibiotics? I have injectible antibiotics but I'm nervous about giving them to her. She is a leghorn and kinda skinny. The chickens I have injected before are meatier. The damage is mostly on her comb. Please help?

 

[azygous]

Combs heal up pretty quickly. Just wash well with soap and water and smooth on an antibiotic ointment without pain killer in it.

No antibiotic is necessary beyond that, but if you haven't given her a thorough over all inspection for other injuries, you need to do so. Something as tiny as a puncture wound can kill from infection.

 

[theuglychick]

My roosters comb would get pretty beat up. I bought some saline nasal flush from the family dollar (just straight saline) and use that to rinse it really well then apply a good coating of the poultry wound spray at least twice daily. Their combs are very vascular and tend to bleed a lot but heal very easily. I know of people who dub combs completely off without treating it at all and the birds are fine as far as healing goes. (I do not recommend or endorse that).

 

[theuglychick]

I'm also sorry that you're having to deal with a predator, a loss, and an injured bird. Do you know what it was?

 

[coach723]

Good advice given for the wounds....you need to secure your coop from whatever it was that attacked. Predators will return to where they have been successful, so whatever it was will probably be back. Figure out how it got in, and secure it, or put your birds in a more secure place for night until you get it figured out. If you aren't sure what predator you are dealing with a game camera can help if you can get or borrow one. You can do a search for securing your coop from predators and find lots of suggestions. Good luck and hope you don't lose any more birds.

 

[RoyalCoopMom]

Thanks for all the responses. I have cameras but they had been accidentally turned off. They are back on and I have a live trap out now. About 4 months ago I had to move their coop to satisfy our HOA. I expanded their run space to include under our deck and moved the coop less the roof under there as well. It is harder to secure because of all the support structure but I'll be working today to secure anything i can find. My cameras only monitored inside I think I'll add or move to get perimeter instead. They are now limited the original run until we figure it out.