Pullet attacked, neck injury

[Villainess]

Good evening, all. Around noon today while at work, I received an email from my husband that there had been an attack on my youngest girls, my RIRs. This would have been around 11:30AM. I have a coop and run for my older girls (37 pullets of various breeds) and roo, with a “playpen” set up along one side of the older girls’ run for my younger girls (trying to integrate them thus far has not ended well, despite numerous attempts). Well, he heard screaming and immediately ran outside to find two raccoons taking off, guinea feathers everywhere around the playpen. He did a count check and discovered one of the guinea keets had been taken, the other had several feathers plucked from its right wing, and one of my Reds was injured. I am hoping I can figure out how to attach pictures, and maybe those will provide a better picture of this injury:

Other details that may (or may not) be pertinent. I’ve had all of my girls since they were chicks, with my RIR girls being especially attached to me (and vice versa) since I got them back at the beginning of May. She appeared to have dried blood around the wounded area but was not actively bleeding when I got home to doctor her. She is not acting any different than usual, though every now and then she’s been making what I can only describe as a combination cooing and chirping noise I’ve never heard her make. I can tell she is not enjoying being alone, that she wants to be with her six sisters and guinea buddy (she bonded with the keets). She has been drinking and eating okay, stools look normal. Oh, and I should mention that I’ve isolated her to a separate pen so that she can heal without interference. I’ve been cleaning the wound, then applying some diluted povidine-iodine. Is there anything else I should be doing? Based on the pictures, does this look like it will be a mortal wound? The pictures may not be the best, but I can’t tell the extent of the damage. And honestly, being a first-time chicken mom and former city girl....I’ve only ever seen chickens completely feathered, or completely plucked—nothing in between—so I can’t tell if it was just feathers yanked out or if there was also meat taken with it :|

I live in the country, over a half hour away from town, and apparently our local vet handles cats, dogs...and that’s it. I can’t bear losing any more of my Reds, so any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated! My apologies for my verbosity.

~Alicia

 

[JKay98]

Poultry are very resilient. With a little TLC I'm sure she will be fine. I had a hen sliced open so deep you could see tendons and such. She hung out in the house for awhile, but healed completely. Just keep it clean and add some neosporin, blu Cote, or similar product and she will heal.

 

[Villainess]

Poultry are very resilient. With a little TLC I'm sure she will be fine. I had a hen sliced open so deep you could see tendons and such. She hung out in the house for awhile, but healed completely. Just keep it clean and add some neosporin, blu Cote, or similar product and she will heal.

Thank you for the reassurance, JKay!

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

I don't have much personal experience with injuries like this but I have read many many posts by others on here with similar chicken injuries. Based on this I would say that your hen will very likely make a full recovery. That wound does not seem too bad and you have done everything right so far.

I would maybe try to cover it with a bandage of some sort if you can, to prevent her reaching back and disturbing the wound. If you have some triple antibiotic ointment that wouldn't hurt, and keep an eye out for infection in the next few days.
Apart from that, keep her warm and separated somewhere and monitor her food and water intake. You will be surprised how fast she recovers!

 

[Shadrach]

Good evening, all. Around noon today while at work, I received an email from my husband that there had been an attack on my youngest girls, my RIRs. This would have been around 11:30AM. I have a coop and run for my older girls (37 pullets of various breeds) and roo, with a “playpen” set up along one side of the older girls’ run for my younger girls (trying to integrate them thus far has not ended well, despite numerous attempts). Well, he heard screaming and immediately ran outside to find two raccoons taking off, guinea feathers everywhere around the playpen. He did a count check and discovered one of the guinea keets had been taken, the other had several feathers plucked from its right wing, and one of my Reds was injured. I am hoping I can figure out how to attach pictures, and maybe those will provide a better picture of this injury:

View attachment 1872241 View attachment 1872243 View attachment 1872244

Other details that may (or may not) be pertinent. I’ve had all of my girls since they were chicks, with my RIR girls being especially attached to me (and vice versa) since I got them back at the beginning of May. She appeared to have dried blood around the wounded area but was not actively bleeding when I got home to doctor her. She is not acting any different than usual, though every now and then she’s been making what I can only describe as a combination cooing and chirping noise I’ve never heard her make. I can tell she is not enjoying being alone, that she wants to be with her six sisters and guinea buddy (she bonded with the keets). She has been drinking and eating okay, stools look normal. Oh, and I should mention that I’ve isolated her to a separate pen so that she can heal without interference. I’ve been cleaning the wound, then applying some diluted povidine-iodine. Is there anything else I should be doing? Based on the pictures, does this look like it will be a mortal wound? The pictures may not be the best, but I can’t tell the extent of the damage. And honestly, being a first-time chicken mom and former city girl....I’ve only ever seen chickens completely feathered, or completely plucked—nothing in between—so I can’t tell if it was just feathers yanked out or if there was also meat taken with it :|

I live in the country, over a half hour away from town, and apparently our local vet handles cats, dogs...and that’s it. I can’t bear losing any more of my Reds, so any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated! My apologies for my verbosity.

~Alicia

Poor hen.
You need to check thoroughly for any puncture wounds. If you find any they need to be cleaned very thoroughly.
The best wound cleaner imo is Chlorhexidine. It's worth having some on hand. It comes in a spray and drop on liquid. You need to apply Chlorhexidine to the wound and leave it in contact with the wound for 20 to 30 seconds for it to be fully effective.
Any scratches can be treated similarly.
If your hen is showing any signs of being in pain, then one quarter of a junior aspirin can be given morning and evening for two or three days.
If you have antibiotic ointment this can be applied after cleaning if you wish.
I rarely use it. antibiotics are great when an infection is present but proper cleaning should aviod this problem.
There is no point in trying to bandage her. Better the air gets to it and she can groom around the wound.
If she wants to be back with her mates then that is where I would put her. I've found provided the injuries are kept clean and are no longer bleeding chickens recover more quickly if they are kept with their flock.

 

[Villainess]

I don't have much personal experience with injuries like this but I have read many many posts by others on here with similar chicken injuries. Based on this I would say that your hen will very likely make a full recovery. That wound does not seem too bad and you have done everything right so far.

I would maybe try to cover it with a bandage of some sort if you can, to prevent her reaching back and disturbing the wound. If you have some triple antibiotic ointment that wouldn't hurt, and keep an eye out for infection in the next few days.
Apart from that, keep her warm and separated somewhere and monitor her food and water intake. You will be surprised how fast she recovers!

I sure hope so. Thank you for your assistance, Keeperofmunchkins!

 

[Villainess]

Poor hen.
You need to check thoroughly for any puncture wounds. If you find any they need to be cleaned very thoroughly.
The best wound cleaner imo is Chlorhexidine. It's worth having some on hand. It comes in a spray and drop on liquid. You need to apply Chlorhexidine to the wound and leave it in contact with the wound for 20 to 30 seconds for it to be fully effective.
Any scratches can be treated similarly.
If your hen is showing any signs of being in pain, then one quarter of a junior aspirin can be given morning and evening for two or three days.
If you have antibiotic ointment this can be applied after cleaning if you wish.
I rarely use it. antibiotics are great when an infection is present but proper cleaning should aviod this problem.
There is no point in trying to bandage her. Better the air gets to it and she can groom around the wound.
If she wants to be back with her mates then that is where I would put her. I've found provided the injuries are kept clean and are no longer bleeding chickens recover more quickly if they are kept with their flock.

Wow, thank you, Shadrach—I think that answered all of my next questions!

This forum is just amazing. I had been lurking around for a while before joining, not expecting to post a thread asking about one of my girl’s being injured (I really thought I’d only be asking for more tips on integrating different flocks) But the wealth of knowledge here, and this wonderful community you have all built amongst yourselves, is just astounding. Kudos to you all for sharing your knowledge and experiences with newbies like myself.