Putting a gastric tube in a chicken-abdominal injury-CAUTION-graphic photos.

[x4livin]

My red went missing one night last week while I was on a training trip to Missouri and my son was sitting them. She was found 2 days later, with the backside of her chewed into. My son called and I old him to put her in a box in the house and see if she would eat or drink. He said she did both well. I got home late last night' and found her left leg missing a large part of the back tissue from her yellow heel part up. Her while back end was gaping open with stool and molten eggshell liquid dripping out. Her anus is intact above. There are maggots. Many many maggots, and they scramble inside open holes and pores. I soaked her in a huge ziplock bag of epsom salt water then rinsed with water hose and saline alternating, manually removing all maggots I could find. This did not seem to help. In fact she stopped eating and drinking when I did this. Multiple times I have tipped her over to find them in clots, falling out, all sizes. She got to the point that I couldn't even force drips into her beak. She began to get cold and stiff, no longer shivering. At this point I have nothing to lose. I got out an mp3 ear wire set that no longer works. The rubberized kind. I used a regular IM syringe(on that came with dog parvo vaccine) I slid the needle carefully down into the hole of the cut tubing(perfect tight fit, but i poked through the side a time or two learning and just cut the accidental hole spot off) Once I got the tip started into her mouth/throat, she did what chickens do, and started swallowing the long thin thing down. I taped it off and twisted the needle off attached. I pureed egg and water. I got 30 ml's or so of water alternating with egg water down her' then got a baby aspirin down her(this has to just be poured in her mouth, even well dissolved, this stopped up the tube) It has been about 40 minutes. She is now warm and sleeping and breathing like she is relaxed.
I still don't know what to do about the maggots. I have bactrim ds here and I have been getting little bits of that down her and covering the wounds with TAO.

 

[x4livin]

This is the hole. About 1.5" open. It was worse, maybe double, before soaking her in the epsom salt.



The back of her left leg.

 

[x4livin]

Her head to the right, little rubber tube still there. Her whole tail end is gone, the front, mostly intact.

 

[x4livin]

When I first picked her up, her upper half was full of cactus. I'm thinking this is how she survived the attack at all. Her backend, top and bottom got tore into.

The round patch of hide gone on her back, and on top of her leg. Leg was torn down and away, toward the foot. Whatever had her was trying to pull her out by her leg.






Today, her abdomen is more closed. I can see her vent intact below her anus and see that the damage is abdominal. She is still leaking stool from the wound, but much less. She also is showing a little spincter control(not oozing constantly, dropping stool in larger quantity at one time). She still has no control when I pick her up head first(kind of pours.) She ate a few bites of corn this morning.



I stood her out on the ground(it rained all night and it was moist and cool out). She stands stumbly and sits quickly. She is a little wobbly just siting if it is on flat ground. She is staying warm(minus the bath) and thermoregulating on her own(I am keeping her under a lamp in a box stuffed with crinkled with newspaper to absorb and keep her upright.


That look she has is a threat, I think. She's finally comfortable again.





This morning, another warm epsom salt bath and a thick slathering of TAO. There was one maggot floating, and I pulled one out of the torn loose skin of her abdomen. I think there are more up there, but she is healing/adhesing, I hate to go digging. They will die as she heals leaving them no oxygen(I hope). She isn't taking any fluids, and only the bites of corn. In a bit, I will put that tiny tube back into her mouth far enough to get her to swallow water and egg. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm open to suggestions. My daughter asked why I am trying to save her....she had the will to survive the attack, she had the will to walk around and eat and drink with her whole backside gaping open. As long as she has the will to keep trying, I will too. If she lives and any of this helps someone save a pet, that's a good thing.

 

[x4livin]

Not only did this little hen live, but I just gathered 7 fertile eggs from her little nest. She still has a sore on the opposite hip(I believe it was from supporting all the weight there as the males were breeding her. I didn't think they were, and had never seen them show any interest in the one legged hobbling hen, until days ago, I saw a male just wool her around trying to breed her. I grabbed her up and stuck her in the greenhouse with the two little silkies. She is healing nicely on that hip, and shocked me when I just found 7 nice large eggs in her little nest in there. Her insides that I replaced after she was found under the cactus, are fully functional. I have several roosters, all but 2 are large. Out of the two that I could put in there safely with her as a mate, one is a silver laced cochen and one is a mighty mouse sized banty. The banty is a little showoff, and not really a lot like her personality(she is reserved and people friendly). I'm thinking I may let her keep the little cochen as a mate in there, and just let them have that greenhouse. The eggs were scattered in the nest and she hasn't been sitting them(they were cold), but I don't know that she wouldn't have sat them. I would like for her to have the opportunity to raise babies. How many eggs will a hen lay before she sits them? Will they sit any nest they get enough eggs in?

 

[Fancydutchess]

I am so happy that your little fighter pulled through and is doing well. I was looking on here for advice about a wound that one of my little darlings had and read your posts and saw the heartbreaking photos. When I got to the last post I had to go back to the others because I couldn't believe that the chicken in the photos was the one that pulled through! My heartbreak for you chicken turned to joy!!! My little golden buff has a 1x1.5 inch gaping wound where you can see the muscle that I discovered this evening. It is on her back but under her wing and she hasn't acted like anything was wrong, but I saw another chicken peck at her and that's when I saw it. After close examination, the wound is open but dry and I am not sure what to do. There had been some bleeding where she has apparently been pecked in the muscle or spurred by my rooster, however as I said, it is now dry. There is no seepage or oozing, no maggets... I've seen conflicting advice and was wondering if you had any? Again, I am so glad she is doing well!!

 

[x4livin]

Tractor supply sells a product to stop pecking. It is in a brown plastic bottle shaped like an elmers glue bottle. I have used this over scabbed areas on my chickens with great success. It is gooey, so wear gloves or be ready to scrub to get it off your hands. It is a nice colorful royal blue.

 

[puffin311]

Not only did this little hen live, but I just gathered 7 fertile eggs from her little nest. She still has a sore on the opposite hip(I believe it was from supporting all the weight there as the males were breeding her. I didn't think they were, and had never seen them show any interest in the one legged hobbling hen, until days ago, I saw a male just wool her around trying to breed her. I grabbed her up and stuck her in the greenhouse with the two little silkies. She is healing nicely on that hip, and shocked me when I just found 7 nice large eggs in her little nest in there. Her insides that I replaced after she was found under the cactus, are fully functional. I have several roosters, all but 2 are large. Out of the two that I could put in there safely with her as a mate, one is a silver laced cochen and one is a mighty mouse sized banty. The banty is a little showoff, and not really a lot like her personality(she is reserved and people friendly). I'm thinking I may let her keep the little cochen as a mate in there, and just let them have that greenhouse. The eggs were scattered in the nest and she hasn't been sitting them(they were cold), but I don't know that she wouldn't have sat them. I would like for her to have the opportunity to raise babies. How many eggs will a hen lay before she sits them? Will they sit any nest they get enough eggs in?

 

She is so lucky to have you. Chickens are such amazing resilient animals. Kudos to you.

 

[bribre]

Wow what a great story she's a fighter thets for sure. Do you have any updated pics of her?