Raccoon ate wing of chicken

[got chickens]

I have chickens. I live in California in residential area. I wanted to join the forum because I need help.

Last night a raccoon got one of my chickens. The chickens were locked up. My cage is metal and bar like thus it does have small openings. Anyway, the raccoon managed to pull my chicken's wing out of the small opening in the bars and ATE THE WING COMPLETELY BARE. All that is left is the bone just hanging there. Amazingly, the chicken seems ok (other than no wing and bare bone hanging..yuck). She came out of the cage walking and ate right away and drank. Laid an egg as well.

I'm wondering what to do now. I can't just leave the bone hanging there. Can we cut off the bone at a logical spot? Is it a matter of just cutting it with some kind of clippers? I don't want to hurt it more. Is there feeling still in the bone?

I assume the chicken can still live with one wing assuming it doesn't get infected. Obviously, the wing is not going to grow back. Assuming the chicken stays healthy, I need to do something about the bone protruding out and hanging there.

Any ideas?? Anyone run into something like this?

 

[welasharon]

If there is no meat on the bone it needs to be cut off. You need to wrap the bottom two feet of the cage with hardware cloth to keep them from pulling the chickens' parts through. Good luck! Probably would be a good idea if you could get some antibiotics to prevent infection. Soaking it it warm epsom salts should help too but wait till it isn't bleeding any more.
sharon

 

[NovaAman]

i'd find an exotic bird vet, or any vet that would see her, and get her squared away there.

Good luck!

And WELCOME TO BYC!

 

[tinydancer87]

I had a baby chick that a cat ate the wing off of, the bone was exposed. Luckily there was a vet in my area that agreed to see the chick, he clipped the bone, folded some skin over it and put in a staple (bc bone must be covered with skin). Then he gave it what I assume was a penicillin injection. The chick lived, grew up to be a healthy one-winged hen.

 

[Chicken_Pauper]

I really would suggest a Vet on this one. Call around and find a livestock - avian veterinarian. I would not attempt an amputation myself, but maybe someone else has had to do this in a similar circumstance?
Unless you just want to cull the bird and be done with it.

I have seen a bantam chicken, attacked by a hawk, the (one) breast entirely eaten, the chest laid open... visible internal organs (heart and lung) through the chest... and with some TLC (heat, isolation, antibiotics, good food) and Blu Kote Spray it got better, lived, still lives without one breast.

If there are any traces of skin left..... it might grow back skin to cover the bone? Preventing infection and promoting healing would be key. I would isolate the bird and know that the predator will come back to finish the job or get another meal... it knows where the caged dinner is now.

I am sure that someone with more knowledge can input more and better advice.

Good luck.

 

[RHRanch]

You would have to cut it, and yes, there is feeling in the bones. Sorry.

I have a bird that had a bobcat pull its wing off a couple of nights ago. It is also doing okay, but I didn't have to cut any bones off, though there is a needle thin shard I will have to cut. We were talking about getting new and very sharp tinsnips, to cut off the thin piece. The problem that you could have is introducing bacteria into the cut bone (gangrene could set in). We are going to boil the tool we use for cutting. The next problem is not shattering the shaft of the bone with the force of the cutting tool. It could happen. If its a lot of bone, I might just put her down and spare it the suffering, but its up to you.

If you haven't already, get your bird on antibiotics, inject-able is probably best.

 

[CMV]

You are going to need to amputate the wing at the nearest point where there is still blood flow. I assume you eat chicken, so you know the anatomy of a wing? You are going to need to remove as much of the damaged area as possible, preferably at a joint. You are also going to need to do it ASAP. Stress is often more damaging to birds than the actual injury, so get on it quickly before she succumbs to the stress of the injury. This is not going to be easy for anyone involved, so you need to ask yourself at this point: Is it worth it? She is going to be isolated for some time recovering from this. Isolation for a flock animal is a particularly cruel punishment. If she has sentimental or monetary value then I can see performing an amputation, but if you have no particular regard for this bird then it would be better to cull her and be done with it. Cutting into a live bird, especially doing what equates to orthopedic surgery without anesthesia, is a rather daunting task. You are going to need a lot of fortitude to take on that.

 

[got chickens]

I figured it would be something very difficult to do. I was thinking maybe a vet could do it, but I don't want to spend a lot of money. I was asking for information since the chicken didn't seem to be stressed about it and maybe there was a possibility that it could live.

 

[CMV]

She could live. You need to ask yourself if you are ready to do what it takes to make that happen. She is going to need major surgery, an antibiotic regimen, dressing changes for at least 7 days (if there are no complications), and isolation for about 3-4 weeks if all goes well. Then (if all goes really optimistically well) you need to deal with reintegration... You are looking at a big time/resource/monetary investment. And there is no guarantee that she will survive any of this. How much can you invest? We'd all love to invest all that is possible into our birds, but that is rarely feasible.

 

[delvallechickens]

I had a baby chick that a cat ate the wing off . I want to know if there is anything I can do because there isn't any vet near me. I'm not sure if any bone is exposed but it still tries to stand up to eat and tries to walk. And it also opens its eyes as nothing happens but it still closes its eyes most of the time and it happened yesterday so it survived throughout the night.