- Jul 4, 2012
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Hi all,
I'm new here (sad to be joining under such circumstances). We have 6 hens, and last night, a raccoon got into their coop. I chased the raccoon away when I heard the hens shrieking (2 AM), fixed the gap where the raccoon had gotten in, and thought everything was OK.
This morning, it was clear that my Barred Rock girl had been the one who was attacked based on the feathers that were everywhere. I went to check on her more thoroughly than I had been able to do in the dark last night, and she seems OK, but is definitely wheezing. There's an area where she was bitten on her left wing, but it didn't break the skin. She also has a large number of feathers missing from her belly area, but again, no visible wounds. I saw her drink water, and I gave her some egg to eat, but am wondering if there's anything else I should be doing. With no obvious wounds to clean and no obvious breaks in her bones, I'm feeling like it's just a waiting game to see if there are internal injuries. But, with her wheezing, I'm hoping to hear from you guys whether there are any other recommended courses of treatment (and what you think is likely causing the wheezing-- is there a hidden break somewhere? Have her lungs been injured? Or, do stressed out hens sometimes just start wheezing?)
I'm confident that the wheezing is from the attack and not from anything else, since she was totally fine and breathing normally today.
Any help would be very much appreciated!
Jess
I'm new here (sad to be joining under such circumstances). We have 6 hens, and last night, a raccoon got into their coop. I chased the raccoon away when I heard the hens shrieking (2 AM), fixed the gap where the raccoon had gotten in, and thought everything was OK.
This morning, it was clear that my Barred Rock girl had been the one who was attacked based on the feathers that were everywhere. I went to check on her more thoroughly than I had been able to do in the dark last night, and she seems OK, but is definitely wheezing. There's an area where she was bitten on her left wing, but it didn't break the skin. She also has a large number of feathers missing from her belly area, but again, no visible wounds. I saw her drink water, and I gave her some egg to eat, but am wondering if there's anything else I should be doing. With no obvious wounds to clean and no obvious breaks in her bones, I'm feeling like it's just a waiting game to see if there are internal injuries. But, with her wheezing, I'm hoping to hear from you guys whether there are any other recommended courses of treatment (and what you think is likely causing the wheezing-- is there a hidden break somewhere? Have her lungs been injured? Or, do stressed out hens sometimes just start wheezing?)
I'm confident that the wheezing is from the attack and not from anything else, since she was totally fine and breathing normally today.
Any help would be very much appreciated!
Jess
