Raccoon attack

[Emrosy]

A raccoon attacked my ducks last night, it killed my big runner drake, and severely wounded my mallard female and mallard drake! It tore all of the females tale feathers and a large chunk of her flesh out! I cleaned it as best as I could but it looked like ground meat in there. The drake has a large 3” by 1” laceration under its left leg on its belly. I washed their wounds with clean water, sprayed them with wound spray and put them in a large dog crate in our house, with clean line chips and food and water! I am worried about these wounds, they seem really bad! We are new to this and I feel like I should call a vet. It’s Sunday so I can’t take them anywhere today!

 

[HeyHeyWW]

Where do you keep your ducks? Where do they sleep? How did the raccoon get into their coop (if you keep them in one)? Did you leave the coop door open or leave the entrance open?

One thing's for sure, the raccoon will come back for more. They always do. It's good that you cleaned the wounds. I'm not the best with wounds so I'm sure someone else will come over and help with that.

 

[50-45-1]

sorry for your poor ducks!
you may have to take them to the vet tomorrow morning if the wound are as deep and serious as you say.
what kind of would spray?
some of those sprays like bluecote are not meant to be used on serous open wounds, much to harsh. like pouring alcohol on an open injury.
i would use a cover cream like triple antibiotic, neosporin or bag balm. they will keep the flesh from drying out.
good luck!

 

[rosychicks19]

I used to work for a Vet sometimes they have emergency numbers you can call & they will call you back if you tell the service you would like to speak to one. My Vet has a website & one of the two of them is on call after hours & on weekends & you can email them through their website & they will answer you back this way you can send pics of their wounds. They can give you advice via either way. Just a suggestion we have lots of raccoons, opossums, coyotes & wild hogs in the woods behind our home so we dug a 2 foot deep trench around our pen & put the wire that deep in the ground to keep wild animals from digging under & getting to our chickens. In the meantime until you can contact a Vet I say keep them warm, wounds cleaned & google if their is any thing else you can do! Did you clean wounds with peroxide or just water? I would definitely use peroxide to clean wounds & as wide & deep as you so his wound is I would try to keep it covered for a few days to keep dirt out!

 

[Rammy]

 

[rosychicks19]

I agree with 50-45-1 I would clean with peroxide & apply Neosporin or another creamy or greasy triple antibiotic ointment.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry about your ducks. Keep spraying the wound spray and then use plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment twice a day until they heal. Watch for signs of infection (bad odor, redness, swelling) and for signs of internal injuries which may afffect their appetite. Hopefully some duck experts will chime in such as @Miss Lydia.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Very sorry about your loss and these with severe wounds. If you can get them to a vet today they can evaluate the seriousness and treat and give antibiotics and pain meds. How are they this morning?

 

[Emrosy]

Thank you for all your advice, we doctored them with all the things, kept them in the house so they were warm and hopefully not in to much pain. We took them to the vet she said their wounds were too extensive! Our poor drakes laceration was all the way to the stomach, and he wasn’t eating or drinking. And our sweet little Isabelle’s, backside was so torn to shreds l, bone exposed tail bone shattered, she said she would have to send her to an aviation specialist to try to put her back together. So we decided to let them go and end their suffering. They were snuggled up together in the end and my heart breaks for what they went through! The fencing was 1” X 2” so it just reached its hands in the gaps and grabbed ahold of them! Our pen is all boarded up in one end and I had thought if a predator attacked they would go to the safe end, Now I know if they are frantic they run around and it probably just chased and terrorized them. There were marks like it tried to dig under the area that’s all boarded up. I left the other end like a run so they could have good air flow, but they like to sleep in the open area, I think it snuck up in them while they were asleep. We reenforced everything with smaller gage fencing and set traps and locked the dog in the same area as the duck pen. Hopefully we will catch this culprit before he gets anymore ducks or chickens. Thank you for all the encouragement, we are very sad and my whole flock is so depressed now! I have watched this site for months now and I have learned so much. I’m sad this had to be my first post.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome, and I'm so sorry for your poor ducks.
Only hardware cloth is adequate to keep out predators, anything with larger openings will let weasels, rats, and raccoon hands in.
Many of us have learned the very hard way that we needed to upgrade our housing, and it's awful! I hope you are on it ASAP, because that varmit will be back, with more family members, until the coop is fixed.
Mary