Raccoon attack

[alyhughes8]

Hey everybody, so after having chickens successfully for 4 years with no predated attacks a raccoon finally figured out how to get into the coop. He killed 5 of my girls and injured one pretty badly ( I will attach pictures). I have isolated her from the rest of the flock and put her on my front porch. I know chickens can survive these things but I need to know since I have no experience with these type of injuries if this looks like it is healing? Does it look infected? It looks wet from the neosporin I have been putting on it. I also attached a picture of the anti-microbial spray I have been using. She does walk around and open her eyes.

How long do these injuries typically take to heal? I have daily been going out and washing her wound, applying neosporin, and antimicrobial chicken wound spray. This is day 8 after the attack. I have been syringe feeding her applesauce ( which she loves), nutridrench, and water. Please be kind this is my pet. TIA

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I usually use Vetericyn plus too, but I used Blue Kote a while back after I wasn't satisfied with length of time to heal and the Blue Kote worked like a charm! Possibly just changing products entirely is a good idea for you. So sorry for your loss, sounds horrible. I hate coons!

 

[alyhughes8]

I usually use Vetericyn plus too, but I used Blue Kote a while back after I wasn't satisfied with length of time to heal and the Blue Kote worked like a charm! Possibly just changing products entirely is a good idea for you. So sorry for your loss, sounds horrible. I hate coons!

Thank you! I will have to get some of that for her!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

It's funny, it turned a hot spot on my dog to a beautiful purple! It'll turn your chicken (just the wound,) purple! It really works though. Good luck!

 

[alyhughes8]

It's funny, it turned a hot spot on my dog to a beautiful purple! It'll turn your chicken (just the wound,) purple! It really works though. Good luck!

I apologize are you talking about vetercyn or blue kite?
And thank you!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I apologize are you talking about vetercyn or blue kite?
And thank you!

Blu Kote. It should be called "Purple Kote," I was just remembering when I used it last

 

[alyhughes8]

Blu Kote. It should be called "Purple Kote," I was just remembering when I used it last

Awesome! I'm going to pick done up tomorrow

 

[alinas2010]

Here's what you do in the event of a predator attack to treat the survivor.

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite, tear or puncture marks indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. Bacteria from the predator’s mouth can be injected deep into tissue and can kill in as little as 24 to 48 hours. You can order this https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/250mg once a day for ten days. Or you may be able to find this or something similar at TSC or a pet store.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

I keep these instructions handy from @azygous - it’s a wonderful step by step for wound care. To me the wound looks like you’ve been doing good. You’re taking the right steps by keeping it clean and not letting it dry out. I’ve used blu kote on wounds, too, especially to deter picking by flock members. But it can dry them out a little more and make large wounds hard to assess with all the purple, so use with that in mind.

I’m so sorry about the attack, but I’m glad your chicken that survived is starting to heal.