The other night (Tuesday night) we had some raccoons get at our meat chickens. Four were taken, two more were beyond help and put to sleep, and two were considered curable by my father and I. They are both Cornish X meat birds, about four pounds and 7-8 weeks old. They are eating and drinking, moving around about as much as this breed does; they don't seem to be overly pale or lethargic. They are drinking plain water and eating meat grower feed from Farm & Fleet. Both have passed normal droppings and sound normal. When the attack happened they were in a grass enclosure we had recently moved them to, so there were few droppings to infect wounds. We are hoping to eat these birds, so any treatments must be safe for food animals. The injuries are:
Bird 1
Quarter sized patch of skin missing just below and to the left of the point of the breastbone, about an inch below the vent. Bled quite a bit, now is scabbed over and appears to be healing. Patch of skin missing on right drumstick, no damage to the meat, just missing skin. I have this bandaged with gauze to keep it clean. I am concerned that the wound will get dirt/feathers imbedded because these birds spend so much time on the ground. I have cleaned both wounds with isopropyl alcohol (I couldn't find my hydrogen peroxide) after soap and water baths. This bird also has a dislocated wing joint on her left wing, the one in relation to our elbow. From my inspection, there is blood pooled under the skin right at that joint. No treatment for this as I don't know what to do. It doesn't seem to be giving her any problems so far. I'm beginning to think that she is beyond help. We can butcher her right now, but I was hoping to wait until she got a bit bigger.
Bird 2
This one was lucky. She got her toe bitten, through the fence, and the tip is broken. There is just one cut diagonally across the tip of the toe about 1/2 cm below the toenail, and it is broken. I cleaned the cut as best I could, similarly to all the wounds on Bird 1, and I have it taped for stability (my father knows all about broken/dislocated fingers from playing ball, so this was his recommendation).
Both these birds are separated from the rest of the flock. What should I do? I haven't treated chickens for anything before besides overheating, so I don't know what to do. Any advice?
Bird 1
Quarter sized patch of skin missing just below and to the left of the point of the breastbone, about an inch below the vent. Bled quite a bit, now is scabbed over and appears to be healing. Patch of skin missing on right drumstick, no damage to the meat, just missing skin. I have this bandaged with gauze to keep it clean. I am concerned that the wound will get dirt/feathers imbedded because these birds spend so much time on the ground. I have cleaned both wounds with isopropyl alcohol (I couldn't find my hydrogen peroxide) after soap and water baths. This bird also has a dislocated wing joint on her left wing, the one in relation to our elbow. From my inspection, there is blood pooled under the skin right at that joint. No treatment for this as I don't know what to do. It doesn't seem to be giving her any problems so far. I'm beginning to think that she is beyond help. We can butcher her right now, but I was hoping to wait until she got a bit bigger.
Bird 2
This one was lucky. She got her toe bitten, through the fence, and the tip is broken. There is just one cut diagonally across the tip of the toe about 1/2 cm below the toenail, and it is broken. I cleaned the cut as best I could, similarly to all the wounds on Bird 1, and I have it taped for stability (my father knows all about broken/dislocated fingers from playing ball, so this was his recommendation).
Both these birds are separated from the rest of the flock. What should I do? I haven't treated chickens for anything before besides overheating, so I don't know what to do. Any advice?
