Recovery from Coyote attack

[sharrielee]

Hello: Thanks for your note and valuable advice.

I need a new bottle of nutridrench--will get that today, thanks. Along with scrambled egg bits. We gave her some yogurt via syringe.

No visible puncture wounds, We've separated her--a mid-sized dog kennel crate, placed in the coop, and near-ish to a heater--temps here now dipping into freezing.

Does appear to have passed some droppings--cleaned the kennel.

On others' advice, gave a few drops of children's motrin, and I have some tetracycline powder. Mixed a batch of that for the water, and also gave a few drops directly, via syringe.

She seems ok, rhythmic opening and closing continues, and there is an audible wheeze or whistle on inhale/exhale.

Will hold off on the wrapping for now, and provide another update tomorrow, or if things change. Thanks again.

Just had a coyote attack hen tonight half of her wing is gone and some skin on her back. All I had was blukote. What can I give her for pain? I will try to clean her up more tomorrow and get a better look.

 

[Eggcessive]

@sharrielee Do you have any pictures to share? Has there been any bleeding? Aspirin 1/2 of an 81 mg tablet twice a day may be used for up to 3 days, if bleeding is not a problem. I would use plain Neosporin or triple antibiotic on her wounds twice a day. BluKote is more for minor wounds and it stings. Wounds can be cleaned with Equate First Aid Disinfectant (generic 10% Betadine.) Infection can be a risk with a broken bone. You could start a new thread of your own so we don’t get confused about which chicken we are helping with.

 

[sharrielee]

Well it's so hard to tell now that I sprayed with blukote but that is what I had last night. Today I tried to trim away some of the feathers to see, I can tell it hurts. I cleaned with betadine /water solution with a 4x4 pad just dabbing lightly. Coyote too a chunk out of her wing for sure. I can't see any bone but again hard to tell with the blukote. Left side of her face is a bit swollen but I think it will be ok. I sprayed with vetracyn then put Neosporin all over. She was was up and making noise today, I think she will be ok as long as no Infection. I think I will leave it be tomorrow and clean again the next day.

 

[Eggcessive]

Pictures could help us to give suggestions. Let us know how she is getting along.

 

[Oliver_Douglas]

Looking at the calendar, it's been about one month since our Campine, Shaggy, was attacked. And because of the holidays, it's been a couple weeks since I posted an update.

The update is a good one, the final one for this thread, with a happy ending. Shaggy has fully rejoined the flock. And on Christmas day, about 3 weeks after the attack, she resumed laying. Not frequently, but enough to indicate her health has returned. She has a fairly good, although not full, range of motion on the wing that was broken,and if you weren't aware it had been injured, you probably wouldn't know at at glance.

We've had unseasonably warm weather this 'winter' so far, and that was a Godsend, I believe, in her recovery, because it allowed for them to be outside and free range much of the day--supervised by yours truly, under an umbrella, with a cold drink, pretending it's summer , and refusing to even think about the ice storms, which, knowing Texas weather, will be here in just a few weeks.

I have only a few years experience, with a tiny flock, but I've come to see these birds as both frail and resilient. In past experience, when one has gone down, due to sickness or injury, we've done everything we can for them. And the heart-breaker is that in most, almost all cases to date, it hasn't worked, and we lost them soon after.

But this time, I'm going to claim victory, resiliency has trumped frailty, and it's very rewarding. As I write this--yes, not kidding, under an umbrella, under sunny skies, with a cold drink--Shaggy and the small flock are nearby, in a cloud of dust (bath), in the raised-bed planters that are vacant for the winter.

If she runs, I do see afterward a very small amount of the open mouth breathing, but she returns to normal within a couple minutes. The vet said that if the lungs were damaged, they would eventually heal over a period of weeks--and to think, with all seriousness, that only a couple weeks ago I had sketched out a plan and where to get the equipment, for making a chicken oxygen chamber. First world challenges...

We suspended the antibiotics and pain meds after about 10 days of treatment--mostly because it was a full-on battle royale to catch her, which risked aggravating the wing injury, and to get them down her throat with a syringe, all while avoiding aspiration.

So it's a victory, a life prolonged, to begin this new year.

Cheers, Y'all and Happy New Year, to you all your fine feathered friends!

Just wanted add on to this: It's been 60 days since the coyote attacked. I'm adding this, to share that the once-broken wing has now regained almost full motion. Amazing.

We keep them in the coop at night. Sometimes, if we're late putting them up, they go into the barn (not the coop) on their own, and fly up and roost on the rafters--that's about 10 feet off the ground.

Last week, I was late, went to put them up, and Shaggy was already roosting up on the rafter--she had to have flown up there on her own. Watched her close the next morning. She flew down, no problem, and when she does that kind of 'stretch' they do--flapping wings in the morning, for example--the left is almost indistinguishable from the motion of the right. Amazing.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thanks for the update, and so glad to hear that she is doing so well.