Red Tail Hawk just got our FiFi!! UPDATED

[Wooden_Pony]

Just got back from vacation. We let the girls out for an evening romp since we have been gone for almost a week!

I went to the store.

My oldest (Candice) was outside working on homework and keeping an eye on the girls. She ran into the house to grab the ringing phone and a hawk came down and grabbed our poor FiFi!!!

She heard FiFi screaming and ran outside to see what was wrong and the hawk was sitting on top of her!!! Candice then made a MAD dash at the hawk who let her go and flew up into one of our olive trees.

About that time I came home Candice's is in tears because she can not find the other hens and FiFi has gone behind our shed and she can not get her out.

We collect them all up and I brought FiFi inside to check her out.

She has a scratch under her wing BUT I am worried about a hole in her chest. I washed in with warm water and she is now in a storage bin covered with a towel inside our pups crate sleeping. She has a bowl of water she has not touched it yet.

Should I just let her be for right now?

She does not seem to be bleeding bad she is just asleep.

Any help I sure would apperciate!!
Lisa

 

[tiffanyh]

Keep her in a warm, quiet place, perferably inside alone. That will help with stress and shock. (And maggots if it is still warm there)

If you can wash it out with saline, that would be helpful. Becareful putting ointment on it now, as you can create a second skin that would hold in any "ooze" and create a pocket of infection. Seeping of the wound can be good early on to keep bacteria moving out.

Keep her hydrated and eating well. Yogurt, tomatos, things that are good and juiciy will provide nutrients and hydrate her at the same time. You can do aspirin, I did 1 pill in a gallon of water, sometime more when my chicken broke her leg and got an horrible infection in it.

So keep in clean and keep her heatlhy and moving along and hopefully she will bounce back. Chickens can be quite resilient.

Good Luck. Tiffany (CVT)

 

[Wooden_Pony]

Thanks Tiffany for the advice!!

She is inside in our Family Room it is dark and warm in there. She is not complaining about being alone. I was thinking about making some Saline Solution I have Sea Salt here so I will work on that I also found a medicine syringe so I will be able to get the hole nice and clean using that.

It is not to warm tonight was cold and windy. We have had some rain last night so I wanted to keep her out of the damp run.


I will see if I can get her to eat or drink something....

 

[Lunachick]

Oh! I hope it works out for Fifi. Let us know.

 

[Wooden_Pony]

I will!!

She just ate some fresh pomegranate seeds. Of course she will do anything for my middle child those two have a bond with eachother!!!

 

[justusnak]

Oh no! I sure hope she will be ok....BAD HAWKS! UGH! keep us posted.

 

[SpottedCrow]

I think I would've needed new undies, myself...
So glad that FiFi's eating.
Just keep her warm and quiet and please keep us updated.

 

[Wolfpacker]

Hang in there! Go Fifi!

 

[Wooden_Pony]

OK update....

FiFi has now spent two days in her staorage bin she is eating well and drinking plenty on her own. She happily clucks when she see us but she spends most of her day sleeping or just sitting.

She seems to be favoring on leg she will put weight on it but holds it up alot when she decides to stay up or when the kids take her out to feed her pomegranate seeds or grapes. The hole is looking good I flush in eveyother day with a warm sea salt solution.

She does not call for the other hens and seems perfectly content with her situation in our Family Room. Should I be worried about this?

I keep wondering if maybe her body is sore from the attack, you know kind of like the days following a car accident?

My DH keeps telling me that she is taking advantage of us and this is where she would spend the rest of her life if she had a choice. Of course he is only half joking because I do think FiFi would move in if we let her!!

So for now she will stay where she is at on the Family Room floor in her storage bin. I even take the towel off during the day and she just sits in there mumbling even though she could easily get out of the box......

 

[tiffanyh]

Just a side note on chicken wounds....I learned from dlunicorn, my experience and some research.

I took my chicken to work (vet hosp) to have one of the DR. check out her broken leg that was not getting better. He though it may have abcessed....after two weeks on strong AB, she was no better. Come to find out, chicken abcesses from wounds have hard puss...they have to be excised (which isnt to hard to do) to heal properly. Just a thought to keep an eye on that wound, an abcess swelling will drain very little on a chicken and get swollen and hard.

Glad to hear she is feeling better!

Tiffany