Rooster and hen HIT BY CAR

[hollabelle]

My rooster and one hen did not come up this evening for their meal so I went looking for them. The hen I found lying 8ft from the road against our flower border. Her blood was on the white line and her insides were hanging out of her but she was still alive, so I gently lifted her and carried her to by husband and begged him to put her down, she was bleeding from the area and breathing really raspy, her life was ended quickly while I went in search of my rooster, I found his feathers all up and down the round but no sign of him anywhere. I finally got a flashlight and found him up under the porch, in the very back corner, still alive. After getting him out I am hopeful he will live, his beak is broken, wattle comb and eye lid and head a little skinned up, he is limping and has some road rash on his legs but what worries me is his skin has been torn up on the underside of his tail. I took him and put him in his coop with his girls after giving him some cuddles and he was talking to them and very upset he could not get up on his roost. I will try and get some pictures tomorrow, but I need to know what to put on his wounds, I have red kote for my horses and thought that would work well but have no idea. Heres to hoping he lives through the night and heals quickly.

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm sorry that this happened to your birds.

This is what I would do for your rooster (if you haven't already):

• Isolate him away from any other chickens; they will only stress him out and possibly further injure him.
• Clean his wounds with warm, soapy water.
• Apply some antibiotic ointment with no cain/caine ingredients to the wounds and/or apply a wound spray. I assume redcoat would work, but have no experience with it.
• Put some poultry vitamins (I use some called sav-a-chic) in his water, if possible. He needs to regain his strength.
• Try to get him to eat something. Offer treats like scrambled eggs, moistened feed, bread, etc. How badly broken is his beak? If it is severely broken, he will most likely have trouble eating and may need to be tube fed or fed extremely soft foods until if/when it heals.
• If he seems to be in a lot of pain, crush/dissolve 1/2 tablet of aspirin in water and get him to drink all of it.

Other than that, I would just keep an eye on him. Watch for signs of infection, and if necessary, treat with antibiotics. But chickens have a remarkable ability to heal, so I wouldn't worry too much about him; unless he has bad internal injuries, he should heal if given time. Good luck with him!

 

[hollabelle]

He is in his coop with his hens tonight, I just checked on him and he is resting comfortably, It looks like just the very tip but I wanted to get him to where he is comfortable before messing with him too much, I assume he flew up into the car or he would be worse off, more like the hen, I hope I did the right thing with her, it broke my heart to see her suffer and not know how long she had been laying there, she cuddle up to me and was chirping softly with her eyes closed and I just couldn't do it myself, I raised this flock from hatchlings and unfortunately she was my best layer, Pot Pie will be greatly missed, she talked the most and would follow you around all the time. Big Man will sleep with his girls tonight and I'll see how he is in the daylight, I know it will stress him to be away from his girls, but if they mess with him I'll separate. He is pretty big and hopefully he will let me clean and spray everything tomorrow.

 

[memphis]

So sorry about what happened. Hopefully he'll recover. Keep us posted.

 

[dawg53]

I agree with BantamLover21 as far as treatment goes. You are correct, your rooster should be with his hens...less stress on him. You'll have to do your best treating his injuries in the presence of the hens, it should calm him somewhat. I recommend feeding him scrambled eggs mixed with buttermilk for several days. Scrambled eggs provide extra protein to help build his strength. Buttermilk is a probiotic that is easier absorbed than yogurt and coats the digestive tract. It will also help build up his immune system. The important thing is to get him eating/drinking. I think your first 48 hours will define whether he makes it or not...bar internal injuries.
One other thing: You didnt mention the circumstances how they managed to get in the road...it might be best to keep your birds in their pen/run and ensure that there's no way for them to escape.

 

[WhiteLeghorn2]

My rooster and one hen did not come up this evening for their meal so I went looking for them. The hen I found lying 8ft from the road against our flower border. Her blood was on the white line and her insides were hanging out of her but she was still alive, so I gently lifted her and carried her to by husband and begged him to put her down, she was bleeding from the area and breathing really raspy, her life was ended quickly while I went in search of my rooster, I found his feathers all up and down the round but no sign of him anywhere. I finally got a flashlight and found him up under the porch, in the very back corner, still alive. After getting him out I am hopeful he will live, his beak is broken, wattle comb and eye lid and head a little skinned up, he is limping and has some road rash on his legs but what worries me is his skin has been torn up on the underside of his tail. I took him and put him in his coop with his girls after giving him some cuddles and he was talking to them and very upset he could not get up on his roost. I will try and get some pictures tomorrow, but I need to know what to put on his wounds, I have red kote for my horses and thought that would work well but have no idea. Heres to hoping he lives through the night and heals quickly.

I do not have any advice, but I am very sorry for what happened to you.

I think you need to make sure your chickens don't go on to the road, but what idiot would just simply run them over and keep going?

Anyway,
I wish your rooster the best. Good luck!

 

[hollabelle]

They have a 16' by 10' pen but they love to come out, they usually dont go in the road and I dont think they were really in the road, the hens blood is just outside the whiteline so they would have had to run off the road to hit her, the speed limit is only 35 and its straight but nobody seems to be able to drive the speed limit, i'm talking with the deputies about doing speed traps now, our building only sits 16' from the road so they really need to slow down, this morning Big man is up but can't get out of the coop (he is limping bad and the ramp is steep), Noodle and Nugget are hanging out with him, and swapping with clux and chicken little. He is alert and talking but wont come to me and I dont know if he will eat or not, getting ready to scramble him an egg and fill the small waterer to put in with him but I would rather he come out, I cant get in to him (poor design next coop will be a walk in) eventually they will be moved to the farm where they will have 50 acres and be much farther from the road.

 

[WhiteLeghorn2]

They have a 16' by 10' pen but they love to come out, they usually dont go in the road and I dont think they were really in the road, the hens blood is just outside the whiteline so they would have had to run off the road to hit her, the speed limit is only 35 and its straight but nobody seems to be able to drive the speed limit, i'm talking with the deputies about doing speed traps now, our building only sits 16' from the road so they really need to slow down, this morning Big man is up but can't get out of the coop (he is limping bad and the ramp is steep), Noodle and Nugget are hanging out with him, and swapping with clux and chicken little. He is alert and talking but wont come to me and I dont know if he will eat or not, getting ready to scramble him an egg and fill the small waterer to put in with him but I would rather he come out, I cant get in to him (poor design next coop will be a walk in) eventually they will be moved to the farm where they will have 50 acres and be much farther from the road.

Sounds to me like somebody intentionally ran them over.

That's messed up. Anyway, you seem to be taking great care of your chickens and I really hope he makes it. Also, I completely agree with dawg63 that you should feed him scrambled eggs to help him regain strength, which I believe you said you are doing. I'm one of those people who gets attached to birds, and I hate to see this kinda thing happen even when they aren't my birds. Good luck!

 

[realsis]

I think you got some great advice here I just wanted to chime in and let you know how very sorry I am that this happened!! Some people have no respect for life an animals and just run them over. This makes me so sick!! People can be so unfeeling and cruel not taking under consideration that the animal is someone's pet. It just breaks my heart! I have a great love and respect for all animals and it greatly up sets me when people intentionally hurt them and run them over. !! It makes me so angry that this happened!! It's since less cruelty. ..im truely sorry..... my prayer is that your boy will heal and be alright. Sounds like you got some great advice on how to help him. I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am about the loss of your hen and to let you know I'm praying for your rooster. I hope he recovers soon. Again im so sorry someone would be so cruel as to run them over!!! Hopefully he will heal up nicely and you can move foward in a positive direction! Best wishes and God bless.

 

[hollabelle]

I got some pics but they are hard to see, The first is him in his coop, then his legs one is banged alittle but the other is the one he doesnt put much weight on, next is under his tail, his vent seems to be fine it is next to it, and his poor face, only got the tip of his beak and skinned his eye lid and head and comb.