Rooster attacked, severe neck injury (graphic image)

[MaxLevine]

Hello,

Today my rooster was attacked by a wild animal. He has a huge neck Injury, his face is swollen, one eye is bleeding, and he lost a lot of blood. I found him standing in the snow with his head lowered, not moving. He could have been this way for up to 2 hours, as we were not home.

I immediately called my in-laws who have some experience with birds and we cleaned up the wound very lightly. We bandaged the wound lightly, and I am now regretting it as part of a bandage is stuck to his feather near the wound.

The neck wound is bad. I can see inside his neck.

He's not eating or drinking. I'm syringe feeding him water with D3 and I'm getting a more supplemental nutrient tomorrow.


He seemingly wants to stay standing. I've seen him relax and sit twice. He seems to be in and out of consciousness. His head is repeatedly lowering to the ground as though he is sleeping while standing.

He can left his head. He can stand on his own. I've heard him make some normal sounds, but clearly he is in a lot of pain. I found him like this 8 hours ago.

I can handle the truth if he has no hope, but I've heard birds can recover from a lot. I just don't know how to help my guy recover. He's isolated in the basement now.

Any input would be very helpful. I am working towards building up their pen so this can't happen again.

 

[Barredrocker99]

I can’t offer much in terms of advice, but I’m rooting for him!

 

[Floof]

Does it look like he punctured his crop? You're going to want to keep the wound moist and bandage it as best you can. Clip back the feathers around the wound and slather it in antibiotic ointment like neosporin. Flush it daily with a saline solution (if you can't find saline, I've used cooled boiled water before with success) and then reapply neosporin and rewrap it.

 

[MaxLevine]

Thank you for your response. I don't know how to identify if he damaged his crop. As far as I know, he just is missing flesh and lost a lot of blood.


Any tips on how to keep the bandages from sticking to his feather? The blood seemed to scab onto his feathers and I'm having a hard time getting it off without hurting him. I know he's hanging on by a thread.

thanks again for the responses. I'm going to let him sleep as he seems to be stressed from me inspecting and cleaning his wound and bandage. I was going to wake him up to give him water every 30 minutes, but I think it may be more harm than good.

 

[Shezadandy]

Thank you for your response. I don't know how to identify if he damaged his crop. As far as I know, he just is missing flesh and lost a lot of blood.


Any tips on how to keep the bandages from sticking to his feather? The blood seemed to scab onto his feathers and I'm having a hard time getting it off without hurting him. I know he's hanging on by a thread.

thanks again for the responses. I'm going to let him sleep as he seems to be stressed from me inspecting and cleaning his wound and bandage. I was going to wake him up to give him water every 30 minutes, but I think it may be more harm than good.

Give him warm sugar water- if you have poultridrench too- add that in.

Cut the feathers - ANYTHING that overlaps with the wound, cut as close as you can to the base of the feather. ALSO - put antibiotic ointment - neosporin, triple antibiotic- whatever you have - and slather it on the wound. That will help the sticking issue too - and if you can pick up "non-stick" gauze pads (walmart is usually the cheapest), that along with some vetwrap will help.

Chickens are amazing at healing.

For a little hope, check this thread out ... just look at the first pictures - and then skip to the end. There is hope, especially if you can get past that first day or two.

I edited the links as it's a long confusing (in places) thread.

Hens skin on neck sliced wide open on fence | Page 14 | BackYard Chickens - Learn How to Raise Chickens

Hens skin on neck sliced wide open on fence | Page 27 | BackYard Chickens - Learn How to Raise Chickens

 

[Shezadandy]

Thank you for your response. I don't know how to identify if he damaged his crop. As far as I know, he just is missing flesh and lost a lot of blood.


Any tips on how to keep the bandages from sticking to his feather? The blood seemed to scab onto his feathers and I'm having a hard time getting it off without hurting him. I know he's hanging on by a thread.

thanks again for the responses. I'm going to let him sleep as he seems to be stressed from me inspecting and cleaning his wound and bandage. I was going to wake him up to give him water every 30 minutes, but I think it may be more harm than good.

Also- pick up a big ole box of Qtips, and a box of regular gauze. Cleaning up his head/comb/face isn't a giant priority - but sometimes the stress can lead to serum that will kinda glue their eyes shut. Moistened gauze (toilet paper won't hold together, paper towels are too rough in texture) to wipe around the eyes will help him open them back up.

If he gets to feeling better (fingers crossed) - use the Qtips dipped in warm water to get all the blood off his comb and off his face. Obviously don't further stress him to do it now- but removing the dried blood is good to ensure you're not missing an injury - makes him more comfortable - and also gets rid of that terrible blood smell.

 

[Hei 20]

Hello,

Today my rooster was attacked by a wild animal. He has a huge neck Injury, his face is swollen, one eye is bleeding, and he lost a lot of blood. I found him standing in the snow with his head lowered, not moving. He could have been this way for up to 2 hours, as we were not home.

I immediately called my in-laws who have some experience with birds and we cleaned up the wound very lightly. We bandaged the wound lightly, and I am now regretting it as part of a bandage is stuck to his feather near the wound.

The neck wound is bad. I can see inside his neck.

He's not eating or drinking. I'm syringe feeding him water with D3 and I'm getting a more supplemental nutrient tomorrow.


He seemingly wants to stay standing. I've seen him relax and sit twice. He seems to be in and out of consciousness. His head is repeatedly lowering to the ground as though he is sleeping while standing.

He can left his head. He can stand on his own. I've heard him make some normal sounds, but clearly he is in a lot of pain. I found him like this 8 hours ago.

I can handle the truth if he has no hope, but I've heard birds can recover from a lot. I just don't know how to help my guy recover. He's isolated in the basement now.

Any input would be very helpful. I am working towards building up their pen so this can't happen again.

I'm sorry!!! that was is horrible. I hope he heals soon.

 

[MaxLevine]

I just checked on him after giving him a night of rest and stillness. He's holding his head a little higher and took a few steps, as opposed to standing still. Seems like a tiny improvement.

He's refusing water through the syringe, so it's quite hard to keep him nourished. I don't know that he can see very well, or at all, right now. I dont think he could find food or water if I left it for him, he's still in too much shock and his face is too swollen for him to see very well. I rarely see his eyeballs. At first I thought one was gone, but it was so deep in his eye socket that it looked empty.

I'm going to start his eyes on a vetircyn wash to try to help keep them clean, but he has a few different wounds and it's hard to prioritize care without stressing him out too much.

His current wounds that I'm aware of are : huge gash on his neck (pictured above), his crop was cut and has a bit of dry blood all over it. Both eye sockets are very swollen, his right eye was dripping blood last night. I'm honestly trying to be a little hands off, to let him heal on his own, but I want to make sure I'm doing enough for him.

Thanks for all the feedback and positive wishes for him.

 

[Floof]

If his crop was cut then he probably needs a vet or to be culled. I've never heard of a bird with a punctured crop surviving.

 

[MaxLevine]

I do not believe his crop is punctured. It seems like that part of his anatomy is much lower than the wound.


I'm very concerned about his level of pain. I read aspirin helps when you stop the bleeding. He's not oozing blood, but his wound is far from closed. I'm not able to get him to a vet.

His pain is a major issue because it hurts him to open his beak. He's resisting drinking and sometimes I think opening his beak is forcing him into shock, which seems extremely dangerous.

Any help? I'm not in denial about this rooster, just I feel like several experienced people have told me he has a chance. I don't want to prolong his suffering if this is an impossible recovery.

I need to control his pain. Can't afford a vet.