rooster survided attack but injured

[ccusker]

Hi. Last night my chicken compound was attacked by a nasty predator. It killed my red comet through the fence and another bird is completely missing. My silkie rooster survived, but appears to have a broken/partially missing wing, and some flesh wounds on his back/chest. I originally thought he'd need to be put down, but after observing him, he's moving around enough where I can't even catch him, so I wanted to try to save him. My question is...if I move him to a small private coop, should I try to disinfect/dress his wounds? What should I use that won't sting? Flies are buzzing all around his wounds - I feel so bad! I don't want the blood to attract more predators...advice???

 

[Judy]

Chickens heal remarkably well. He may well do fine if there is no bone sticking through the skin. You will need to prevent flies from getting to the wounds, though. There is a product sold for horses (called Scat, I think??) that stops flies. Really, I'd put him in my bathtub til I got some. He'll need to be separated from the flock while healing because they will peck his wounds.

Wound care is nothing special for chickens, just clean them with something mild and use a little Neosporin, whatever you do for your family is fine. Well, there is one difference: don't put anything on him that has a "caine" drug in it, such as benzocaine, cetacaine, etc. You can actually kill a chicken with these drugs.

 

[polenslager]

They make a spray you can use for the wounds.. to keep the flies off, there is a cream as well. swat and catron are the names I believe.
You dont want the flies to lay eggs, you get maggots.. it is so bad..

we had that happen to a hen, got attacked.. we could not catch her and there was no obvious wounds.. feathers covered up
the cuts. So we thought oh she is fine.. a few days rest.. dumb on our part.

We could not save her and it was the worst thing I have ever seen.

There was a great site I found.. I cant find the exact link.. but it was called wound treatment for poultry by nathalie ross..
lots of good info there on what to do, what to have in your first aid kit for chickens..