Severely Injured Hen!! Please Help!!

[farmer4363eo]

Last night I forgot about the time change so it was already dark when I went out, two of my hens were still outside and they followed me to the coop when I called. After I counted them and the rest inside I noticed one was still missing. I found her under our patio where I had found the other two although they were unharmed. I believe it to be a raccoon that attacked her as we’ve had a problem with them but usually they come some time after dark and this wasn’t long after.

She has three separate wounds, a smaller one on the neck, the large one on its back and another small one down further on her back. She has been isolated from the other hens and survived the night. She has been eagerly drinking, poop is normal and to my knowledge has been eating. She is walking and got up normally with a slight wobble. The wound isn’t as deep as it looks in last night’s photos

 

[Eggcessive]

Poor thing. I would set a trap for the raccoons every night , and make sure that you hens are put up earlier. Do you have any disinfectant such as chlorhexidene or Hibiclens? Betadine works as well. Clean the wound initially. Then switch to saline—2 tsp of table salt in 1 quart of water, and rinse her wounds twice a day. A spray bottle works well. Dry it and cut away any feather in the wound. Then apply plain Neosporin or similar antibiotic ointment to keep it from drying out twice a day. Her wounds are close to where the lungs are located in the upper back, so watch for any respiratory issue. Hopefully, she will recover in a few weeks. In the meantime, keep her separated in a dog crate with food and water, making sure that she eats and drinks. Cooked egg, watery chicken feed are good.

 

[farmer4363eo]

Poor thing. I would set a trap for the raccoons every night , and make sure that you hens are put up earlier. Do you have any disinfectant such as chlorhexidene or Hibiclens? Betadine works as well. Clean the wound initially. The switch to saline—2 tsp of table salt in 1 quart of water, and rinse her wounds twice a day. A spray bottle works well. Dry it and cut away any feather in the wound. Then apply plain Neosporin or similar antibiotic ointment to keep it from drying out twice a day. Her wounds are close to where the lungs are located in the upper back, so watch for any respiratory issue. Hopefully, she will recover in a few weeks. In the meantime, keep her separated in a dog crate with food and water, making sure that she eats and drinks. Cooked egg, watery chicken feed are good.

No unfortunately I do not have any disinfectants on hand or currently available

 

[Stipenvlerk]

@sourland @Wyorp Rock do you have time to assist?

You did the right thing by separating her. Good to hear she is eating! poor thing!

Did you clean the wound? If not, you should try to clean it as good as possible. Be very alert on signs of infection as there is a high possibility this will happen. I would put Betadine (iodine ointment) on the wounds if it was my chicken.

Did you check if all the wounds have stopped bleeding?
Good to hear the wound is not as deep as it looks, the pictures look quite gruesome
I'll add a recent tread about a goose-raccoon encounter maybe the information overthere will help too!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/raccoon-attacked-goose.1603775/#post-27297417

 

[sourland]

@sourland @Wyorp Rock do you have time to assist?

You did the right thing by separating her. Good to hear she is eating! poor thing!

At an initial look, that wound is sort of horrific. My gut reaction was that she should be euthanized. If it is not as bad as the picture looks, and if she is eating, I'd keep her safe from fly strike, separated from the flock, and slathered with antibiotic ointment. Good luck.

 

[farmer4363eo]

At an initial look, that wound is sort of horrific. My gut reaction was that she should be euthanized. If it is not as bad as the picture looks, and if she is eating, I'd keep her safe from fly strike, separated from the flock, and slathered with antibiotic ointment. Good luck

At an initial look, that wound is sort of horrific. My gut reaction was that she should be euthanized. If it is not as bad as the picture looks, and if she is eating, I'd keep her safe from fly strike, separated from the flock, and slathered with antibiotic ointment. Good luck.

Unfortunately I do not have any antibiotics on hand are there any natural remedies that could help?

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

My best guess of what to do here is to clean the wound and bandage it. Rap her middle part of the of bandage material. I forget what it is called. Make sure to keep a close eye on her. Hopefully she will be okay.
Stupid raccoons!

 

[coach723]

If you have no disinfectants or other supplies available, I would clean/flush the wounds well with sterile saline, if you have salt and water you can make your own.
If you have city tap water you can use that from the tap, if you have well water you will need to boil it (I usually boil it either way, to be sure).
4 cups of water and 2 tsp of table salt. Boil the water for 10 minutes, let it cool, mix in the salt until its dissolved, pour into a clean jar. If using well water, boil it for 10 minutes, let it cool, then boil again for 10 minutes.
If you don't have any ointments you can use honey on the wounds (manuka is best) or vaseline (make sure it's clean, a new container would be best and don't contaminate it).
Keeping the wound covered with one of those to keep it moist will help with healing. Due to the size of the wounds, I would lean towards the vaseline rather than the honey for those.
Any plain triple antibiotic ointment that you can get at any pharmacy or box store (walmart) in the first aid section, generic or brand name doesn't matter, not very expensive, that would be best to use. I would not bandage the wounds, I would leave them open to the air, but keep them covered in the ointment, reapply as needed. I would crate her or keep her someplace warm with no loose bedding to get stuck in wounds, so they stay clean. You can use old bath towels and swap them out as needed, or puppy pads if you have them. I use bath towels all the time, can be washed and reused over and over.
Having said all that, the wound on the back looks pretty severe, if you notice any breathing issues at all I would suspect lung damage, and for that I would euthanize rather than let her suffer. Good luck, I hope it's not as bad as it looks in the pictures, and she can recover.

 

[Eggcessive]

No unfortunately I do not have any disinfectants on hand or currently available

Use saline to clean the wounds. Recipes are in post 2 and 8. It would be great if you can go out and get some antibiotic ointment to use twice daily after cleaning.

 

[WoDia]

I had a favorite bantam hen attacked by a neighbors dog. It ripped her tail nub and a lot of surrounding skin nearly off. I flushed it with saline, packed it with antibiotics, and wrapped it to hold it together. That sweet teeny hen looked like a mummy. I kept her warm in a kennel inside in my utility room for a few weeks. I changed bandages 3 times a day (every time ensuring that the skin was kept in place), flushed it when needed, and packed it with antibiotics every single time. She amazingly made a full recovery and lived to be 10 years old. Sending good wishes for her full recovery.