NerdieBirdie
Hatching
Hello all! My name's Michelle and while my account to BYC is new, I've found this website indispensable over the past year of chicken raising! We finally have a unique situation that hasn't been covered in another post (that I could find).
Here's the short story:
We had a fox get into the coop and clear out all but one of our chickens. The lone survivor of the attack, Barb (~5 mo old), took a beating and lost an eye. After weeks of care, she's recovered very well! But I'm concerned about her injured eye. A few friends have suggested either stitching or gluing her eye shut to ensure it doesn't get infected or the other chickens don't peck at it. We are fairly new to the whole chicken thing and this is the first real injury we've had to care for. With how well she's been healing, I've been trying to keep medical care to just what's needed. The night after the initial attack I cleaned up the dried blood, rinsed with saline and applied Neosporin for the first few days (thanks to the other forum posts for the general injury care advice!). By day 2, she finally opened her other eye and was eating and drinking on her own again. Once her head swelling and bruising went down, I saw that she could actually open the injured eye. Should I close up her injured eye or just leave it? Also, her neck has had a bit of a bend to it since the attack. She seems to have full range of motion so I haven't been too concerned with it. Should I be concerned/treating her neck?
Longer story (if you want all the details):
We found Barb upside down, wings sprawled out and apparently dead after the fox attack. It wasn't until I picked her up for disposal that she made a noise and I realized she was STILL ALIVE. It looked like one of her eye's had been torn out and the other was just shut. She had some blood in her nostril and on the top of her head as well as some difficulty breathing. After some frantic discussion about what do to for her, we decided to bring her inside, put her in a comfy small dog crate with a blanket and see if some rest in a warm place would help. We tried getting her to drink water from a spoon. She only took a few nibbles the first day. That night, after a day of researching how to treat her while at work, I spent an hour or more using warm water on cotton balls and Q-tips to soak and remove the dried blood. Once the wounds were exposed and cleaned up, I used a saline wash to ensure everything was clean prior to applying Neosporin to the puncture wound on the top of her head (about the size of a small tooth), her eye and the small scratches she had along that same side of her face. We put her back in her crate for the night and got her to drink some pedialyte, still just a few nibbles from a spoon. The next morning she was trying to stand up on her own but with both eyes closed, and a significant amount of swelling she had no sense of direction or balance. We moved her outside for some supervised time in the sun (in the wire dog crate). She LOVED IT! I helped her stay balanced when she tried to stand and move around a bit. It didn't take long for her to tire out and for the day to start heading up, so back inside she went. We continued this bringing her outside for some time in the sun a few times every day for the first week. By day 2 she had opened her right eye and was starting to peck at things again. It was so good to see her start acting like a chicken again!! This is when I knew we were through the woods and she would make it, but it would be a long road to full recovery. She struggled adjusting to having only the one eye. Walking in circles instead of a line. Falling down A LOT but she kept getting back up. She would follow me around the yard, so I used her supervised time like physical therapy and made her walk in lines around the yard. If I got too far ahead, she would get lost in the yard and just start running in whatever direction she was facing. To help keep her oriented I started carrying a bag of treats and shook them when she couldn't see me. It worked great and she'd run right to me.
Now, almost a month later, the swelling has gone down on her head and she's back to her bug/seed eating, wing flapping, and running self. For a while I thought she was holding her head a bit tilted but it turned out that it was just that swollen. We took in some hens and pullets from a family friend who had too many to replace the flock lost in the fox attack. We now have 2, 1.5 yr Island Reds and 3, 4 mo Barred Rocks. Currently they all only get together when allowed to range in the yard during the day. Barb is still staying in the house in a dog crate at nights. And while I tried to keep the older and younger ladies in separate coops, when they go up for the night on their own, they all end up in the same coop. So I've given up on trying to keep them separate. Any suggestions on if, when or how to integrate Barb into the new flock? When they are in the yard together, they like to chase Barb around but there is plenty of room for her to get away and they usually aren't persistent about it. I haven't tried to push getting Barb to stay outside in a coop much because I'm hesitant to put her in with the others overnight if her eye is still a potential place for infection or the others to peck at or just take advantage of her weakness.
Thank you everyone who took the time to read my long post!! I'd love to hear your thoughts/suggestions. Like I said, we're pretty new to this backyard chicken thing and appreciate all the great input of the BYC community.
Here's the short story:
We had a fox get into the coop and clear out all but one of our chickens. The lone survivor of the attack, Barb (~5 mo old), took a beating and lost an eye. After weeks of care, she's recovered very well! But I'm concerned about her injured eye. A few friends have suggested either stitching or gluing her eye shut to ensure it doesn't get infected or the other chickens don't peck at it. We are fairly new to the whole chicken thing and this is the first real injury we've had to care for. With how well she's been healing, I've been trying to keep medical care to just what's needed. The night after the initial attack I cleaned up the dried blood, rinsed with saline and applied Neosporin for the first few days (thanks to the other forum posts for the general injury care advice!). By day 2, she finally opened her other eye and was eating and drinking on her own again. Once her head swelling and bruising went down, I saw that she could actually open the injured eye. Should I close up her injured eye or just leave it? Also, her neck has had a bit of a bend to it since the attack. She seems to have full range of motion so I haven't been too concerned with it. Should I be concerned/treating her neck?
Longer story (if you want all the details):
We found Barb upside down, wings sprawled out and apparently dead after the fox attack. It wasn't until I picked her up for disposal that she made a noise and I realized she was STILL ALIVE. It looked like one of her eye's had been torn out and the other was just shut. She had some blood in her nostril and on the top of her head as well as some difficulty breathing. After some frantic discussion about what do to for her, we decided to bring her inside, put her in a comfy small dog crate with a blanket and see if some rest in a warm place would help. We tried getting her to drink water from a spoon. She only took a few nibbles the first day. That night, after a day of researching how to treat her while at work, I spent an hour or more using warm water on cotton balls and Q-tips to soak and remove the dried blood. Once the wounds were exposed and cleaned up, I used a saline wash to ensure everything was clean prior to applying Neosporin to the puncture wound on the top of her head (about the size of a small tooth), her eye and the small scratches she had along that same side of her face. We put her back in her crate for the night and got her to drink some pedialyte, still just a few nibbles from a spoon. The next morning she was trying to stand up on her own but with both eyes closed, and a significant amount of swelling she had no sense of direction or balance. We moved her outside for some supervised time in the sun (in the wire dog crate). She LOVED IT! I helped her stay balanced when she tried to stand and move around a bit. It didn't take long for her to tire out and for the day to start heading up, so back inside she went. We continued this bringing her outside for some time in the sun a few times every day for the first week. By day 2 she had opened her right eye and was starting to peck at things again. It was so good to see her start acting like a chicken again!! This is when I knew we were through the woods and she would make it, but it would be a long road to full recovery. She struggled adjusting to having only the one eye. Walking in circles instead of a line. Falling down A LOT but she kept getting back up. She would follow me around the yard, so I used her supervised time like physical therapy and made her walk in lines around the yard. If I got too far ahead, she would get lost in the yard and just start running in whatever direction she was facing. To help keep her oriented I started carrying a bag of treats and shook them when she couldn't see me. It worked great and she'd run right to me.
Now, almost a month later, the swelling has gone down on her head and she's back to her bug/seed eating, wing flapping, and running self. For a while I thought she was holding her head a bit tilted but it turned out that it was just that swollen. We took in some hens and pullets from a family friend who had too many to replace the flock lost in the fox attack. We now have 2, 1.5 yr Island Reds and 3, 4 mo Barred Rocks. Currently they all only get together when allowed to range in the yard during the day. Barb is still staying in the house in a dog crate at nights. And while I tried to keep the older and younger ladies in separate coops, when they go up for the night on their own, they all end up in the same coop. So I've given up on trying to keep them separate. Any suggestions on if, when or how to integrate Barb into the new flock? When they are in the yard together, they like to chase Barb around but there is plenty of room for her to get away and they usually aren't persistent about it. I haven't tried to push getting Barb to stay outside in a coop much because I'm hesitant to put her in with the others overnight if her eye is still a potential place for infection or the others to peck at or just take advantage of her weakness.
Thank you everyone who took the time to read my long post!! I'd love to hear your thoughts/suggestions. Like I said, we're pretty new to this backyard chicken thing and appreciate all the great input of the BYC community.
