Silkie Chicken Attacked HELP

Nik

Hatching
10 Years
Nov 12, 2009
3
0
7
I need your help! One of my family's chickens was attacked about an hour ago. I spotted an unusually large bird in my backyard as I took out the trash... then I notice this bird was sitting on something white... one of our chickens. I carried her to a safe place to take a look at her wound. But I have no idea how to judge how bad this wound is or what the best strategy for this situation would be.

Other info:
-Her wing seems to be dragging. Broken?
-She has energy and is walking around (Update: A couple of hours later, she still has energy and is walking around)
-I attempted to isolate her from our small flock (4 chickens and 3 ducks) but she managed to jump out and rejoin the others.
-I have not seen her eat or drink yet
-She has defecated once that I saw- it was runny
-She seems to be shivering a little bit but you wouldn't notice it unless you were paying close attention.
-She is about 7 months old

Any help would be really appreciated. I'll be looking over old threads to see if there is any helpful advice in the meantime. Thanks


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I would take her inside and keep her warm. If she gets in with the rest of the flock, they could peck at her injury and cause more damage. Keep her calm. For the wing, I would put antibiotic ointment on it (no pain reliever!). Watch her closely, she could be in shock. Maybe give her some electrolyte water (gatorade).
Hope she gets better!
 
You need to bring her in and wash the injured area with warm water. Use peroxide for the first cleaning and find anywhere she is bleeding. Once you have her cleaned up, use Neosporin on the injury, use a steril pad to cover it and use vet wrap to keep the bandage in place. She will not be able to go back outside till she heals. Keep her warm and safe and monitor her food and water intake. Give her some scrambled or hard boiled eggs as extra protien and electrolytes. Keep her calm and watch her for a few days. You will need to change the dressing and reapply the neosporin daily.

I just had one of my silkies attacked by a hawk. She is pretty much back to normal, but I still keep a very close eye on her (and she is still sleeping indoors).

I hope she gets well soon.

D
 
She is doing well inside right now. I will post an update tomorrow.


Thanks for the advice!
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If anybody has anymore advice, I would love to read it.
 
Crazy news. We got our first egg today... from our injured hen
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This must be a good sign, right? Anyway, I took the advice yesterday and cleaned her up, applied neosporin, kept her inside my house, etc. and so far so good. Also, we fed her some scrambled eggs and she really like it. It was great to see her eating with so much energy. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll post another update in a few days (and maybe some new questions too).

Oh yeah, that tire belongs to old snow blower.

Thanks
 
Sounds like things are going well
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Just wanted to add that chickens recover amazingly from injuries.

As to the hawk, you need to provide a covered run for your birds, or keep them inside their coop when you cannot be outside guarding them for at least a week--that hawk will be back.
 

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