This is my 2nd year with chickens and sadly I made a newbie mistake that caused harm to one of my chickens.
I have 17 chickens from the first batch, two of which are roo's. In the second batch I had 33. The first set lives in one half of the coop and this year's set in the other with Hoss the older roo.
On the 22 of April when the young chicks were 10 weeks old, I noticed several with bloody pin feathers on their tails. At this time I had all the young chicks and hoss in a covered run 10 x 20 not out on pasture. When I walked into the coop I saw a Speckled Sussex down on it's side and several other young chiks were eating at it's rear and there was alot of blood. I grabbed her and rushed her into the house and into the tub to spray off her rear end. OMG there was muscle tissue, spine sticking out and the little triangular rump thing....gone!!
I thought this is BAD. She kept her eyes closed and her beak on the ground so I wrapped her in a towel and put her in a kennel and put her out in the barn to die in peace. After awhie I went back out to dispose of her body and she was still alive!! I thought oh JESUS I am going to have to kill this poor little bird mself.
I was supposed to go meet a trainer for my horse, but couldn't go becuase I just was soo freaked out, I didn't know what to do.
I tied her legs in the twine I had used to hang Al Runion when I did him in, and prepared to slit her throat. She opened her one eye and went 'poot put poooot'. I cried, I'm so sorry I can't do it. SO I saw some biozide gel I have for the horses and smeared that all over her open wound and put her back in the kennel with a little bit of water in a bowl. The vet was coming the next morning to vaccinate the horses, cats and dogs and I figured if she was still alive I would have him put her to sleep.
The next morning she was up alert and eating. Since her vent was intact and she was obviously eating and pooping, I thought I would give her a chance.
These pic's are from the third day:
I out the kennel in the laundry room and after a few days hubby rigged up a little playpen area in the back yard where she could go out and get some fresh air and grass.
She would get in the kennel and it would go back inside every night. That was for about 2 weeks, then she decided to start going back out with her buddies who were now out in the yard as well.
Here she is about 3 weeks after the incident:
She now looks like a rumpless Speckled Sussex.
I have 17 chickens from the first batch, two of which are roo's. In the second batch I had 33. The first set lives in one half of the coop and this year's set in the other with Hoss the older roo.
On the 22 of April when the young chicks were 10 weeks old, I noticed several with bloody pin feathers on their tails. At this time I had all the young chicks and hoss in a covered run 10 x 20 not out on pasture. When I walked into the coop I saw a Speckled Sussex down on it's side and several other young chiks were eating at it's rear and there was alot of blood. I grabbed her and rushed her into the house and into the tub to spray off her rear end. OMG there was muscle tissue, spine sticking out and the little triangular rump thing....gone!!
I thought this is BAD. She kept her eyes closed and her beak on the ground so I wrapped her in a towel and put her in a kennel and put her out in the barn to die in peace. After awhie I went back out to dispose of her body and she was still alive!! I thought oh JESUS I am going to have to kill this poor little bird mself.
I was supposed to go meet a trainer for my horse, but couldn't go becuase I just was soo freaked out, I didn't know what to do.
I tied her legs in the twine I had used to hang Al Runion when I did him in, and prepared to slit her throat. She opened her one eye and went 'poot put poooot'. I cried, I'm so sorry I can't do it. SO I saw some biozide gel I have for the horses and smeared that all over her open wound and put her back in the kennel with a little bit of water in a bowl. The vet was coming the next morning to vaccinate the horses, cats and dogs and I figured if she was still alive I would have him put her to sleep.
The next morning she was up alert and eating. Since her vent was intact and she was obviously eating and pooping, I thought I would give her a chance.
These pic's are from the third day:
I out the kennel in the laundry room and after a few days hubby rigged up a little playpen area in the back yard where she could go out and get some fresh air and grass.
She would get in the kennel and it would go back inside every night. That was for about 2 weeks, then she decided to start going back out with her buddies who were now out in the yard as well.
Here she is about 3 weeks after the incident:
She now looks like a rumpless Speckled Sussex.
Biblical story....came back to life....Thanks for giving her a fighting chance!
