Update 3/13 Blood :( - HELP! Flock attacked, 1 injured

[BantamLover21]

It sounds to me like you're doing a great job treating her. I agree with MrsBachBach that flushing the wounds would be a good idea. If she isn't drinking well, I would also make sure that you're supplementing her by eyedropper. If you have a helper or can hold the hen securely with one hand, you can just drip the water on the side of the beak. Usually, the water enters the crack of the beak (between the two mandibles) and gets to the mouth, at which point it is swallowed. It is very hard for aspiration to occur with that method as long as you go relatively slowly and stop if her mouth starts overflowing. Or, you could consider learning how to tube feed. I've never tube-fed, but many other BYCers have, with good results.

An antibiotic could certainly be a good idea. However, I just want to add a word of caution if you decide to inject penicillin procaine: make sure you pull back on the plunger after you insert the needle into the breast muscle to check for blood, and try to inject where you see the fewest blood vessels. If you see blood in the syringe, reinsert the needle somewhere else. Otherwise, you risk killing the hen as the penicillin enters the bloodstream rapidly and reaches the brain. I recently was giving a bantam rooster penicillin injections, following the checking-for-blood protocol before actually injecting. However, seconds after I gave him his fourth injection, he went into convulsions and quickly died. I saw no blood when I pulled back, but he was very thin (making blood vessels close together), and I later read that even getting penicillin procaine into a tiny capillary can be dangerous. I probably just nicked a blood vessel, not enough to see blood, but enough for some penicillin to enter the bloodstream.

With that said, plenty of people have success with penicillin injections, and I wouldn't discourage you from doing so to protect your hen from infection. Good luck with her!

 

[robomb]

Thank you to everyone who has replied. Every reply has information that has helped me and my hen. I'm hoping that I can get out to Tractor Supply tomorrow and pick up the Penicillin. I cleaned her wounds with povidone last night, filled the wounds with neosporin, and put non-stick gauze over them and wrapped with the VetWrap. I haven't looked at them today, figured a day undisturbed might be a good thing. I'll pick up more supplies (gauze, betadine, syringes, etc) tomorrow and do a thorough cleaning, and an injection of PenG. I was able to get two small droppers full of the water (with electrolytes/vitamins/probiotics) in her tonight, and the comment about dribbling over her beak between the mandibles is something I'll do tomorrow. She is very social now (never used to be social before the attack) and comes right over to me. She only ate a couple of lentil sprouts out of my hand today - don't know what she's eating when she's alone. The food dish gets tipped over, so hopefully she's picking at it and eating some. The water always seems lower too, hopefully she's drinking it and it's not evaporating into the air. The temp in her room is about 75 degrees. I think it's about 15 degrees outside without the 45 mph wind gusts. We've gotten about 8 inches of snow since 9 am, but I hear the worst is yet to come.

I haven't been sleeping at all, ruminating about her... hopefully I will be able to sleep tonight. And I hope she isn't in pain