Update: HAPPY ENDING! - Friday 13th - One dead, one injured.

[65browneyes]

OMG, Wolfpacker! I'd pray for recovery of your "beer muscles" if I weren't busy praying for my 3 - 9 lb baby muscles. I'll work on squeezing in one or two prayers for you, though! LOL


Edited to add: I hope things turn out okay for your little hen.

 

[ChickenLittleMom]

Sorry to hear about your Friday the 13th mysterious death of your chickens.

I wanted you to know that something similar happened to us that day, too.

Background: I keep my 7 week old chickens in a cage that's also on a screened back-yard porch at night but during the day I let them run in a fenced backyard. I also have a temporary - but very cool - daytime "run" for them. It is actually fencing that I pulled around a bunch of hedges. I put food and water in there for them. They could until recently get out by squeezing through the fence so I reinforced it with a tighter-meshed fence on the bottom. They really love it in there; it's best 'natural sanctuary' I have ever seen and it's in keeping with my philosophy that the best coop for an individual family to build for their chickens is by creatively 'inventing' something that suits their needs with materials they have around the house; it's more ecologically sound, I believe.

Well, I had left other people in charge of the chickens since they were running free in the yard. I'd checked the sky for any sign of hawks that might be looking for breakfast and left. I came back an hour later to find that two of the chickens were 'hiding' under a woodpile and the 3rd chicken was gone!@ No sign of a struggle and no sign of the chicken, alive or dead. I looked in the neighbors yard and across the street, and in and under everything in our yard, could not find it. I concluded that a HAWK simply swooped down and snatched it! One clue is that my dog who had been indoors suddenly went extremely MENTAL and began barking like mad for no apparent reason. By the time my kids let the dog out and looked around there was NO SIGN of anything amiss. If it had been a hawk that snatched the chicken then this is how it would have looked: instantly gone, no sign of a stuggle, a strange sound that activated the dog, and the other chickens were hiding, terrified.

Again, sorry to hear about your chickens. I'm glad that the vet was able to save one of them. Good luck!

ChickenLittleMom

 

[snugglepup]

Gosh! I just saw this! I'm sorry about your girls. I have found that my chickens are extremely resilient. One girl... The Chick That Lived... got stomped by a horse, survived and healed... a few months later, my husband shut her in the door(she was following him hoping for food), again survived and healed, got caught by a dog... survived and healed. Everytime I was sure she would die, but she didn't!

 

[Wolfpacker]

That's good to hear snugglepup. My vet was at a loss. She "doesn't do birds." She called a local bird vet who told her what to do and then she told me if I was willing she was so she did her best. That's the kind of vet I like - and so far so good!

 

[Wolfpacker]

The healing continues. Actually saw her move the wing a bit when I put her out to free range a while with her sisters yesterday evening.

 

[eggcetra_farms]

wolfpacker, I'm glad she's on the mend. I hope she gets full function back in her wing.

 

[Wolfpacker]

I've had her inside since yesterday morning and have been treating the wound with hydrogen peroxide and neosporin. Just a few minutes ago, I noticed that it seemed to be getting worse and did not smell good. I lifted the wing and the maggots were back. They made a hole in the "fore wing" for lack of a better term. I picked off all the ones I could find and flused the wound with water, applied more hydrogen peroxide and neosporin. How in the world do you kill these things? She's on clean shavings and there are no flies in the bathroom where she's staying. The first ones I saw yesterday morning were teeny. These were the big boys - about the size of a piece of rice. Any advice would be appreciated it. I may take her to a bird expert.

She doesn't seem to be in any pain and even when I administer the medicine, she's OK. She also seems to be eating and drinking well. Her stool is green, not the brown that is usually is. I don't know if that's the maggots or the medicine. She's on an antibiotic, but that smell had to be coming from the dead tissue and maggots. I haven't let my wife know what was going on yet. She could never stomach it. Heck, I'm having a hard time with it myself. The fun of raising chickens has become VERY stressful.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

I can only suggest keeping it clean, & call the vet & see what she says to do for it.

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Jean

 

[eggcetra_farms]

Are you wrapping the wound with anything? You could use a non-stick gauze pad with rolled gauze wrapped around it to keep it from sticking to both the wound and the feathers. If the wound is left exposed, this may be adding to the maggot problem. I would think that having the wound wrapped would discourage the maggot population. I know when my chicken lost her wing we kept it wrapped and she never got maggots. I would definately continue to flush with the peroxide. All the bubbling of that stuff does wonders. What does the smell smell like? I know after a few days of cleaning my chicken's wound with the peroxide it stunk, but I think that was the peroxide itself just kind of building up on her feathers (I really dislike the smell of peroxide). It didn't smell like rotting flesh.

Call a vet or feed store and see if they can tell you anything over the phone about controlling maggots on an animal wound. I'll see if I can find anything for you as well. I'm sorry that it seems she's taken a bit of a backward step. Keep us updated.

 

[Wolfpacker]

Thanks so much. I was glad to see you had written.

I just got out of bed and came up to check my computer after being unable to sleep. I feel like it was my own stupidity for allowing this to happen in the first place. un I should have NEVER put her outside so soon after her injury, but I had no idea this would have happened. I'm going to probably call a bird specialist in the AM. I think the hole is all the way into the bone. I feel badly for her, but at least, as I said above, she doesn't seem to be feeling badly at all. In fact, this is probably bothering me worse than it is her. I just checked and she's sleeping comfortably.

I can't really describe the smell. It's just kind of rancid-like, but you're correct, hydrogen peroxide smells pretty bad. I wonder if iodine would help.