URGENT!!!! Graphic pics included

[chilman]

just found a giant hawk on one of my chickens. All body parts are in tact however one of his wings have been eaten done to the bone. A large portion. The little fellow is still alive and can walk, I don’t know if his wing is broken or what I just don’t know what to do other than to clean him, bring him in, apply vetrycin.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Oh geeze. If you can't get that chicken to a vet the best thing you can do is put it down. An emergency vet that handles avians MAY be able to do something, though this is an expensive procedure and those kinds of vets are rare. You'd have to take the bird into surgery today most likely.

It's very sad but that would likely need to be amputated for best chance at survival. Any attempt to do so non surgically is likely going to send the chicken into shock and die or cause it to bleed out and it will die anyway.

There's no non-surgical recovery from this IMO. Even if the shock doesn't kill the chicken the infection that sets in almost immediately will.

There's lots of humane methods for putting down a bird. If you don't have a vet around I suggest you look into them. My personal preference is cervical dislocation but there are options. Many emergency vets will also put any animal down that you ask them to if they're unlikely to recover, even if they don't normally handle birds.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[MysteryChicken]

That healing without any complications will be slim. If you want to try, & fix him up, go ahead. I suggest putting him out of his misery.

 

[jaxonann]

Oh my! I'm sorry.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your chicken. That is a very serious wound, and infection is a big threat. Is there any way you could take him to a vet for care? He has a good chance of survival if his wing is amputated, and as long as he doesn’t have internal injuries.

What do you have for disinfecting a wound? Betadine, chlorhexidene or Hibiclens, or Vetericyn are very good to use to initially clean the wound. After cleaning (pat the area with the disinfectant,) I would cover the area with a moist rag covered in betadine or saline. That would be just to keep the tissue moist. Antibiotic ointment (Neosporin, Triple Antibiotic, or Polysporin) are all good to use on the wound after cleaning twice a day. Keep him from flies perhaps inside in a crate.

He may need to have his wing amputated, and they can survive with only one. Antibiotics might be necessary. Feed stores do not have many for wounds except procaine penicliin G which is given by injection. Do you have any or can you get anything from yoru vet?

 

[chilman]

He has let me clean his wound and I don’t ,think the actual wing is broken since he is holding it to his side. I know his backside will heal, but I don’t know if the wing will since is is just bone. Muscle, tendons, ligaments are all gone one the top side of the wing. Right now a vet is not an option.

 

[Fishkeeper]

No, it will not heal. It can't. It's going to kill him via sepsis (blood infection) if it's not amputated, and it would be extraordinarily inhumane to attempt any sort of at-home amputation, plus that would probably kill him anyway.

You need to euthanize him, like the others have said. It's the only humane thing to do. And do it now, before he comes out of shock and starts fully feeling everything that's happening to him. Whenever that adrenaline wears off, (assuming it hasn't already) he's going to be in agony.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

If a vet is not an option you should put this bird down. I'm sorry, I know it's hard but it's also what's best.

To amputate this wing safely you'd need an avian experienced vet cause anesthetics in birds are difficult to manage. The amount of pain and shock a non professional amputation would send this bird into is almost guaranteed to kill it.
Without amputation there's no amount of antibiotics that will save this bird. That tissue is too damaged - it will never grow back. Even a simple degloving wound with exposed bone requires rapid vet care and wet grafts. (See: https://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/wp-co...inical-techniques-in-equine-practice-2004.pdf) This is not a simple degloving. This wound will kill the bird from sepsis if the shock doesn't do it first.

If an avian-experienced vet is an option tomorrow, for example, you may be able to treat the wound by keeping it VERY well covered with triple antibiotic cream with no pain relief (such as neosporin) which may preserve the tissue long enough to get the bird to a vet in a day or two.

Any longer than that, or if no vet care is available ever, and this bird will either be dead or it will be dying and in pain within a day anyhow. No home-remedies will ever resolve this wound. Even professional care will amputate the wing.

I strongly suggest you look into putting the bird down.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am not an expert on wings, but the reason I think the wing may need amputating is that it has lost so much skin and muscle tissue. I hope others with these type attacks can chime in. I have been searching for threads about traumatic injuries to wings with bones exposed, and it seems quite a few survive this type of injury. Most posters kept the wounds covered with a lot of Triple Antibiotic Ointment, so be sure to get plenty of it to have on hand. Most Dollar Trees sell small tubes for a dollar. Betadine is available at Walmart in the first aid aisle as Equate First Aid Antibiotic for around $6. Good luck and keep us posted on how it is going.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

Agree with others - the only options with a wound like that is amputation or euthanasia. That will not heal unfortunately.