Weasel Attack! Neck Injury! Help!

[jmwilder]

Hi everyone-- this is my first time posting. I've got a hurt chicken and I'm hoping for some advice...

We had a weasel attack about five days ago that took our whole flock, except for one Araucana. Our girl has been inside since the attack, wrapped in blankets and near a warm fire. When we found her, she had no external injuries except for some bloody spots around her ears. The only trouble is that the weasel must have grabbed her and shook her because her neck is not quite right.

When she sits down, her head lays back against her back. She moves her head around a lot; it looks something like convulsions or involuntary movements, but it's hard to tell. When she's not doing well, she shakes her head around and thrashes her whole body. Our girl can stand sometimes, and move around a little bit, and then she can hold her head kind of okay. We tried to make a neck brace for her out of a sock, but it seemed too heavy for her, so we removed it.

We're tube feeding her right now, a mix of egg, water, and nutritional supplement-- she doesn't eat or drink. When we try to give her water her with an eye-dropper, she thrashes around and sometimes coughs. Most alarmingly, she gurgles often when she breathes. If we turn her upside down, we sometimes see a thick mucus-like substance coming out of her mouth. We're hoping that she'll slowly recover, but it's the gurgling that we're most worried about. (And the neck...) She poops and everything--her body seems okay, but it's the neck that's not right...

Has anyone had a similar incident with an animal attack? We love our girl, but we're very concerned about torturing her if she's never going to recover... Please help!

 

[Twistedfeather]

I've never had a weasel incident before but my friends have (it got away with two or three hens but then their little bantam rooster got it) I've had an incident where either my rooster was treading and he fell with his sharp spurs and ripped her breast open or something attacked it. We sewed it up and she recovered. But my fear is because that was her neck it's harder to recover. She is also more than likely suffering from trauma.

Since no one has answered in eleven hours did she make it through the course of the night? My concern is if it is a slow recovery and you can't get her to eat or drink that's going to cause some problems. I don't doubt that it is possible to keep her alive but it might be hard. But please also look at the option of putting her down humanly.

Do you still think the weasel is still around? I hope this doesn't make you want to get out of chickens. I'm wondering if the situation can be solved with a rooster like my friends had above.

 

[jmwilder]

Thanks for the response, Twistedfeather!

The attack was almost a week ago, and that's why I'm so concerned. She has been hanging on, but she doesn't seem to be making very good progress. The third day she started standing and walking a few steps, but she's been in roughly the same condition for the past three days. It was a traumatic event, and necks are delicate, so we don't expect her to get better overnight... We just don't know if it's possible her neck will recover. If her neck was just hanging there, it would be different, but she keeps trying to move it (sometimes voluntarily, sometimes involuntarily.) It's a little unnerving to watch, because her neck spasms constantly. Could it be a brain-related thing?

We caught the weasel the same day as the attack, so that's no longer a huge concern.

 

[Twistedfeather]

I would actually be worried about paralysis especially since the weasel probably damaged some nerves.

I'm so glad you got rid of the weasel

 

[artemis black]

what happened to your chicken??? did she live??? I have a rooster in the same situation and he's lived for two days. he doesn't seem like he is in as bad of condition as your hen, but very similar.