Well, the dog got one of my (3) chicks..

[justafew4me]

I knew this would happen.. even though the brooder (ie: cardboard box with top) is covered, one chick apparently managed to get up to perch on the edge today and got snapped up by my little jack russell terrier. We rescued her.. the poor little thing, but she has a skin tear on one side, under her wing. I put antibiotic ointment on it and put her back into her box, this time weighting down the bent hardware cloth lid. I did nor see a puncture on her anywhere. Luckily my little dog did not seem to have bitten down in the few seconds that she had the chick. The chick is moving normally and you cannot tell by looking at her that anything has happened.. Do you think she will be OK? I'd like to post a picture of her injury, but haven't figured out how to do this from a cell phone.

 

[Little Tweets]

Aww so sorry to hear that.

I would keep antibiotic ointment on her tear. One that doesn't have a pain reliever in it. Betadine is also very good to use.

Does she eat and drink well?

 

[justafew4me]

I haven't seen her eating yet. She had been standing hunched with her tail feathers pointing down, but moves off with no noticeable limp or altered gait.... She surely must be hurting. Right now she is laying down with her 2 sisters. I guess only time will tell.. I'll have to hurry up and get her coop/run finished so as to prevent this from happening again.

 

[HenoftheWoods]

Be sure to put your pup in the down stay position with her back to the injured bird. Correct the dog when ever she turns toward the bird. If she shows any interest correct immediatelyl.

 

[justafew4me]

I will try this in the (later) AM. She is usually pretty obedient; the contributing factor is that I have 3 JRT's (and an older toy fox terrier) all @ 1 yr old and they feed off of each other so that it is difficult to correct one. When you are working on sit down stay (with treats), you couldn't ask for a more attentive little group.. When the doorbell rings (for instance) they are off the couch and flying shrieking to the door and me leaping up and yelling at them to hush has little effect.. If you have hold of one of the females (2F's 1M) and shush them while keeping a grip on one, the other female may let out a single yap but pipe down because she doesn't have the other backing her up and egging them on. They are usually very good little dogs. the oldest of the 4, the toy fox terrier, is the perpetrator of this particular little habit as he is one of those to bark and then when told to hush (or shut UP, if I'm ticked), he will stay in the background and mutter even when threatened with death if he says another word.. ...
So far the injured chick appears to be OK as near as I can tell. I will reevaluate in the morning.. I started turning the brooder light off.. They are too warm with it on now and I don't have anything to put it on or attach it to to raise it further. They are 4 wks now and mostly feathered. They don't appear uncomfortable with the light off... If anything, they are more active and go about their business with contented peeps.

 

[justafew4me]

Mary Lou (my injured GLW pullet) seems to be fine today.... doing her usual birdie business... I guess we've escaped the grim reaper this time...