Wound from dog attack

[Luv Ducks]

They feel very bad and I think they realize it will only get worse unless they do something. Thank you for your kind sentiment.

You are most welcome and I am so happy to hear that they are responsible people that will hopefully keep this from ever happening again.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I guess the alternative is for you to istall such an apron around where the dog can't get in to your chickens.

I bought barrier sections on Amazon and from our local Sam's Club that I pounded into the ground all the way around my coops to keep anything from digging under. So far so good. The ones from Sam's club cost more but were a lot heavier and stronger than the Amazon ones. It ended up being costly but so far all of my now 25 ducks have been safe. I had 26 but one passed last week from egg bound problems. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[TokoBird]

My hen was recently attacked by a raccoon, and received an injury just like that, but bigger. Flayed from armpit to cloaca, loose skin sagged down to her keel, muscle and fat exposed with a half-inch diameter gouge taken out of the rib muscle itself

After it stopped bleeding we cleaned the area of debris with targeted spray-on saline solution and tweezers, clipped her feathers away from the immediate wound, then sterilized it with iodine. (Alcohol is wildly painful in a wound. Iodine is less painful.)

We lightly covered the wound with antibiotic ointment-coated gauze to keep it clear of feathers overnight, and re-sprayed the wound and the bandage with saline every 4 hours to keep the loose skin flexible and not-sticking to the gauze while we waited for surgery tools to arrive.

Suture kit came overnight from Amazon, with tiny threads, curved needles, and a variety of forceps and long-handle snip scissors. Boil tools in water and allow to cool before using on wound. Suture thread should be sterile right out of the package.

My uncle came over the next day to help and re-sterilized the area with iodine, cut under some surrounding skin to detach it from its fat, pulled the wound closed and my wife helped him suture it up best they could.
(Warning: chickens in pain can make a howling noise like a cat. It is unsettling to hear.)
Wife was chosen to do the sutures because of excellent embroidery skill, steady hands, and a stronger stomach than me for listening to distressed animal sounds and wound manipulation.

Suturing itself took 10 minutes, but the meticulous wound cleaning and sterilizing beforehand took much longer, due to discovery of more raccoon hair found under a skin flap.

We kept the hen in a cat crate in the house for recovery, with the stitches and wound left open to the air so the remaining wound we couldn’t close would dry and crust over, and so I could monitor for any sign of infection.

I put a bunch of triple antibiotic ointment around the sutures every day for the first three days, then every third day until day 10 when the exposed muscle was clearly dried over. Checked for infection three times a day for first 5 days. (bad smell, bright red inflammation, weeping puss or radiating heat). Days 3-5 are biggest risk for seeing infection. Uncle had some veterinary penicillin on-hand just in case, but we ended up not needing it.

Paper towel used as lining in the cat crate, exchanged three times a day so she didn’t have to sit in poop.

first 7 days: fed her chick starter feed with water added until it was a damp mash (not wet) and mixed in several drops of nutri-drench to the mash with every meal. She avoided drinking brown-tinted water, so the drench was fed instead. Meals at 7am and 5pm (due to my work schedule). She ate more when I was present, poking at her food through the bars with the back of a paintbrush. Communal meals feels safer than eating alone. Food and drinks provided in flat-bottom kitten-sized bowls. Harder to tip over because she wants to perch on them.
Took food and water out overnight so she wouldn’t spill and splash poopy water on her wound.
Gave her a chunk of clean 2x4 on day 3 when she seemed anxious to stand and flex her leg.
Kept an eye on her poop - lots of brown poop = good appetite = good healing.

After 7 days, I switched to dry feed and started taking her for little walks outside to get her muscles working, since she was cramped in the cage aside from bedding changes and wound checks.

By day 8 I was confident she was healing well, and set an alert to take her stitches out on day 14. (Deeper & more extensive wounds take longer to heal.)

she has since been reintroduced to the flock, is in good health, and earned the name “Xena: Warrior Princess”

—
Edited to add relevant surgery details.

 

[TokoBird]

ANY food is better than no food, if she has a poor appetite. If all she wants to eat is peanuts and yolks, you give her peanuts and yolks.
nutritional balance doesn’t matter compared to getting calories to heal.

My hens love peanuts, millet, and cucumber seed goo. They don’t care for mealworms. When Xena wouldn’t touch her food at first, I covered the top in her favorite treats (millet and sunflower hearts) and her tentative nibbles eventually became proper eating.

If you decide you need to force feed mash or force feed liquids, be CAREFUL. Birds cannot close their trachea. Any liquids squirted into their beak while it’s pried open is likely to be breathed in. You gotta insert the tube properly into their throat (to the side! The middle hole behind their tongue is the airway) before pressing the plunger at all.