JuliasHens
Hatching
- Sep 15, 2017
- 2
- 0
- 2
Hi all, sorry for the long post but some details might be important!
My flock of chickens were attacked by a dog on Monday, my boyfriend was able to pull the dog off one of the hens and scare it away just in time, however a different one of the young Ameraucana hens (born late April 2017) went missing. We have 2.5 acres and I looked for her for 2 and a half hours but wasn't able to find her before it got dark, so we had to close up the rest of the chickens (6 total) in the coop and she spent the night hiding out. When we found the missing hen the next day she was visibly traumatized and had a small injury on her back with no blood, just a spot in the middle of her back missing feathers and some matting. We built her a temporary coop on the deck so we can keep close watch on her and hand-feed/water. She won't drink unless i held up a small cup for her and she's just started to be able to reach her neck down to take sips, but now it's Friday and I have yet to see her eat. We've put all of her favorite snacks out, corn, lettuce, seeds, mealworms but I'm noticing now that even when i hold a pile of seeds close to her, she's unable to find them and seems to peck at the air. One of her eyes seems like it could be blind and her depth perception off, but it shows no visible signs of trauma other than that it was swollen shut for the first two days. Has anyone had any issues like this before? could it be temporary blindness from the trauma? Will she ever figure out how to eat again?
Her energy level seems to be increasing and I'm watching her wander around the deck sunning herself as I write this. She keeps showing interest in the piles of food but can't seem to get a good peck to pick some up.
One other thing to note, when she first started drinking sips of water her poop was nearly clear & pure liquid, but now it's showing more normal consistency and color. Maybe she's eating when I'm not looking, but it doesn't seem like she's had much because the piles of food seem the same.
My flock of chickens were attacked by a dog on Monday, my boyfriend was able to pull the dog off one of the hens and scare it away just in time, however a different one of the young Ameraucana hens (born late April 2017) went missing. We have 2.5 acres and I looked for her for 2 and a half hours but wasn't able to find her before it got dark, so we had to close up the rest of the chickens (6 total) in the coop and she spent the night hiding out. When we found the missing hen the next day she was visibly traumatized and had a small injury on her back with no blood, just a spot in the middle of her back missing feathers and some matting. We built her a temporary coop on the deck so we can keep close watch on her and hand-feed/water. She won't drink unless i held up a small cup for her and she's just started to be able to reach her neck down to take sips, but now it's Friday and I have yet to see her eat. We've put all of her favorite snacks out, corn, lettuce, seeds, mealworms but I'm noticing now that even when i hold a pile of seeds close to her, she's unable to find them and seems to peck at the air. One of her eyes seems like it could be blind and her depth perception off, but it shows no visible signs of trauma other than that it was swollen shut for the first two days. Has anyone had any issues like this before? could it be temporary blindness from the trauma? Will she ever figure out how to eat again?
Her energy level seems to be increasing and I'm watching her wander around the deck sunning herself as I write this. She keeps showing interest in the piles of food but can't seem to get a good peck to pick some up.
One other thing to note, when she first started drinking sips of water her poop was nearly clear & pure liquid, but now it's showing more normal consistency and color. Maybe she's eating when I'm not looking, but it doesn't seem like she's had much because the piles of food seem the same.
