She was attacked this morning. I have put her in a chicken hospital and sprayed her wound with Banixx. She is ready to get back with her friends, but I have separated her. Is there anything else I can do? Will she survive?
Warning, the picture I attached is graphic.
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Kelly I am sorry to hear the sad news. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do :(
Just wanted to give you an update - Molly didn't survive her injuries. Thank you so much for all of this great advice. I hope I don't have to ever use it again.
This group is awesome.
Aww, I'm so sorry, Kelly! I know you did your best.
So sorry Kelly.
I'm so sorry. Its hard to lose one of your animals. Take care. Hugs!
Aww, poor thing! We've had the same thing with a couple birds, and a coyote did that to our turkey on Thanksgiving day. It can happen, as hard as you may try to prevent it. Don't give up-chickens are amazingly hardy. It looks like she could heal, but it'll take a little time. No doubt she'll be droopy & sad for a while.
When we've had these things happen, we've brought them indoors and kept them in a big box in the bathroom where it's closed off and there's nothing to stress or excite them. Clean it thoroughly with hydrogen pyroxide. Other have given plenty of advice on cleaning and care. I'd try to keep the temperature warm because she's featherless & healing.
Is she eating and drinking?
We trained our chickens to stay off our front patio and out of the back yard where the dogs are by putting some pea gravel in a plastic water bottle. If they come near we shake it or toss it toward them and they scurry. We have one dog who we've never been able to chicken-train, so better to train the birds. And once the dog tastes a chicken, it's even harder to train.
UPDATE:
I was able to really check her out this afternoon and I am afraid her prognosis is dim. She has no skin on her back, her back bone is totally exposed and most of her muscle was eaten away. She has some punctures into her body cavity which lead me to believe that she may get an internal infection that I can't help. Even if she does survive, I can't imagine her ever having skin there.
Thank you for all of your advice, this group is amazing.
I haven't been online much this weekend and just saw this. :( I'm sorry.
From the image uptop it definitely looked survivable, if you are concerned about internal infection, it may be wise to get some antibiotics at the feed store tomorrow. Keep her in a room that is warm, dark and quiet. I would provide her with food and water, she needs to drink, but if she chooses not to eat for a day, don't force her to. Do what you can to keep her from being stressed (hence the warm, dark and quiet)
For reference, for injuries that are bleeding but not quite this severe (and not in the middle of summer), I usually find that it's best to put the bird in her own cage/kennel, but keep it in the coop so she doesn't have to be reintroduced to the flock when she's better.
In the event that you'd like to try an injectable antibiotic rather than one in water (hard to know how much she's getting) the C&H Hay barn on Cave Creek Rd. Sells injectable Pennicilin Procaine 50 and syringes (ask for 20 gauge.)
One bottle will be more than you need, but you can store it in your fridge. its a good thing to have in your arsenal for wounds. Pennicilin is typically used for wounds, not respiratory infections (I use Tylan for respiratory.)
I know its so hard when one pet hurts another pet. Thats the difficulty in keeping predators and prey in the same yard. My dog can't be trusted with the chickens and their area is completely blocked from the rest of the yard by our pool fence and then they have a very large fenced run area. they cannot completely free range because of the dog.
Thank you for all of this great advice. I will keep you posted on her progress. So far, while being cooped up in her cage, she is drinking and eating.
Unfortunately, this injury was due to our 6 month old Goldendoodle. We have been working hard on training them (while we build a new and secure coop) and it has been going well. Actually, the other Goldendoodle (we have two) was far away watching. The training, apparently, has been more effective on her! Anyway, at the time, the chickens had been locked up. I put up a gate to keep the dogs out and from time to time one of the chickens will hop over to the awesome yard on the other side. I wasn't aware a chicken was out. I am usually very vigilant about the chickens and the dogs. I guess I was a little too relaxed this morning. I feel terrible.
Thanks again for all of the advice. I will keep you posted.
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