We had an attack on the flock this morning. A dog got into the backyard and got a good bite out of one of my birds. At this point I'm not too sure what to do about it...
She seems pretty alert, but it got a chunk out of her neck. We have her quarantined inside the house in a bin with food and water so the other girls can't bother her.
Should we try and clean the wound? Can chickens get rabies from dog bites? Should we put her down?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
I don't have any experience with the type of injury your chicken has, but one of our hens did have a severe injury to both of her feet about 5 weeks ago. Her feet were pinned under the frame of the chicken coop when we moved it. They were badly scraped, bleeding, bruised and possibly had some broken bones. We faced the same situation as you are now. Do we try to treat her or put her down, as she was unable to walk at all and we didn't want her to suffer. But, other than not being able to walk, she was eating and drinking and seemed alert. After reading about how resilient chickens are and other people's experiences who had severely injured chickens that recovered, we decided to treat her as best we could for a few days and see what happened. The first thing we did was bring her into the house and put her in a box with bedding, and with her food and water near so she could get to it easily. It's important to separate them from the rest of the flock so they don't get pecked at and injured further. As for the injury, the most important thing I learned from online resources is to keep any wounds from getting infected. At first I washed her feet at least 2 -3 times a day with antibacterial soap and warm water. Then poured hydrogen peroxide on them, as recommended. I also made sure she was eating and drinking. As the wounds healed I cut back 1-2 times per day and then not at all. I also gave her crushed ibuprofen in water for pain and swelling. I found the formula for how much to give her online, I think on either on this site or Backyard Chickens site. I did this for about 10 days until the discoloration and swelling went down. It took a couple of weeks and eventually she was standing and then taking some steps. When I felt she was well enough, I started introducing her back into the flock and letting her free range a couple of times a day for short periods, and then eventually she was back with the flock full time. She was still a little slow and off balance for a while, but now you would never know she was injured. I'm so glad we made the decision not to put her down right away. Based on our experience, if your hen is still able to eat and drink, I would highly recommend trying to treat her. As some people have already said, chickens are pretty tough. Good luck!
Very rare that a dog would have rabies in phoenix. He was probably just doing what (many) dogs do...
Looks like only mammals get/transmit rabies, at least that is what the google says :)
We had one of our chickens with a pretty major neck wound. Researched online, and decided to do an iodine "tea" wash (watered down iodine) and then applied what is called blue lotion, aka Blue Kote. It is for open wounds on animals and it sterilizes and seals up the opening a bit. It is actually purple in color :) We got both items at Tempe Feed and Tack. Rinsed then blue lotion the hen three days in a row, then just applied the blue lotion when needed. Worked like a charm. No stitches-too late and will only encourage infection at this point.
Chickens are very resilient, Here is a link to a backyardchicken forum where they used the blue lotion and the hen just healed up on its own. Keep your hen separate, and the wound dry, and she should pull through OK.
You could wash with hydrogen peroxide and apply veterycin or antibiotic cream (not triple antiobiotic, however.) If she is alert, I don't think you have to put her down. However, if she appears to be suffering or becomes lethargic, you may have to consider putting her down. It is really hard to tell without seeing the damage in person, however. I hope she pulls through!