sierrabrady
In the Brooder
- Sep 21, 2022
- 16
- 11
- 44
I could really use some advice! We had a raccoon attack our flock 10 days ago and lost one hen and found two more injured. One of them had a small cut on the red outer part of her eye and that eye was swollen shut for a day or two after the attack but the eye itself looks fine. She was clearly in shock, not eating (still hasnt eaten) and seemed kind of shut down. I isolated her with the other injured hen and gave them both antibiotics in water and applied topical antibiotics to the wounds. After about a week, the one with the injured eye slowly developed a twitch (not sure if that’s the right word to use) in her neck. She was basically slowly nodding her head non stop. The next day it got worse with her head turning upside down and throwing her neck back, knocking her off her feet so I brought her inside in a carrier. After reading about wry neck I took her off antibiotics and started her on Vitamin E and selenium and put hydro-hen in her water. Noticed a slight improvement overnight after starting the vitamins and maybe a little more of an improvement over the next day.
I’m wondering if this could be something neurological from head trauma during the attack but not sure if that would show a week later? If this is wry neck, how long does it typically take to improve? I’m not sure if it was caused by her not eating, her eye injury, or even if the other hen she was isolated with could have been pecking at her. I wish I would have kept them separate from the beginning but I thought if she was in shock she might find comfort in having one of her buddies with her. At what point do I consider having to put her out of her misery? She has bright eyes, she tries to walk around, she's vocal sometimes when I’m sitting with her and she’s drinking well out of a cup with some assistance but I don’t want her to be in pain and I don’t want to be keeping her around selfishly. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make her more comfortable or anything that might help her neck issue I would really appreciate it.
I’m wondering if this could be something neurological from head trauma during the attack but not sure if that would show a week later? If this is wry neck, how long does it typically take to improve? I’m not sure if it was caused by her not eating, her eye injury, or even if the other hen she was isolated with could have been pecking at her. I wish I would have kept them separate from the beginning but I thought if she was in shock she might find comfort in having one of her buddies with her. At what point do I consider having to put her out of her misery? She has bright eyes, she tries to walk around, she's vocal sometimes when I’m sitting with her and she’s drinking well out of a cup with some assistance but I don’t want her to be in pain and I don’t want to be keeping her around selfishly. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make her more comfortable or anything that might help her neck issue I would really appreciate it.