Hen caught by fox - alive but has a neck injury. Any hope?

[JulieSHDK]

Hi, I'm new to keeping chickens and I got my first pair this summer.

The fox has been here twice now and the first two are no longer. It's sad and a bit discouraging, but at least the fox took them away. My problem is the one he left behind. I caught him yesterday with my brown italian's neck in his mouth. He spit her out, when he saw me and ran away.

She was still alive, but in a bad way. Clearly in shock, but also unable to fully control her head and body. She drinks but only if we support her head. Not interested in food. She can sort of sit on her legs and have her head in a normal position, but if she leans forward her head topples over and hit the ground if she too near. She raises herself sometimes and her head sort of just dangles above the ground. She can shake it and a few times she was able to "set" it in the right place and look normal.

There are no open wounds or broken legs. Only trace of the fox are two small puncture wounds on the back of the neck. And a lot of lost feathers.

It seems like there is a lot of pain and I'm trying aspirin at the moment and the breathing now is better.

Is there any hope of her recovering or are we just dragging out the pain until the inevitable conclusion?

 

[Eggcessive]

I think you are doing all you can to position her on towels, and feed and water her. Sugar 1 tsp per cup or electrolytes in the water can help while she is in shock. Keep things dim and quiet around her, and protect her from pets. She may have internal injuries. If she survives, you could give her vitamin E 400 IU daily with a small bit of scrambled egg for selenium, which may help with neurological symptoms. Mushy wet chicken feed, egg, canned cat food can be fed when she is able to take food. Tube feeding her with KayTee or other baby bird feed may be done temporarily. Hopefully, she will make it, but it take a lot of nursing care. A chicken sling chair can be made at home if she improves some. Here are some good examples, and on page 2 there are diagrams on the design and a video:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

 

[JulieSHDK]

I think you are doing all you can to position her on towels, and feed and water her. Sugar 1 tsp per cup or electrolytes in the water can help while she is in shock. Keep things dim and quiet around her, and protect her from pets. She may have internal injuries. If she survives, you could give her vitamin E 400 IU daily with a small bit of scrambled egg for selenium, which may help with neurological symptoms. Mushy wet chicken feed, egg, canned cat food can be fed when she is able to take food. Tube feeding her with KayTee or other baby bird feed may be done temporarily. Hopefully, she will make it, but it take a lot of nursing care. A chicken sling chair can be made at home if she improves some. Here are some good examples, and on page 2 there are diagrams on the design and a video:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

Thanks for the reply. I hear a slim hope in your reply and we'll keep caring for her as best we can. Will start feeding her soon as she is still not going for it herself.

She was able to stand on her own today, so that is progress. Let's hope it continues.

 

[JulieSHDK]

Update: She is getting better! She can stand on her own for longer and her head doesn't flop down as far as it did before. Seems to be better control of the head. She even picks for food on her own, but cant really feed her self, so we've been placing food in her beak for her to gulp down.

 

[Eggcessive]

Hopefully she will continue to get stronger. Feeding mushy wet feed will get more fluids into her. There also is torpedo feeding of small bits of feed and egg mixed with water, and tube feeding is another method if she stops wanting to eat. But hopefully she will still want to eat and get better.

 

[JulieSHDK]

Update: Our Rosalita is now back on track. She has almost fully recovered and is eating and drinking normally. She is not scraping the ground as usually, but pecking at it to pick up food, so hopefully she'll get to tearing up the yard soon too.

 

[orelsi]

Good job. I've seen them recover from remarkable neck injuries sometimes taking as long as a couple months. She'll be fine!

 

[Eggcessive]

So glad to hear that your hen is recovering. Thanks for the update.