MasterofNone
Songster
Hi all, our flock had an unfortunate incident with predators night before last, due to an electronic pop-door malfunction. Owl, we think. And maybe some other opportunistic animal like coyotes may have gotten involved, as the birds scattered in a half mile radius like a bomb went off. Fortunately we arrived before true tragedy struck, but a few birds were injured.
One 11 month old australorp has a deep gash above her tail and lost a few layers of skin just behind her comb. Her injury is the most severe, or at least it would seem to be. We cleaned it of feathers and debris, rinsed well with saline and liberally sprayed her wounds with Vetericyn. Have repeated the spray 3x/day since and she is doing really well. Wound looks good, she is on her feet, eating, drinking and sassy as ever.
The other, an orpington (1year old), got some cuts on her leg. It bled a lot initially but was clotted by the time we located her in the dark pasture. Initially I rinsed the leg fast and put hen heal on it. Then had to go search for the other 17 chickens. The next morning it was swelling but looked ok. I gave her an epson bath to get the blood off and try to draw out the ick. Then liberally sprayed vetericyn. We are cleaned her leg again and use vetericyn 3x/day for her too.
Both are isolated seperately now. Though yesterday they had been together (we have a shortage of isolation areas with the main on housing a chick brooder atm). We scrambled to get a new "infirmary" set up, as the australorp was bullying the orpington apparently. No new wounds but the Orp was just laying there not moving, eating, etc. The infirmaries are large dog crates with paper lining and pine chip bedding. We are feeding their usual Layer feed pellets with some chick crumble that accidentally was mixed in during the chaos. But I figured a little higher protein shouldn't hurt temporarily. We have added rooster booster to their feed, given scrambled eggs, and have electrolyte/acidifier solution in their water.
Today the orpington is not looking great. Her leg is massively swollen (not surprising) but its very pale with a bluish tinge in places (quite possibly from that blue Hen Heal ointment we initially used, but still...eek) She seems to be alert, if very lazy. She eats if her food and water are right in front of her beak, but it clearly hurts her to stand, so she doesn't bother much. Her comb and wattle are bright red and healthy looking though. That leg is just so pale and swollen, and she seems a bit depressed to me, so I can't help but worry.
She is the reason I am starting this thread.We have no internal antibiotics right now. And we can't justify an emergency trip to the vet for her. But she is a sweet young hen that we would hate to lose, so if she wants to heal then we will do our best to help her. Here are my burning questions/concerns... If anyone has wisdom to share we would appreciate it.
1. Should we order an antibiotic powder? I can't find Tylan/tylosin but can get Amoxityl. A cursory overview seems like its appropriate for this and should be effective. Even if she doesn't need it, I am thinking it might be a good addition to the first aid kit for the future. Opinions? Better suggestions? Warnings? Better antibiotics for this?
2. Should we try to get her up more? She is laying on that leg and its staying very moist. I am concerned that might invite infection. I just don't know the best course for her. We could fashion a little sling for her if that would be better.
3. Any other things we missed or can improve in their treatment?
Finally, the rest of the flock had a big trauma, so we confined them to their smaller run (still plenty big for them all). There are tons of feather all around the yard - seriously, its a miracle that none died! But there are a few nearly bare butts out there. Should we have a heat lamp on for them overnight (its still heavy frost)? We added electrolytes to the whole flocks water for now and they are mostly acting normal, if a little subdued.
Thanks to anyone who has suggestions or even read all that. Sorry to write a novel.
I didn't take pics because we didn't think of it, but I can try to get some shots next time we apply the spray if that would help.
One 11 month old australorp has a deep gash above her tail and lost a few layers of skin just behind her comb. Her injury is the most severe, or at least it would seem to be. We cleaned it of feathers and debris, rinsed well with saline and liberally sprayed her wounds with Vetericyn. Have repeated the spray 3x/day since and she is doing really well. Wound looks good, she is on her feet, eating, drinking and sassy as ever.
The other, an orpington (1year old), got some cuts on her leg. It bled a lot initially but was clotted by the time we located her in the dark pasture. Initially I rinsed the leg fast and put hen heal on it. Then had to go search for the other 17 chickens. The next morning it was swelling but looked ok. I gave her an epson bath to get the blood off and try to draw out the ick. Then liberally sprayed vetericyn. We are cleaned her leg again and use vetericyn 3x/day for her too.
Both are isolated seperately now. Though yesterday they had been together (we have a shortage of isolation areas with the main on housing a chick brooder atm). We scrambled to get a new "infirmary" set up, as the australorp was bullying the orpington apparently. No new wounds but the Orp was just laying there not moving, eating, etc. The infirmaries are large dog crates with paper lining and pine chip bedding. We are feeding their usual Layer feed pellets with some chick crumble that accidentally was mixed in during the chaos. But I figured a little higher protein shouldn't hurt temporarily. We have added rooster booster to their feed, given scrambled eggs, and have electrolyte/acidifier solution in their water.
Today the orpington is not looking great. Her leg is massively swollen (not surprising) but its very pale with a bluish tinge in places (quite possibly from that blue Hen Heal ointment we initially used, but still...eek) She seems to be alert, if very lazy. She eats if her food and water are right in front of her beak, but it clearly hurts her to stand, so she doesn't bother much. Her comb and wattle are bright red and healthy looking though. That leg is just so pale and swollen, and she seems a bit depressed to me, so I can't help but worry.
She is the reason I am starting this thread.We have no internal antibiotics right now. And we can't justify an emergency trip to the vet for her. But she is a sweet young hen that we would hate to lose, so if she wants to heal then we will do our best to help her. Here are my burning questions/concerns... If anyone has wisdom to share we would appreciate it.
1. Should we order an antibiotic powder? I can't find Tylan/tylosin but can get Amoxityl. A cursory overview seems like its appropriate for this and should be effective. Even if she doesn't need it, I am thinking it might be a good addition to the first aid kit for the future. Opinions? Better suggestions? Warnings? Better antibiotics for this?
2. Should we try to get her up more? She is laying on that leg and its staying very moist. I am concerned that might invite infection. I just don't know the best course for her. We could fashion a little sling for her if that would be better.
3. Any other things we missed or can improve in their treatment?
Finally, the rest of the flock had a big trauma, so we confined them to their smaller run (still plenty big for them all). There are tons of feather all around the yard - seriously, its a miracle that none died! But there are a few nearly bare butts out there. Should we have a heat lamp on for them overnight (its still heavy frost)? We added electrolytes to the whole flocks water for now and they are mostly acting normal, if a little subdued.
Thanks to anyone who has suggestions or even read all that. Sorry to write a novel.
I didn't take pics because we didn't think of it, but I can try to get some shots next time we apply the spray if that would help.
I am afraid of doing more harm than good. 
I guess it feels good with as sore as that leg is.
