Hawk attack - is she save-able?

[Chickflick29]

My poor bantam/serama mix, Holly, was attacked by a hawk 2 days ago during her free range time - our LGD was off getting water, and I swear the hawk knew and dove for her in that minute. It was chased away immediately when the others made commotion, and she seemed to have minimal external wounds.

She was gasping and in obvious shock/pain when it happened, so we brought her inside and placed her in a box with towels to prop her up. She had little use of her neck, but we’ve been hopeful and have been feeding her electrolyte water and bits of egg yolk/egg through small syringes. She responds to this and wants to drink/eat, she opens her eyes and seems to be ingesting things in very small amounts.

Two days in, however, and she still doesn’t have any neck control. She flaps her left wing and has mobility in her left leg, but after testing the right side there doesn’t seem to be any response. She spasms and gasps when we tried to move her to check her right side for unfound wounds, to prop her up, but she returns to a prone state and her head tilts back again. She pooped normally once and laid a single egg the night after it happened, but nothing since then.

I’m feeling hopeless with this one, wondering if there’s anyone with experience who has any knowledge that could help me make the decision to either keep fighting with her or put her out of her misery (humanely) if there’s no hope of a comeback. I don’t want her to suffer, we love her dearly, but I also don’t want to give up too fast. I know it’s only been two days, but I worry about the fact that she still can’t move at all or support herself in any way.

I’ve had hens come back from fox attacks, hawk attacks, etc. but this doesn’t seem like she’s improving the same. Any advice?

Pic attached is from today, two days after the attack. She was propped up with her head resting on the towels half an hour earlier, less on her side and in a more ‘normal’ position, but seems to have sunken back down

 

[azygous]

Have you examined her body completely for injuries that might be infected? Infection can begin from the second a chicken is injured, and death from infection can occur with 24 to 48 hours when infection goes untreated with an antibiotic or, at minimum, cleaning the wound and coating with a topical antibiotic.

She also may be suffering from injured nerve connections. Giving vitamin E and B-complex can help repair this damage.

In summary, daily wound care, oral antibiotic, and vitamin therapy are what you need to be doing.

 

[PopoMyers]

My poor bantam/serama mix, Holly, was attacked by a hawk 2 days ago during her free range time - our LGD was off getting water, and I swear the hawk knew and dove for her in that minute. It was chased away immediately when the others made commotion, and she seemed to have minimal external wounds.

She was gasping and in obvious shock/pain when it happened, so we brought her inside and placed her in a box with towels to prop her up. She had little use of her neck, but we’ve been hopeful and have been feeding her electrolyte water and bits of egg yolk/egg through small syringes. She responds to this and wants to drink/eat, she opens her eyes and seems to be ingesting things in very small amounts.

Two days in, however, and she still doesn’t have any neck control. She flaps her left wing and has mobility in her left leg, but after testing the right side there doesn’t seem to be any response. She spasms and gasps when we tried to move her to check her right side for unfound wounds, to prop her up, but she returns to a prone state and her head tilts back again. She pooped normally once and laid a single egg the night after it happened, but nothing since then.

I’m feeling hopeless with this one, wondering if there’s anyone with experience who has any knowledge that could help me make the decision to either keep fighting with her or put her out of her misery (humanely) if there’s no hope of a comeback. I don’t want her to suffer, we love her dearly, but I also don’t want to give up too fast. I know it’s only been two days, but I worry about the fact that she still can’t move at all or support herself in any way.

I’ve had hens come back from fox attacks, hawk attacks, etc. but this doesn’t seem like she’s improving the same. Any advice?

Pic attached is from today, two days after the attack. She was propped up with her head resting on the towels half an hour earlier, less on her side and in a more ‘normal’ position, but seems to have sunken back down

Last November my half of my flock was attacked by what seemed to be a weasel. One girl was unconscious but still breathing, upon inspection had bite marks on her upper neck.
She looked like your girl, with wry neck, and could not stand or balance. Gave her sugar water, dropper fed her egg yolk, for about 2 weeks. Bought pee pads (for incontinence, look by those products, way cheaper). Fashioned a box and sling so she could be more upright, and not lay in watery poo, which she had until her neck was able to allow her to eat normal food. Gave B complex, C, and E vitamins, sunflower seeds, all flock. She got progressively better, her neck became more functional and unwry, but not completely. Her legs became stronger, but she was not fully healed after 3 months of ICU. I needed a friend to take care of her while I was out of town, and she died, probably from the added stress of being in a strange environment. In hindsight, I should have euthanized her.

This was my sad experience, and you as a caring chicken tender will consider all aspects of her care, pain, suffering, and will make the right decision for her. My heart goes out to you.

 

[Chickflick29]

Thank you so much for all the helpful information and input, wanted to update that we got her to an emergency vet and there was extensive fracture/internal damage. Vet agreed there wasn’t much hope for good quality of life, and she was in a lot of pain. We made the hard decision to let her go

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

Thank you so much for all the helpful information and input, wanted to update that we got her to an emergency vet and there was extensive fracture/internal damage. Vet agreed there wasn’t much hope for good quality of life, and she was in a lot of pain. We made the hard decision to let her go

I'm sorry for you loss

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry that you lost her.