Chickenhouse35
Hatching
- Jun 4, 2024
- 5
- 6
- 6
Hi everyone, I have 4 chickens that were attacked by a coyote last night. 2 are badly injured. (Warning. Graphic description below.) I have photos, but they are really graphic so I did not include them.
Cheerio is my 4 y/o scrappy hen. It looks like the coyote took many bites and I interrupted him finishing her off. All I saw was her running towards me. Her skin is missing from the top of her back near the lungs to the top of her tail and a strip down her left side as well. I could see fat and muscles, but doesn’t seem like it cut to her organs. Based off the advice on this site, last night I saline wound washed it, sprayed with Vetrycin, lathered the entire area with Neosporin (used an entire new tube), and basically used the neosporin as a kind of glue for the 2 small flaps of skin still hanging on and covered the rest with gauze. I don’t know how she’s even making it this far with so much skin missing, but she seems mentally fine. She fought me when I gave her sugar water last night, and this morning I saw she had eaten some of her food and wormies I left in the crate. I made her scrambled eggs and she ate some of that willingly too. I repeated the steps above and changed her dressing this morning and she’s been resting since.
Tammy is 7 y/o and is the sweetest of our coop. The coyote took a big bite of feathers out of her and scared her real bad, but she is not physically as hurt. She has a small half inch scratch on her back and a ton of missing feathers, but little to no blood. When I found her though, her mouth was parted and she was panting loudly. I assumed it was shock? I checked and no visible lung puncture. I gave her a tiny bit of my cat’s gabapentin (mixed reviews on this for chickens, but I didn’t think she would make the night without a tiny bit of sedative). While physically fine, she seems to be doing far worse than Cheerio. She is still panting (less though), won’t eat, her eyes are half drooped, and while I did see her get up and walk, she doesn’t seem to have much energy for that.
Edit: both have pooped liquid this morning.
I found this site in my frantic Google last night, so I’m posting on here today to ask if someone has any advice for me and maybe this post can help a frantic chicken owner in the future too. The earliest vet appt I could get is Thursday afternoon, and I’m trying to prepare myself for the worst, but please any help would be so appreciated. I just want to make sure I’m doing all that I can.
Cheerio is my 4 y/o scrappy hen. It looks like the coyote took many bites and I interrupted him finishing her off. All I saw was her running towards me. Her skin is missing from the top of her back near the lungs to the top of her tail and a strip down her left side as well. I could see fat and muscles, but doesn’t seem like it cut to her organs. Based off the advice on this site, last night I saline wound washed it, sprayed with Vetrycin, lathered the entire area with Neosporin (used an entire new tube), and basically used the neosporin as a kind of glue for the 2 small flaps of skin still hanging on and covered the rest with gauze. I don’t know how she’s even making it this far with so much skin missing, but she seems mentally fine. She fought me when I gave her sugar water last night, and this morning I saw she had eaten some of her food and wormies I left in the crate. I made her scrambled eggs and she ate some of that willingly too. I repeated the steps above and changed her dressing this morning and she’s been resting since.
Tammy is 7 y/o and is the sweetest of our coop. The coyote took a big bite of feathers out of her and scared her real bad, but she is not physically as hurt. She has a small half inch scratch on her back and a ton of missing feathers, but little to no blood. When I found her though, her mouth was parted and she was panting loudly. I assumed it was shock? I checked and no visible lung puncture. I gave her a tiny bit of my cat’s gabapentin (mixed reviews on this for chickens, but I didn’t think she would make the night without a tiny bit of sedative). While physically fine, she seems to be doing far worse than Cheerio. She is still panting (less though), won’t eat, her eyes are half drooped, and while I did see her get up and walk, she doesn’t seem to have much energy for that.
Edit: both have pooped liquid this morning.
I found this site in my frantic Google last night, so I’m posting on here today to ask if someone has any advice for me and maybe this post can help a frantic chicken owner in the future too. The earliest vet appt I could get is Thursday afternoon, and I’m trying to prepare myself for the worst, but please any help would be so appreciated. I just want to make sure I’m doing all that I can.
