Hen can’t lift neck after attacked by fox

[Crazyabouthens]

Hi my hen was attacked by a fox on Sunday night and now her neck has a few wounds and is bruised. She is struggling to have any control over her neck and is very weak. I have her at home with me propped up with some pillows. She is happy to drink but I can’t get her to take hardly any food from me. She ate a tiny bit off my hand earlier but apart from that she has been showing no interest in eating. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Crazyabouthens]

@Wyorp Rock

@goats-n-oats​

@Tumbleweedlynn
@MarlaMac
@azygous
@Eggcessive
@Tookie

 

[coach723]

Have you flushed out the wounds well and applied an antibiotic ointment? Pictures of any wounds would be helpful. Make sure you haven't missed any wounds hiding in feathers. She may have been squeezed or shaken, and is likely very, very sore. That she has survived this long is also a good sign. This may take some time. That she is drinking is good. Try giving some cooked or scrambled egg, canned tuna, even sometimes cat food will tempt them. If you still can't get her to eat, you may need to tube feed her until she's strong enough to eat on her own.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sorry to hear about your hen.

Do you have photos?

Good advice from @coach723 . In addition to her suggestions, I'd also start vitamin therapy to offer nerve support since she's suffered trauma to the head/neck. Give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily.

Let us know how she's doing.

 

[Crazyabouthens]

Have you flushed out the wounds well and applied an antibiotic ointment? Pictures of any wounds would be helpful. Make sure you haven't missed any wounds hiding in feathers. She may have been squeezed or shaken, and is likely very, very sore. That she has survived this long is also a good sign. This may take some time. That she is drinking is good. Try giving some cooked or scrambled egg, canned tuna, even sometimes cat food will tempt them. If you still can't get her to eat, you may need to tube feed her until she's strong enough to eat on her own.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/

Yes I cleaned up the wounds straight away. I have tried various different foods, including scrambled egg and nothing seems to make her want to eat. However saying that, last night I managed to put multiple tiny pieces of ham into her beak and she was quite happy to eat it. Since yesterday I have been syringing water into her to make sure she is hydrated because I’m not sure she has been drinking enough. She’s also drank some ‘fortisip’ (I’m not sure wether I should be giving her that or not) but I thought it would be good for her as it contains many vitamins and energy to hopefully help her strength.

 

[Crazyabouthens]

Sorry to hear about your hen.

Do you have photos?

Good advice from @coach723 . In addition to her suggestions, I'd also start vitamin therapy to offer nerve support since she's suffered trauma to the head/neck. Give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily.

Let us know how she's doing.

Ok thank you, would these be ok to get?

 

[coach723]

Those vitamins are fine.

 

[klb25]

Hi my hen was attacked by a fox on Sunday night and now her neck has a few wounds and is bruised. She is struggling to have any control over her neck and is very weak. I have her at home with me propped up with some pillows. She is happy to drink but I can’t get her to take hardly any food from me. She ate a tiny bit off my hand earlier but apart from that she has been showing no interest in eating. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

No advice here, just wondering how she is today?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sounds like you are doing all the right things.

The vitamins you posted look just fine.

 

[Crazyabouthens]

Sounds like you are doing all the right things.

The vitamins you posted look just fine.

No advice here, just wondering how she is today?

Thank you. I will go and pick up those vitamins today. What else would you recommend I do to help strengthen her neck and get food into her? I don’t get how she is pooopinh so much when she’s hardly ate a thing for the past 5 days. Her face is still quite bright and has a reddish comb. I had to cut some feathers from her bum as the poop was sticking to it. Got her to eat some ham again last night by placing it in her beak. She was a bit more reluctant to do it this morning, struggling to get her to swallow it. I’m not sure what else would be something easy to just pop into her beak for her to swallow. Thanks so much for the all advice.