My hen escaped and came back badly injured

[MindiWynne]

This is a good recent thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...by-possum-in-the-night.1276100/#post-20528975

Absolutely helpful! Thank you, Kathy!

 

[Chick-N-Daddy]

yeargh! Absolutely one of my biggest issues / fears being a new chickie-parent - bar none. I don't do well with blood & gore in general (though you'd never know it with my SPFX / Gore makeup around Halloween). If anything ever happens to one of my ladies, or I get too hungry, I'd likely have to find someone else to do whatever deed needs doing.

I've been leaving my girls in the uncovered run during the day, but there are lots of branches and stuff for them to duck into as needed (air attacks anyway). They only get to run in the bigger yard space if I am nearby doing chores or having a coffee or beer. We have some stray/barn cats who don't seem overly interested and generally avoid the coop/run area - plenty of easier prey around. We also have Trash Panda (racoon - female and cub/kit) and skunk (very obviously a male) wandering around from time to time, as seen on IR motion detect cams.

For surveillance, I recommend a Raspberry Pi, some cheap 'Seawit' (re: generic ONVIF) PoE cams from amazon, a PoE hub, and a Synology file server. That is a rough & basic example of my setup. The rPi can be deployed in the coop an get power via PoE (with a splitter) and drive multiple USB (non-PoE) cameras and a cron'd script can snapshot and push images to a file server. The Synology has full NVR support for the ONVIF POE cams, and can be configured to detect motion in specific areas and record.

I check overnight & morning video captures over my 1st cup of coffee before getting my 2nd cup and feeding the chicks.

 

[MROO]

Sounds like you're doing it right! Make sure she's getting electrolytes, too. You can give her NutriDrench, or even Chick Saver or Pedialyte (generic is fine). I buy the freezer pop style, so I only have to open a small packet at a time. The unopened packets "keep" a looooong time.

 

[micstrachan]

I’m so sorry about your girl. You are doing great with her! I’m impressed she is eating. It sounds like she is already past the initial shock. Is she drinking, too? If not, you might want to wet her feed. Have you checked her ALL over? You just want to watch for infection and be prepared to administer antibiotics if she seems to get infected. We have seen some remarkable recoveries from predator attacks on these forums, so I think she has a very good chance for full recovery. Like others have said, photos would be great.

 

[Saaniya]

@Eggcessive will help u surely

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your hen, but glad that you found her. Vetericyn wound spray or saline is best to spray on the wound, and this should be done twice a day. Even deep wounds can heal well, but internal injuries are not always obvious at first. Usually, it is better to not put a dressing on the wound, but it might be needed if she is lying on her wound. A clean towel can be used for bedding in a dog crate or basket. Keep her separarted as the wound is healing, but she may need to be able to see the other chickens to be comfortable.

Since she is eating and alert, and I am assuming that she is able to walk, she should have a good chance of surviving. Don’t be surprised if she does not stop laying from the stress of her attack. I would be on the lookout for a predator to return.

 

[MindiWynne]

Thank you everyone for your help and support. I just got back from an expensive visit to TSC and I am now prepared for any wound, trauma, crisis or zombie-chicken apocalypse that could possibly ever occur (Yes, its way too much and overkill but after a sleepless night it makes me feel better)
That being said, Marsala is acting fairly normal and even laid an egg for me this morning! She is eating well and doesn't seem to realize there is a giant chunk of her missing. I have not changed her dressing and bandages yet, but will do so here shortly and will try to take a picture of her wound before I clean it and do and debrieding necessary.
Thank you all again for the advice and well wishes for her

 

[MindiWynne]

So here is what Marsala's chest wound looks like today. Honestly, I have no clue what I am looking at but since she egged and is acting really pissed off at me, Im guessing its not super duper critical. I did debried it a little and trim some feathers from around the bulgy part, sprayed it thoroughly with peroxide and Vetricyn Plus, and made the decision to cover it again since so much seemed exposed. I was worried about the gauze pad sticking so I covered the pad with Neosporin before putting it directly on the wound, wrapped it with gauze wrap and then used coban to holdnit in place. Last night I mixed an aspirin into 14oz of water and I gave her 1ml of that water orally with a dropper then put her back into a clean "hospital crate."
Im flying by the seat of my pants with this. Ive been an EMT for 35 years but never had to do trauma treatment on a hen before.

 

[Saaniya]

@staceyj just have a look.

 

[Saaniya]

So here is what Marsala's chest wound looks like today. Honestly, I have no clue what I am looking at but since she egged and is acting really pissed off at me, Im guessing its not super duper critical. I did debried it a little and trim some feathers from around the bulgy part, sprayed it thoroughly with peroxide and Vetricyn Plus, and made the decision to cover it again since so much seemed exposed. I was worried about the gauze pad sticking so I covered the pad with Neosporin before putting it directly on the wound, wrapped it with gauze wrap and then used coban to holdnit in place. Last night I mixed an aspirin into 14oz of water and I gave her 1ml of that water orally with a dropper then put her back into a clean "hospital crate."
Im flying by the seat of my pants with this. Ive been an EMT for 35 years but never had to do trauma treatment on a hen before.

If she's not.giving up don't give up on her she's strong will she wanted to live maybe that's why she suffer so much and returned to u cause she loves u

Can't say how long it takes time to heal but.it will heal she's a fighter