Dog attack! Neck exposed...help!

[leeyuh]

I came home to a chicken massacre today. 1 roo and 2 hens dead, 1 badly injured. 4 safe, and 1 missing (although I'm almost positive she flew over the fence).

The injured one was standing in the garden when I found her. She seemed to be in shock...the back of her neck was completely removed, and I could see her entire neck. The skin was split and just kind of hanging there. However, she could hold her head up just fine, and seemed to be moving it around fine, although she wasn't doing alot of moving due to shock. I picked the ants off of her while she stood there still. I watched her walk to the coop, slow but fine.

We have her inside the house, in a dog cage with some hay and a fan. I poured some hydrogen peroxide on her neck. We have water with gatorade in it to provide electrolytes. We dipped her beak in it but she doesn't seem to be interested. I read that hard boiled eggs help too, but i know she won't go for that quite yet.

Will this heal without having to wrap the neck somehow to put the skin back where it belongs? Can I just clean it daily with hydrogen peroxide (providing she lives through the night), and keep it wrapped with gauze or something?

It's 12:30 am now and I plan to take her to the vet ASAP in the morning, but I don't want to spend the money doing that if there is little or nothing a vet can do. I've looked through this forum a bit and it seems like a lot of folks say that chickens heal very well and very miraculously on their own.

It's the behavior that is throwing me off, I guess.

Anyways...any help or advice would be awesome. I'm feeling pretty positive about it after hearing some crazy survival stories, but I don't want to get my hopes up, and i don't want to have to pay a vet $40 just to tell me to put her down.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Don't pour any more hydrogen peroxide on the wound. Full strength is too strong and will stop the tissue from healing. I would recommend antibiotic ointment and wrap it loosely with gauze. Vitamins and electrolytes are good. She may need antibiotics as well. Add a little sugar or molasses to her water . Sorry this happened to your chickens, dog attacks are the worst! Hope you find more alive that hid. Good luck.

 

[leeyuh]

THANK YOU for your speedy reply. So you think going to the vet to get antibiotics is worth it?

I'm worried the vet will say she's too far gone, or something, and that I should put her down. But all these success stories I've been reading sound like she will make it.

My dogs have been coexisting with these chickens for 6 months now. They all lay down together in the shade during the heat of the day, and the dogs have even been protecting them (probably because they want to eat their poop!) I guess no matter how well things seem to be going, dogs will always have instinct kick in sooner or later.

 

[CapricornFarm]

You are welcome You don't have to go to a vet for antibiotics, most vets won't even treat chickens. Go to your farm store, get LA200 and some syringes with small needles. I am sure if you do some looking on here, you will find dosages in past posts. You inject the antibiotic into the breast area. It is amazing what good patients chickens are. I had to set a broken leg on my rooster when a goat stepped on him. He never pecked or squawked at all. You can at least try to help her. Keep her warm, she's probably in shock. Get liquids into her.

 

[Imp]

Good advice from H2P. Chickens can survive some amazingly bad wounds.

Here's some information, a good thread on wound care. Pay attention to post #16.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=203024

Imp

 

[Dudu]

Just thought I'd post something that has worked for us. My Mom having a great interest in medicinal herbs, and we once treated a small baby chick whose side had been badly torn by my dog (skin removed) with a herb called Hypericum. I checked on Wiki and it grows in North America also. There are several kinds and one is considered superb for healing wounds. We just went to the meadow and picked some fresh leaves, minced them a little to make the juice come out and put it straight on the wound. My brother and I held the chickie in our hands in turns, pressing the herb to the wound, as it was impossible to attach the leaves to it in any way (the wound was right under the wing, towards the back). We spent 2 days taking turns, and you could practically see the wound gradually closing up. That baby chick grew up as normal and lived many years. Now that I'm living in another country I want to plant it here even just in a pot, just in case, as it really works miracles.

 

[TeriyakiChicken]

Dog attack are horrid! I will keep you in my prayers

Once we had a fox attack our chickens. 6 out of 8 died, 1 had a broken leg (the bone was sticking out in an odd direction) and one was fine except it was missing all it's tail feathers.
The one with the broken leg survived and was left with a scar

Hope you and your chicken are okay

 

[Alarice]

I had a similar attack a month ago with a raccoon killing two of my 7 week old hens, and badly injuring a third. My injured hen had an 8 inch by 2 inch section of her skin completely removed from her chest up along her neck and down her back. The vet was able to pull her skin together, although it was a little snug, and stitch her up. She was put on antibiotics for two weeks, and a pain killer as well.

We kept her in the house in an open top puppy pen to control her surrounding temp better, and she healed up beautifully. The only issue we had was getting her back outside once she got addicted to watching TV.

I wish you luck with your little lady and hope to hear good news soon. <3

 

[Daisy668]

If your worried about her behavior it can take them a long time to get other an attack. I had a dog attack 3 years ago. Killed one guinea pig and all of my chickens were missing. One i found and was completely bold and she grew bak to full strength again but she didn't have any cuts through her skin. Another one of mine with very traumatized and 3 years later if she hears a dog bark and she round the garden she will run to their pen that has high fences round it. It also stopped them all laying for months.
It can take a long time for them to recover mentally from attacks like that. Chickens are tough old things and they fight a lot so she should recover soon.
Sorry for your other chickens :'(
Daisy. x

 

[leeyuh]

Our vet does, in fact, see chickens, so we might go with that option...just because there is so much skin that needs to be "put back". Our vet is pretty good about recommending stuff that can be purchased at Tractor Supply for cheaper, so hopefully it won't cost an arm and a leg.

She's still alive this morning, alert, but slow to move, and still doesn't seem interested in her water.

Dudu, will definitely look into growing Hypericum! Thank you.