Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: LittleRedHen on April 29, 2011, 16:20
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Our next door neighbour had a friend over today that brought her terrier. It jumped over the short fence between our gardens and attacked our hens. Kate was just walking down the aisle when we heard the commotion. Our Light Sussex got the worst of it before my husband was able to pull the dog off of her. Luckily there wasn't any broken skin, but she hasn't a tail now and her bottom and back have bald patches. She's moving stiffly and in shock. She doesn't want to come out of the hen house. Is there anything we can do for her to ease the trauma?
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Keep her quiet and in a low light place but not on her own. Make sure she has water to drink and some food. Something she likes to eat. Others may have some more advice for you.
I hope the neighbour and their visitors are ashamed of themselves !
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add some height to your fence can never allow for other peoples thoughtless behaviour
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If she needs a vet or God forbid, doesn't make it through the shock, make sure you bill the terrier owner.
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My over excited labrador pup 'attacked' my ex-batts when I first had them, it was awful, 3 had injuries, the one that didnt, didnt survive the shock. They were all shocked, but Sue, who wasn't well anyway, gave up 3 days later. She had advanced egg yolk peritonitis so I knew she'd die anyway, the attack just speeded up the process :(
I just kept them all quiet in their run, with food and water and left them to recover on their own. Tended their wounds and I sat quietly with them in their run with their favorite treat (sweetcorn) and waited until they felt comfortable enough to come over to me...it took a few attempts, but the remaining 3 are now all fine, tough old birds and now peck the dog in the face whenever they get the chance :D :D (Maisy is now grown up and well behaved) Providing they eat and drink, they have a brilliant chance of recovery.
Chickens are amazingly resilient, and even though it seems terrible today, you'll (hopefully) find, they bounce back quickly and show now ill effects. I couldnt stop crying the day it happened, and I bet you feel terrible, but you had no way of knowing it would happen, so dont feel bad.
Keep us informed of how things go and dont worry too much, what will be will be, but from my experience, they should be ok within a few days xx
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Personally, I would bring her indoors overnight. Give her some sugary water & cat food/tuna to try & perk her up to recover from the shock of it.
Put her on a covered hot water bottle on the settee & give her loads of fuss works wonders.
Bathe any wounds with pre boiled salty water & spray on purple spray.
Thats how I deal with poorly/shocked chooks.
Stupid irrisponsible owner >:(
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Thank you, everybody. My neighbour is avoiding us like the plague. But more concerning, is the fact that my poor hens came out long enough to eat this morning and then on this beautiful, breezy, sunny day, went straight back inside and are sitting on their perch in the hen house. Henrietta, the one that got the most damage, came out long enough to nervously search the perimeters of our back garden and then scuttled back inside. I guess this will take some time to get over. :(
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Poor girls. Good that they came out to eat and drink, and I think you're right it will take a while for them to get over the fright and regain their confidence.
Are they more confident when you are there with them? My girls seem more relaxed when I'm in the yard keeping an eye out for preditors and mimicking their quiet rosey sounds. The neighbours think I'm bonkers of course.
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What did the neighbour and the dog owner say when the attack happened ?
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The dog owner came over and apologised for her dog attacking our chickens, offering to pay for a new hen if Henrietta died. She promised never to bring the dog over to her friend's house again and said that the dog has never gone after anything like that before. This morning my neighbour asked how our hen was doing (She could see there were only two hens out in the garden.) and I told her that Henrietta was hiding in the hen house quite traumatized. I also told her to please advise her guests that bring dogs with them to keep them under control from now on. To this, she shrugged her shoulder and made a pouting face. :mad: :mad: :mad: