[Pep]

Hi all,

One of my chickens was attacked late on Saturday by a stone marten (a large stoat type animal) and has suffered puncture wounds to her neck.  The other two were suffering from shock but were more or less back to normal by Sunday.

I've tried to buy the purple spray but it's not available out here.  I used some I got some from a friend but she's had it for years so may be out of date.  I've bought some antibiotic spray from the local vet and have also used that.

The wound to her neck seems to be healing quite nicely but she's not eating or drinking at all.  I've tried to tempt her with food, placed bowls of water at different heights around their area but she either can't or wont eat or drink.

She looks out of alignment, her head more to one side than the other and wonder if there's some internal damage.  I'm attaching some photo's but not really sure they show the true extent.  She can walk but if she flaps her wings she's knocked of balance, probably because a lot of feathers from one wing are missing.









My problem is, how long can she live without food and water?  Am I being kinder giving her a chance or would it be better for hubby to put her out of her misery.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Pauline

[joyfull]

Hi Pauline, the misalignment may be due to her having a sprained neck after the attack so hopefully her muscles will recover. Do you have any chick crumb? or can you get some? I find this helps mine recover - maybe because it is smaller so they can swallow it, if not try making her feed into a slurry or even a thinner gruel. Her throat would be very sore so this would be why she isn't eating and drinking - do you have or can you get an anti inflammitory suspension? Over here we use either metacam or loxicom both of which are prescribed for dogs - they are honey flavoured so most hens will swallow it, they are also pain killers. She will be in shock but hopefully with a lot of tlc and over time she will recover, don't give up on her even if she appears to have given up on herself 

[GrannieAnnie]

I agree with Joy, don't give up on her yet.  Poor thing.  The only problem I've found with neck damage is it can cause neurological problems, not just physical, so watch her carefully

[Pep]

Hello Joy and Anne,

Thank you for your prompt replies.

The main diet of chickens out here is crumb and we feed them with it twice every day together with grain and treats.  We've tried hand feeding but she's having none of it.  She showed interest in some tomatoes yesterday but couldn't position herself to pick one up.  It's as if her neck locks when she get so far down but she wouldn't take it even when held at beak height.

The spray I'm using translates to both anitibiotic and antiseptic so would assume that it is soothing to a certain extent.

It's reassuring to know that you think we should give her more of a chance to recover and she'll get loads of TLC.  It was, after all, my fault by not locking them in before the martens came out.

Thanks again.

Pauline

[joyfull]

sadly it is easily done  , try getting an anti inflamitory for her and also perhaps syringing a gruel into her for a while xx

[nicky d]

so sorry to hear about your girl, i hope she picks up soon.   Ref the food, joyfulls advice about wetting down the food is good.  One of my girls wasnt eating there, so i made the pellets into a mash and she scoffed it down.   Good luck with her, fingers crossed she gets better.  nickyx

[Pep]

Thank you Nicky.  It was indeed good advice.

I've just made up a really sloppy mixture and offered it right up to her beak.  She wouldn't take it so Hubby held her and I opened her beak with one hand and poured a small of it into her mouth with the other.  I was afraid of her choking but she swallowed ok  .  That gave me the go ahead and all in all she's probably had the equivalent of 5-6 teaspoons full.

If we do this several times a day, hopefully, she'll soon be on the mend.

Thanks again.

Pauline

[Sassy]

That sounds really hopeful. Good luck

[Pep]

Thank you Sassy.

After the second force feeding she was showing an interest in life again  .  Some time later she was taking a real interest in what the other birds were scratching up.  She didn't scratch and just couldn't get her head down far enough to pick anything up.  That's a big improvement on yesterday when she could hardly move it at all. 

Anyway, she's done quite a bit of walking around and after a third feed, took herself to bed.  Sunday and Monday we had to lift her in.

Such a vast improvement on yesterday and I'm so pleased I posted for advice  .

Pauline

[joyfull]

fingers crossed Pauline, at least she will be getting some food and liquid by this method 

[joyfull]

how is she today Pauline?, you may have to keep force feeding her for a few days until she regains some strength in her muscles though.

[Pep]

Hi Joy,

Sorry I missed your post this morning.  We're two hours in front of UK and I'd been and gone by then.

She looked a bit stiff and sorry for herself first thing but improved throughout the day to the point where she got her head to ground level and actually had a couple of mouthfulls of food  .  We've force fed her as well but it was lovely to see her trying as it shows she's not given up.

Her neck is still to one side and her breast-bone still sticks out at a strange angle but I can remember Kate and her Duck's Patrick had a kinked neck for a long time after he was attacked and he went on to father lots of baby Patricks!!

Her main problem seems to be balance, most of her flight feathers are missing from one wing and the ones on the other wing are very low, almost to the floor.  Do flight feathers grow back again or should we trim the other side to even her up a bit?  She tried to jump up onto the middle of the ladder this evening to go to bed but fell backwards a few times to the point where we rushed to pick her up and place her in.

All in all though she's getting there, thank you.

From a much happier Pauline than a couple of days ago  x

[bantam novice]

Great news Pauline, hope the improvement continues 

[joyfull]

her flight feathers will grow back after her next moult, so hopefully she will learn to adapt until then. Sounds like she has come on in leaps and bounds - so pleased 

[NormandyMary]

Ive found that shock can do terrible things to chooks, making them shaky on their legs etc. Im so pleased that you little girl is perking up at last, and I really hope that she goes on to make a full recovery. Is your antibiotic spray a deep turquiose in colour? If it is, it could be the one I use and its very good indeed.

Best of luck,

Mary.