Dog Attack. advice needed

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GemmaEllen

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I posted last week about our brand new ex-batts not eating mash. since then, they have recovered entirely, and are happy, healthy, and happy.

Unfortunately, there was a dog attack today. First time ever! We live on a large plot of private land, but there is a public footpath that runs from the hill behind us (the Sussex Downs) a dog got off its lead, jumped the fence from the field, and ran straight for them. One of our 4 older chickens, Georgie, got grabbed, and we managed to get her out of the dogs mouth, but then it rushed at another - one of our new girls. Georgie was panting and panicked and all lolling about like she couldn't hold her head up. there were no external injuries other than a couple of scrapes, but I'm a little worried she's got internal injuries. I've put her in one of the coops for now, with food and water. after a quick check up on her, she's doing a little better. less panting, but still not moving about and fairly laboured breathing. I'm hoping she's just bruised.

As for Gracie, she's suffered the worst I'm afraid. she's got a large wound to her back. I guess because her skin is so much thinner than Georgie and the other girls - the dog just pulled her feathers and left a huge hole. she scarpered straight into the coop the moment the dog let go, and I've not been able to get to her yet. I've got some antiseptic cream (no spray available right now but I'll be picking some up tomorrow) but wanted to give her some quiet in the coop before I tried to apply it. She seems awake and alert, just very quiet and subdued, and not interested in coming out of the coop at all.

Gerti, our top hen, has been sitting with Mags and both seem quiet but fine. the other 2 girls, Hari and Henri, are missing. I know they are just hiding somewhere, and will turn up once they are sure the dog has gone, (they are entirely free range and sometimes do that if they don't like people!) but I'm so worried about them all.

does anyone have any advice on what to do in this situation? I've never had an injured chicken before so don't have any knowledge here.
 
Hi GemmaEllen, so sorry to hear about this incident. What a shame, especially for the exbatts who were doing so well after you've tried so hard to make them relax and feel at home. Its a very shocking and distressing thing to watch and take part in, it must have upset you very much as well as the flock.
Gracie and Georgie are evidently in deep shock, and I think you've done exactly the right thing in leaving them in peace and quiet overnight to recover a bit. Chickens can be very resilient, and in any case you won't be able to tell if Georgie has any disabling injuries until she can get out on her feet and try to walk around a bit, perhaps tomorrow. Is Gracie still bleeding, do you think? Again, I think its probably best to just leave her overnight and have a gentle look at her injuries tomorrow, unless there's a lot of blood around. If she gets out and about, the main problem may be that the others will peck her wound, so she may need to be kept separate once you've had a chance to clean it up a bit. Surface flesh wounds to poultry can and do heal OK if clean and not infected, so there's hope for her, but I'm afraid that if either turns out to be badly injured internally there won't be much you can do and may have to think whether it might be kindest to have them put to sleep, but let's hope it won't come to that.
You will have to think carefully about how to improve security. Freedom comes at a heavy price when there are predators about who can get in, and if a dog can jump the fence a fox would have no trouble either. Obviously, having them under supervision isn't enough, though your intervention may well have saved their lives. Maybe electric fence will be needed, or a secure run.
Was the dog with its owner? If so, what did they have to say? Did they help catch it? Did they offer compensation? Not that this would have helped, but it would have showed that they cared. Poultry count as farm animals so it's against the law to have a dog out of control in a flock, and I think legally you're allowed to shoot it - not hat I imagine you could bring yourself to do that, even in defence of your girls, but some money for vets bills if necessary would be only fair. I hope you got their details.

I hope the others have turned up O.K.
 
Hi Marigold,

Thank you for your reply.

After a couple of hours on their own, in quiet, Georgie seems to be doing OK. she's not moving around much, but she's not panting, and seems content to sit still and be quiet. She is in her own coop, with food and water, and I will check on her until I put the others to bed (in a separate coop) and see how she is in the morning.

We've now had a proper look at Gracie. she's a bit more alert, and was lifting her head to 'say hello' when we opened the nesting box, but her wound looks pretty bad. I cant really tell if its a surface flesh wound since its hard to see, but she has a large patch of skin missing from her back. The muscle underneath looks swollen and sore (as I expect it is!) but its not bled since the initial attack, and even then, very little it seems.

We cleaned it as best we could, and have dabbed on some antiseptic cream. She's been put back into another coop, which I cleaned out and replaced with fresh straw (in an attempt to stop bugs. I've pulled the ladder up too, since she's not been able to figure it out in her 'proper' coop yet, and I didn't want her falling down the ramp.) we've left her snug and warm with some food and water (we got her to drink some water whilst cleaning her up, too) and will just have to see how she fares.

If I'm honest, I don't think she will last the night.

As for security, we don't even see foxes here so its been a real shock to the system. we live in a tiny village (24 houses in total) with farms surrounding us, and so people chancing on the land who don't expect livestock are extremely rare - and even then there are signs pretty much everywhere warning owners to keep dogs on leads because of all the animals.

I'm not sure that I can do anything about security on the land, since we are tenants. I will speak to the landlady (who is away on holiday this week) but I doubt it will have any effect, since they are country folk and view the chickens as livestock. the 4 on site (Georgie included) actually belong to her, and none of them even had names until we moved into the barn!

As for Maggie and, if she survives, Gracie, perhaps i'll have a run made up that's more secure. We do have them in a run when we're not around in the day, since they've not quite integrated with the other chickens yet (although, they've been doing remarkably well in that respect!) and we were only letting them wander when we were in the garden. Since they tend to follow us around for the most part anyway (they really are friendly chickens!) we thought they would be safe enough.

I guess we were wrong.

The owner of the dog was hopeless. she had no control over her dog off the lead, and even let her attack Gracie once she was ON the lead, holding her tightly. I was dealing with Georgie and didn't see Gracie come over to see what was going on. I guess, as a rescue chicken, she'd not seen a dog and didn't think anything of it until it grabbed her. The owner gave me her mobile number, and I'll probably contact her if we lose Gracie, for a replacement. It doesn't compensate us at all, but I'd rather Maggie not be left on her own.

The only positive thing is that the other 2 girls turned up about an hour ago, and seem fine. they have gone back to wandering around the garden again (albeit, cautiously) I wanted to shut them up in the coop, but the owners son, who popped in this afternoon, said 'just leave them to it.' and since he claims more rights to them than I do, I have to respect his wishes (it wont stop me checking on them every 5 minutes though!)

So I guess now its just a waiting game.
 
I'm afraid without the piece of skin to sew back into place Gracie, the injured hen, has no hope of recovery and needs to be culled immediately on welfare grounds Gemma. There is a limit to how much will grow back without stitching and it is only a few millimetres in my experience.

Georgie is in shock and needs a dark place to recover. Only time will tell if she has internal injuries. Look for green poos which indicate internal damage, but not necessarily infection at this stage.

The owners son is right. Best not interrupt their routine more than necessary but to let them sort themselves out.

Dogs are our biggest threat here as well. The foxes are small in comparison.
 
This is such a sickening story. I'm very sorry to hear how badly Gracie was injured, and by a dog on a lead, which had been caught after attacking Georgie, beggars belief. Please, in the interests of us responsible dog owners who do train and restrain our dogs, do pursue this woman because she really needs to realise that she must do something about her dog. Our previous dog was attacked more than once by bullies like that one and it made him very fearful and aggressive to other big dogs.
I'm glad the other two turned up and that there seems to be no immediate danger. How are they this morning?
 
This morning, Georgie is still quiet and still, but has been moving about and drinking some. I don't think she has touched her food, but I'm not worried at this point. I've kept her in her coop and will leave her there for the day to get some rest (and peace and quiet from the other 3, who are wondering where she is!)

Gracie survived the night. my boyfriend checked on her this morning (he knew I couldn't do it!) and said that her wound is much the same - weeping slightly but no blood. The skin that is missing is just smaller than a 20 pence piece, and she has a long, superficial scratch down her back.
It doesn't look like she moved in the night at all, but when Andy opened the coop to check, she lifted her head to greet him, and then stood and made a slow walk to the corner where he was. we've left the coop open slightly (covered in mesh), to give her some sunlight, and she has settled at that end with her food and water. she has been drinking quite a lot of water, but the food appears untouched. she is still very sleepy, but I imagine she didn't sleep much in the night...

I'm going to head out to get some children's ibuprofen and will see if there are any alternative creams I can find. (I saw this article which has given me hope! http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/709758/how-i-saved-my-chicken-after-a-hawk-attack-graphic-wound-pics/30)

Chrismahon - I understand your suggestion to euthanise, and I have a contact number of a farm who will do it for me if it comes to that, but would like to give her another day with some medication. I'm hoping she might perk up a little if I can take some of the pain away. I don't hold out much hope for either of them if i'm honest, but I want to do all I an before I make the decision. I know they are only chickens, and that if we hadn't rescued them from the battery she'd be dead by now anyway, but after all that Gracie has been through, I feel I ought to try.

Marigold - I'm not sure I can contact the woman right now. I'm so angry at her that I don't think contact would be productive. But I will let her know in due course that what she allowed to happen yesterday was unacceptable.

Thank you for your replies - I really have no knowledge here and am going on purely on my instincts and information found online.
 
QUick update - I've just given them both some childrens ibuprofen (only a little) which I'm hoping will take the edge off any pain they are in. I've also checked Gracie's cut, and put some more antiseptic cream on it - covering it. I know that the cut needs air to heal, but its still very sore and so I want to protect it until she recovers enough to let her body heal itself.

she is drinking lots of water - I've had to top her bowl up. she didn't take much medicine orally, so I've added some to the water and hope she will drink it in time. she has moved back to the nesting box now though.

Georgie has no green poo that I can see, but she has laid a shell-less egg (just a thin membrane) she's done this before thought, when she went missing for a night, so i'm assuming it is just the shock at this point.

I intend to leave them both in quiet for a few hours before checking on them again.
 
That skin may close up if you stop it from drying out Gemma, so the amount of air needs controlling. What once happened with us was a hen cut herself on a nail in a soil bath area. The cut was about 1" long but curved in shape and the flap of skin folded back inwards and knitted together inside. The resulting area was a dry flesh 'hole' which then filled with dirt in subsequent soil baths. This packed out between the skin and the flesh from her back right down her leg. Small cuts will heal on their own but if you can pull the skin together somehow you have a good chance. We have given one half an aspirin (the very small ones) as a pain killer on the vet's advice. It's not a repeat treatment, just once after the incident.
 
Thanks for the info Chrismahon - Its good to know that they can have a little aspirin if need be. Gracie's body seems to be creating a layer of pink coloured goo over the cut, which I assume is puss mixed with what little blood remains. I've covered that in the antiseptic too, to try and protect it from infection, but hope this is her body's way of beginning the healing process. I'm mixing up a recipe for shock I found online (boiled egg yolk, a drop of honey, some activia yoghurt, some grated apple, and some rolled oats) and will put some out for both Gracie and Georgie when I check on them in a few hours.

They are both responsive, but doubtless in shock, so quiet, rest, and a warm nest are the only other things I can offer them right now.
 
another update! left both girls for 2 hours. went to check on Gracie and she was eating her egg! I let her finish, since i figure its good protein for her. once she was done, she took a walk into the main coop, so I cleaned up and replaced the hay. she's not had any more to drink, but I put down some of the recipe above to see if she'll eat any.

Georgie seems to be doing better too. she's had some water, and some of the wet food, and is moving about a bit more, so I'm content to leave them both for another couple of hours.

I have noticed that Georgie seems to be shaking her head - like a twitch? any suggestions what this might be? I considered swelling of the brain, since she has some little nicks on her head, but not sure.
 
another update!

Georgie is much the same now, but still shaking her head quiet a lot.

Gracie seems to be doing better. she's paying more attention to whats going on around her, is eating the wet paste and drinking the water that is laced with neurofen.

unfortunately, I've just discovered that the dog managed to injure one of the other 2 that went missing. Hari has a patch of skin that has been pulled away. it looks like its still attached but is sagging down, causing the feathers there to droop. Oddly, she doesn't seem to have bled at all, the wound seems very clean,and she seems entirely normal. no shock, no apparent pain - I only noticed since she fell asleep on the grass and her wing slipped down to show it.

she's one of my landlords birds and doesn't like being handled so much. I tried to put some gel on it, and give her some neurofen too, but she's too spooked to let me.

she went into the coop with the other birds last night, and there has been no pecking or anything - in all honesty, I have no idea what to do with her now! should I leave her be, since she seems OK? or should I separate her from the others?

I'm running out of coops and so sad for all the girls. :(
 
one youve disinfected the cut put super glue over the top it will form a protective layer and will fall off later when the skin has regrown worked on my silkies and a ewe after a dog attack
 
thanks thats good to know too!

Harri finally let me wash her cut and spray her with purple spray. (found in, and borrowed from, the stables on site)She seems to be doing fine, but, to stop Gerti, our top hen, from pecking at her cut every time she noticed it, I've shut her up in the coop that Georgie has just vacated, and she's headed up to bed for a rest. :)

Georgie is still a bit quiet, but I opened her coop this morning and she eventually wandered out to join the others. she's been eating and drinking, and moving around fine, and so I'm content to let her be now, since it seems she is mostly over her shock.

Gracie is still in her private suite. she seems content - eating, drinking, interested in whats going on around her - she's even begun chirping at us when she see's us again, which is nice, but I assume the healing process is taking its toll on her, since she is still sleeping a lot. I popped her onto the grass in her old run with Maggie for 10 minutes, whilst I changed her hay. she was steady on her feet, and pecked at the grass some, but got tired quickly and settled down to sleep. by that time I was done so I picked her up and popped her back into her coop. I think she'll stay in there until the weekend, with me continuing to clean her and the coop, and then we'll assess how she's getting on at the weekend.

Its chucking it down with rain right now though, so all the girls have disappeared! I've spotted the 3 free-rangers sheltering in the stables with the horses, Gracie has returned to her nesting box,and even Maggie has settled in her coop! its only the second time the 2 new girls have seen rain. the first time, it didn't seem to bother them, but I guess they've figured out its not much fun now!

I think we've done all we can do to help them now. the rest is up to them. I just hope they don't get infected, but I'll keep the coops squeaky clean and keep covering them in purple spray, and cross all my fingers I guess!
 
Right! Another day, another update. I'm aware I'm rambling on this post now, but its helping me to get it off my chest so I hope you guys don't mind.

Georgie is now officially back with the others. she's still a little slower than she was, but she seems to be fine. I assume she's probably bruised, but that will hopefully get better with time.

Harri was kept separate in her own coop all day. she didnt like it much, and kept yelling at me to let her out every time I walked past, but she's otherwise doing fine. I just want her cut to have time to heal before I let her back in with the others, to stop them pecking at her.

Gracie, well, I'm really pleased with Gracie today. she's the one I'm most concerned about, since she was our rescue girl, and had the worst injuries. After 3 days of being kept in the top half of the coop, she was going a little stir crazy, trying to climb out every time we opened it up. To stop her from hurting herself, I put her in the bottom of the coop today, along with a nesting box filled with straw which I covered to keep it waterproof, a windbreak covering one part of the coop in case the wind picked up (which it did!) which gave her a little corner to shelter in if it rained and she didn't want to be in the box. she also had the usual food and water. she was much happier. she wandered about and pecked at the grass (she loves grass) and settled into the corner closest to her sister Maggie when she was tired. Maggie kept heading over to see her, and would sit alongside the coop and keep her company on and off throughout the day. (adorable)

The major breakthrough though, was when I came out to put her to bed. I went out early because I knew she'd not figured out the ramp in the coop she shared with Mags, and wanted to make sure she would be all right. but she'd already climbed up the ramp and put herself to bed!

I was so thrilled!! (I did have a panic, thinking it might have been too much for her, but she chirped at me when I opened the nest - she was all tucked up and looking fine!)

I hope this is a turning point for her, and all my fingers are tightly crossed (she says, frantically touching every wooden surface within reach!)

It will be interesting to see what she does tomorrow morning - will she get herself down? Its quite a steep ramp, so I admit I'm a little worried she'll fall down. in fact (I'm thinking out loud here) perhaps I'll pop her down when I let the others out. The last thing I want to do is have her fall down a ramp she's not used to, and set back all her hard work!

does anyone else have any suggestions for how to help her?

Thanks for listening!
 
That's all excellent news. I've been wondering how you were all getting on. So glad the injured girls seem to be on the way to recovery, especially Gracie. Chickens can be pretty tough birds, can't they, and it's lovely to see when two have bonded like Gracie and Maggie.
 
Thanks Marigold. I'm hoping that we are past the worst now, and all that's left is the healing process.

Georgie is still a little stiff, but still keeping up with the others. Harri is still being seperated, but shows no new signs of feeling her cut at all.

Even Gracie seems fine (relatively speaking!) DH popped her into the bottom half of the coop again this morning (I'd pulled up the ladder so she couldnt fall down it, some time in the middle of the night, after worrying about it. haha.) and she stayed down for the whole day. it was a wet and miserable day too - rain and wind blowing it sideways - so I put up her windbreak and added a waterproof sheet to one side of the coop, along with some straw so she could settle down if she wanted. she wandered about, but kept out of the rain as much as possible (unlike Maggie - who has yet to understand the correlation between it raining and her getting wet) Gracie did try and fluff up her feathers, but it must have been too sore, because she only managed a little wiggle. but she seemed fairly content, and Mags said hello each time the rain stopped. she's still vary wary of us, which is sad, but progress was made today, when she came over to me and pecked at my fingers again. its a funny trait both of them have, and I'm glad its back. I hope it means she'll learn to be trusting of us again in time.

Whilst she was pecking, I managed to take a peek at her back too. she's got a black/red scab, and some purple bruising under the skin. does anyone know how long bruising takes to heal in chickens? also, when is infection most likely to hit? Can I relax now that the scab has formed?

Going to get a bit more purple spray on them both tomorrow, since the rain would have washed some of it away. but hopefully, it has helped to clean them up a bit too.

I haven't had any antibiotics, but I've been adding dried oregano and cinnamon to their feed since I head that it worked as a natural antibiotic. should I have used some? is it worth getting any in now? As I mentioned, we've never had an attack on our chooks before, so I didn't have anything in stock...

just had another quick look, and she's put herself to bed again. a quick check shows her cosy in the nesting box, so I'm happy.
 
Hello Gemma,

I just wonder how your birds are getting on? I am so sorry to hear what happened. Chickens respond well to homeopathy.
 
Hi Gemma, im new here and just read your post about the dog attack, how are your girls doing? Out here in Arizona we are allowed to shoot any animal that try to harm our livestock. I had to put a wire mesh cover over my run to completley enclose it do to some redtail hawks in our area and since there protected out here we cant do anything to them. I hope your girls are ok.
 
Hi Gemmaellen,
Keep rambling, I know from experience that sharing chicken worries is good for your sanity. You're doing a fab job in a difficult situation and the girls are lucky to have you around. No advice to add, just wanted to say we're out here, reading your posts and willing them all into health along with you :)
x
 
Another day, another update!

Thanks for the kind words - it makes all the difference knowing that I'm (sort of) not going through all this alone. having a place where I can vent is doing wonders for the residual anxiety I appear to be left with (although, i think that was more to do with my involvement in the attack, rather than the health of the chickens at this point)

Georgie is the same. still slower, still quieter, but seems to be fine - although she's not gone back to laying eggs yet.

Harri is the same. her cut is pulling together and healing - its not going to be a pretty mend and she wont be winning any awards any time soon - but she's out with the others full time now, and I've not seen them peck her leg since her isolation period. she's laying eggs daily and even seems a bit more friendly towards me (she stomped over my foot earlier - I was obviously in her way!)

Gracie is continuing to make progress. we've been getting her down each morning and putting her in the bottom of her coop, and she puts herself to bed at night. she was going a bit stir crazy today so we've put her in her old run for a bit (since its finally stopped raining!) We watched her for a while, to make sure Mags left her cut alone, but she's been out there a couple of hours now and is sunbathing quite happily. I think we'll pop her back into the hospital coop before we go out this evening though - just to be sure.

I'm still concerned about infection, since the most we've been able to do the past couple of days is spray her with purple spray - but she seems more lively and has been off the neurofen laced water for a couple of days (she perked up instantly, so I assume that was keeping her drowsy?)

fingers are still tightly crossed, but I think we're winning! <3
 
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