Neck Injury- Fox Attack

dinosaw

dinosaw

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We suffered a fox attack this morning and I suppose in the scheme of things we have got off lightly as by luck we had the young birds locked in for worming and my neighbour alerted me and I was able to get out there before the fox could take all four of the old birds, still we have 1 dead whitestar- Croucher who was 3 and a half and still laying 3 eggs a week!. 1 missing presumed dead, Bluey our little blue Pekin who was only 2 and 1 which has miraculously survived despite the fox getting its teeth into its neck, Summer our Welsummer who has always been the very toughest of birds, she roosts alone in the rafters, is famed for starting fights with cockerels and generally makes a nuisance of herself which I presume is the kind of spirit that has helped to keep her alive. She was initially very shocked and went into the house after I coaxed her back into the run, I wanted to leave both her and Snowy who seems unscathed alone to settle down for a while and then I went down with some grapes and banana which I had to break into very small pieces for her to eat, she ate quite a bit over two sessions but I noticed her tongue is quite prominent which I assume is due to swelling in her neck, I was loathe to try and pick her up as she was very nervy of me and the last thing she needed was more stress, getting to the point I was wanting to ask if there is anything I can do to bring down the swelling or to help her short of a trip to the vets which when we very first started keeping chickens we said we would avoid. Funnily enough later on in the day I found her having a go at the young birds through the wire which I took as a good sign as it is her trademark behaviour but still I am worried about how she will do tonight as that must have been quite a bit of pressure applied looking at the blood on her neck.
 
Hi Dinosaw.
Really sorry to hear your news; how awful. I'm glad that most of your girls survived though.

I'm not the expert here; hopefully someone more experienced will pipe up, but my two thoughts from reading your post were
1) If Summer has blood visible on her neck, won't the other hens peck at it? If possible, I'd be inclined to pick her up while she's sleepy & clean the blood off. A head torch will be handy if you have one.

2) Whilst you have her in your arms, as a first aider (admittedly of humans, & with no vetinary qualifications), I'd then apply a cold pack (a bag of sweetcorn or frozen peas perhaps, or a gel filled wine cooler) for 5 - 10 minutes to try to help with the swelling. Ideally this would have been done soon after the attack, but I can see that she wouldn't have been willing to be picked up at the time.

Does anyone else know whether it's safe to use arnica gel on a hen? It's great for bruises & swelling on humans, but I don't know if it's OK on poultry??

All the best, & let us know how you & the hens get on.
 
We use Arnica gel on our birds without any side effects Icemaiden.

We had a fox attack similar to yours Dinosaw, just before we left the UK. The survivors were a cockerel (Merlin) with no tail and a Wyandotte hen (Bumble) with a damaged neck. A lot of nursing later and she recovered but never regained the movement in the damaged section. Her neck remained swollen and twisted to one side, which made preening and climbing steps difficult. We used to preen her. We said that at the time of the attack, if we realised how badly she would be later affected we would not have tried to save her. Having said that she was the cockerels favourite and he never left her side while she was recovering. She went on to make the move to France with us and lived a short but happy life. She started laying again and would tell the world about it -noisy or what! Unfortunately she went very suddenly downhill and died in the night just before we moved again.

So best of luck for her Dinosaw, but be prepared for her not making a full mobility recovery.
 
Thanks for the replies Icemaiden and Chris, I will seek out the arnica gel. The good news is that I have managed to get a proper look at the wound today and it isn't as bad as I first feared, I think she has been nicked rather than bitten and that the blood from a single puncture had run down the neck feathers, not too keen on pellets so I fed her porridge this morning. She was only in with the other attack survivor yesterday Icemaiden who to be honest wasn't about to start pecking at anything as she was in shock or otherwise yes I would have isolated her at once, the other birds are in a separate part of the run separated by weld mesh.
 
I don't think Arnica gel can be applied to an open wound though Dinosaw. Seem to remember that on the instructions. We only use it on leg joint sprains although we used it on Bumble's neck, carefully avoiding the skin punctures I seem to remember. We put tea tree cream on the wounds. Her neck went black with the bruising, but then unfortunately the joints fused together in a solid lump. The neck is a complex mechanism easily damaged it seems.
 
Thanks Chris, I'm going to leave her be for now I think, going with my gut feeling from knowing her so well. They are both very depressed at the moment though they do seem to perk up a little when I go down to see them with some food, I feel so sorry for them.
 
Looking a lot better today, hopefully the worst is over now.
 
Good news then Dinosaw. She was hopefully not too badly injured then. It was 4 weeks before Bumble could eat properly for herself. She took a long time after that to adjust to her sideways vision. It was 3 months before she worked out how to get onto a perch.
 
Yeah I think your probably right Chris she has had a lucky escape, she left a huge pile feathers after the attack and initially I thought she had to be dead. She's still not eating properly but neither is Snowy and I am putting that down to stress as much as anything but her neck and head movement is miles better and she just generally looks more like herself, she has squatted a couple of times and I have been able to pick her up though she panicked a little when I did, when I see her back in those rafters then I will know that she is fully recovered.
 
Both up in the rafters tonight :) , Snowy obviously didn't wan't to be left alone so she has made her first trip up there since she used snuggle up to her boyfriend Godzilla when he used to roost there.
 
Hello. Ive only just seen this post or I would have replied earlier. I have had a similar occurrence happen to my blue hen last year, and again the year before. She's been very, very lucky. First a nick to the back, 2nd time a nick to the neck. Like you, I felt it was better not to do too much to her the first day, in spite of the risk of infection, as she was very stressed and I was afraid she would die of shock. (Obviously I did a quick check for major injury). The next day I got a can of dry disinfectant, iodine based, brand name Savlon, and sprayed directly on the wound. It s for humans, so you just buy it from your local chemist. I found it really, really useful, as you don't have to touch the wound, and it doesn't hurt the bird. Only when she was much better (after a day or two) did I wash the wound daily, very gently, with salt and water.
Again, like you, I didn't isolate the bird, but left her with her best friend, as they would both have been stressed if she was taken elsewhere. I did keep an eye out for pecking- but luckily it didn't happen. All the very best with your bird - it sounds as if she will make a full recovery.
 
Thanks Roisin, it would appear that she already has, layed her first egg of the season on Sunday and another yesterday!, she is by far the toughest little bird I have come across.
 
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