She's doing well! Other than the fact that she's very forlorn that we won't hold her (she kind of hunkers down and wiggles when she wants to be held, and keeps doing it), she seems to be doing great. I can't believe the difference in the wounds already! Amazing how fast the healing process can be. Organs are still e posed though, so I'm still guarded in thinking we are completely out of the woods.

Thanks so much for the kind words. <sniff> It feels good to have people who care.


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We let our chickens out when we are outside. We live on 5.5 acres, fenced on one side and forest on the back. They are in the chicken tractor (moveable coop) the rest of the time. Today my children were out playing, the chickens around them as usual, and a neighbor's dog came and started attacking them. :( They all ran, but Nanny is SO incredibly tame she just didn't get what was happening. We were trying to hold the dog off, scare the chickens further away. It was awful. She's got a bad bite. I called every vet in probably a hundred mile radius, because this chicken is SO special to my 2yo, and none will see poultry. Nanny comes to the door and pecks at the glass, Isabella opens the door and nanny walks in, Bella gives her a treat, holds her in the kitchen and then they go out to play together. I've researched the internet (not sure how I functioned without google) and performed chicken surgery. I trekked around town and gathered supplies, including aerosol furo(letter between w and y). She's actually doing okay, up and around, eating and has a nice blue butt. We'll see how it goes. :eyes: She's now residing in my double sized tub.

To keep this semi sewing related I'm supposed to be working on a wholesale order and I'm a mess. Didn't help that the insensitive vets, who don't DO poultry, suggested she be dinner. jerks. To make it the eensiest little bittest on topic, we have gathered Nanny's feathers, to make Bella a little tiny pillow to keep forever.

I swear, I had NO idea a person could get so darn attached to a chicken. I've been a crying fool!

:wah: I'm so sorry :( Chickens are really pretty fun animals. That is the sweetest story I've ever heard! We lost one of ours last week to our own dog and I felt just awful :eyes: She escaped the coop and I didn't notice :( I hope Nanny makes a full recovery. It sounds like you've done all you can. :big hug:

I'm so sorry! I hope Nanny Cake is feeling better soon! :hug:

:hug: I hope she's okay!

Poor Nanny Cake! I hope she recovers.

Oh no.. your poor chook.. I hope she pulls through this. It is horrific, our new dog has taken to catching our chooks and giving them a big fright. No fair, chooks are such sweet gentle animals.

Poor Nanny Cake! Hope she's at least semi-enjoying your double tub...

I am terrified of chickens but really hope your NannyCake pulls through.

Oh wow, I can't believe no one would see her. That's terrible. You don't have any large animal/farm vets around?

Keep her nice and quiet, keep the bite clean and medicated and I think she'll be ok.

Hugs to you, Isabella and Nanny Cake.

You are a fab Mom for becoming super vet. Hmmm, sounds like you need a chicken cape for when you're performing your super chicken deeds.

:big hug:

Awww poor Nanny Cakes. Paige is standing next too me and I just read her your post and she is sooo sad for your little chickie. I hope she pulls through this doggie nightmare. Your amazing to pull off a chicken surgery, how smart to search through google.

The little feather pillow just about broke Paige's heart. We are all wishing her well.

I'm sorry to hear nany Cake was attacked. i hope she recovers fast. Some vets can be so heartless. I have a baby turtle and he was very sick and i called all kinds of vets around and one suggested i flush him down the toilet to put him out of his misery :eek: I did end up finding a vet and he wasn't expected to live and now he's almost 2 and he's alive and kicking and such a spunky little guy. Our animals are like kids. We get so attached to them. I hope Nanny Cake is better soon. Here's a big :big hug: for your little girl. :)

:mad: Those mean vets! No one suggested you have the DOG for dinner! :rolleyes:

Thanks everyone! <sniff> I appreciate the kindness. So far so good. Her breathing is back to normal and she's resting. She ate (tomato, grapes(one of the treats bella gave her when she came to the door, and all the bugs my children could catch. lol) One good thing (watch out, TMI!!!) her plumbing all still works. That's a good thing. I feel like if we can just get through the first 24 hrs, and then infection/wound care will be our only concern.

*don't read below if you are squeamish*
Marcey, I flushed (deep) with pero ide and then made calls, gave up and googled info. Went out and got iodine, syringes, a new tube of neosporin and the dry wound care aerosol. I flushed everything really well w/a water/iodine solution. Okay, this is icky, but this is a time when this chicken should be glad I wasn't a vegetarian at one point. Everything was familiar. <gasp> After flushing twice (deep) I dried the area w/gauze, packed the deep wounds with neosporin (and applied it to the abrasions) and sprayed the area with the wound care aerosol. These are serious wounds. The only way they are going to heal is through cell migration. There really wasn't enough skin, after I cleaned everything up, for sutures.
Other than keep the area clean and re-dress it, I can't think of anything else to do. She might need a cone for her neck tomorrow, if she starts to peck at it. OH! I did pick up some Terramycin. As soon as I figure out dosing, I'll add that to her water. Wow, the "do not eat anything you administer this to" warnings on the back are interesting.

We'll continue to pack her diet with protein, because that is supposed to help healing. Purina cat chow was suggested, but I'm thinking I'll keep the children on a bug hunt. Surely that's better, right? I'll post an update tomorrow.

When our dog was a puppy she attached one of our bitties. And mauled her up good on her backside. Lotsa blood, very sad for me. I brought her in, cried and cried and cried. Poured hydrogen peroxide over the wounds over and over again and then kept her inside in a cage out of the dirt, because the other chickens were pecking at her. I cleaned her 3x's/day and then also applied Collodial Silver topically and also fed it to her orally because it is a natural antibiotic.

To make a long story short, she is still with us. She lays really wierd looking eggs, kind long and lopsided, but she is normal in every other way and doing really well.

I understand your vet story too. One of my chickens got botulism from eating compost. Her neck drooped until it hit the ground. The vet and the LSU Ag Center said to put her out of her misery. I ended up administering Collodial Silver (yes, that stuff is great!), as well as breaking open capsules of Selenium/E and pouring it down her throat many times a day. After a few days, she pulled through and lived and is still with us too, LOL.

I love my babies. http://www.losgarcias.net/smilies/animals/chicken.gif

I hope yours recover too. Poor sweet dear. :heart:

It sounds like you've taken just as good (if not better) care of her than any vet Marina! That teramycin is very potent, so it only takes a very, teeny, tiny bit. When my current batch of hens were chicks I had one fall ill and I isolated her with some tera in her water - 1/4 tsp. to 1/4 gallon of water. I really didn't expect her to make it but within 24 hours of that medicine she was sooo much better! Please keep us posted. After seeing your sig pic so many times, it's like we all know Nanny Cake! :heart:

Shame on those vets for not seeing poultry. I hope she recovers...what a great mama you are!
(((((Hugs))))

:big hug: I'll be sending healing vibes to Nanny Cake.

Poor Nanny Cake!! :( Sounds like you are taking really good care of her. I hope she pulls through! :hug:

:big hug: I hope you all are doing well!

( I had to giggle at why you were familiar with the anatomy )

Bob -- our loner hen -- was attacked by an owl a few weeks ago. She had 4 very deep, nasty puncture wounds that I flushed and packed with neosporin. She healed just fine, got new feathers, etc. The wounds were really, really gross and infected too. So I think there's hope for sweet Nanny Cake. :hug:

Poor nanny cake!!! I hope she is getting better!!

I hope Nanny Cake heals quickly. it sounds like you've done a great job of getting her fixed up. :chick:

update in the OP. thanks so much everyone! :chicken:

(she kind of hunkers down and wiggles when she wants to be held, and keeps doing it)I always thought mine were scared when they did that like I was going to hurt them or something. :rolleyes: LOL!

LOL Well, I think it probably started out that way. When we first were picking her up, she probably did it for that reason. She definitely learns by association, so I think she did that, we picked her up and then she just put the two together. It also allows her to get in a comfy position before being picked up. You know, nice and compact. If you try to pick her up from standing her wings are kind of loose or something and it's kind of harder. It's funny because when you don't pick her up, she wiggles harder. lol Like, we didn't notice her the first time or something. She's so sweet and funny!


I always thought mine were scared when they did that like I was going to hurt them or something. :rolleyes: LOL!

I'm so glad she's doing well! I hope she continues to improve each day :)

ETA: I thought it was because that's what hens do when they're preparing to be bred by a rooster? Mine do it whenever we approach them suddenly. I thought it was a 'dominance/submission' thing. I think it's cute that Nanny Cakes can tell you when she wants to be held :heart: