Lesson learned: Never leave your dog outside with your chickens unattended.
Our dog, Savannah, had been doing so well with the chickens last Sunday - she had been out in the backyard with them most of the day. So on Monday night, I let the chickens out of their coop and thought that I would leave them out while I went to work out. I also left Savannah outside to "protect" the chickens from any predators. Guess I didn't think she would be the one attacking them...
Luckily Grant got home before I did. It had only been about a half an hour since I had left, but he came home to find Savannah winging poor Grey around like one of her toys. He thought the chick was dead for sure. Savannah had her by the neck and there was blood on the chicken's face and neck and on Savannah too. He quick saved Grey from Savannah and put her back in the coop.
He warned me when I got home, that it might look worse than it actually is. Poor Grey was huddled up and sleeping when I went out to the coop. Her feathers were all matted down around her neck and the only open wound was on her left ear. Savannah must have chomped down around her ear because there was just one small puncture wound. I cleaned out the wound with warm water and soap. I also put some Neosporin over the wound to try to keep it from getting infected. She was so scared that she let me hold her while cleaning out the wound. She didn't even try to escape. As I was holding her, she looked up at me with the saddest eyes. I felt like a horrible mom! Poor thing was traumatized.
At first I thought it would be important to keep her with the other chickens, but then I realized she was in shock. She was sleeping all the time. When I took her out of the coop on Tuesday evening, she was sleeping while standing up. I read online that shock is a very common result of being attacked. She needed to be separated and put in a dark, warm spot so that she could heal. So I put her back in the cage I had used when they were babies, and covered it with a blanket. She slept for 2 days.
I was also worried because she did not seem to be eating or drinking. On Wednesday morning, I tried something new and finally got her to eat Greek yogurt. Of all things! She ate the yogurt out of my hand and then after a little while, I mixed in crushed corn. On Wednesday night - she finally pooped! I had never been so happy to see my chicken poop. I also cleaned her wound again - this time with hydrogen peroxide. This seemed to help the wound heal very quickly. It also helped that she was in a very clean and dry environment. By Thursday morning she was pecking around in the grass and was flapping her wings again. I put her back in the coop on Thursday afternoon.
Since then, she has been acting normal and seems to be eating just fine. In fact, she is the only one that runs right over to me when I walk out in the yard. I like to think it's because she loves me, but I think she is just hoping for some yogurt :)
Our dog, Savannah, had been doing so well with the chickens last Sunday - she had been out in the backyard with them most of the day. So on Monday night, I let the chickens out of their coop and thought that I would leave them out while I went to work out. I also left Savannah outside to "protect" the chickens from any predators. Guess I didn't think she would be the one attacking them...
Luckily Grant got home before I did. It had only been about a half an hour since I had left, but he came home to find Savannah winging poor Grey around like one of her toys. He thought the chick was dead for sure. Savannah had her by the neck and there was blood on the chicken's face and neck and on Savannah too. He quick saved Grey from Savannah and put her back in the coop.
He warned me when I got home, that it might look worse than it actually is. Poor Grey was huddled up and sleeping when I went out to the coop. Her feathers were all matted down around her neck and the only open wound was on her left ear. Savannah must have chomped down around her ear because there was just one small puncture wound. I cleaned out the wound with warm water and soap. I also put some Neosporin over the wound to try to keep it from getting infected. She was so scared that she let me hold her while cleaning out the wound. She didn't even try to escape. As I was holding her, she looked up at me with the saddest eyes. I felt like a horrible mom! Poor thing was traumatized.
At first I thought it would be important to keep her with the other chickens, but then I realized she was in shock. She was sleeping all the time. When I took her out of the coop on Tuesday evening, she was sleeping while standing up. I read online that shock is a very common result of being attacked. She needed to be separated and put in a dark, warm spot so that she could heal. So I put her back in the cage I had used when they were babies, and covered it with a blanket. She slept for 2 days.
I was also worried because she did not seem to be eating or drinking. On Wednesday morning, I tried something new and finally got her to eat Greek yogurt. Of all things! She ate the yogurt out of my hand and then after a little while, I mixed in crushed corn. On Wednesday night - she finally pooped! I had never been so happy to see my chicken poop. I also cleaned her wound again - this time with hydrogen peroxide. This seemed to help the wound heal very quickly. It also helped that she was in a very clean and dry environment. By Thursday morning she was pecking around in the grass and was flapping her wings again. I put her back in the coop on Thursday afternoon.
Since then, she has been acting normal and seems to be eating just fine. In fact, she is the only one that runs right over to me when I walk out in the yard. I like to think it's because she loves me, but I think she is just hoping for some yogurt :)
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