Lizzie Update

Whewie, what a crazy last 36 hours. Here is the "story":

Four thirty in the morning on Sunday morning, I could hear my husband get up to let the dog out. I heard the back door open. But what was unusual was her instant fierce barking that woke me up, but not enough to get up.

Five minutes (sure, we'll go with that) later, the hubbie comes and says in that voice all wives know, "Honey.....ummmmm......a raccoon got into the coop and got one of the chickens." I honestly don't remember the exact course of events after that. I know that in my mind, I knew she was a goner. Chickens have very few defenses and raccoons are vicious.

I know that over the next two hours, I got a few updates from my husband while I tried to go back to sleep. I know that sounds selfish, and it was. I was beyond tired that night. I had worked 18 hours on Saturday and had a long Sunday ahead of me. But as much as I tried, I couldn't fall back to sleep. I just had a raw feeling in my gut thinking about what happened to my favorite chicken. Ticked off that a raccoon got into my coop made up like Fort Knox. And so on....I got up.

It was six or so when I got up and the sky was beginning to turn slightly light. Again, not sure of the course of events but my hubbie had spent those two hours trying to figure out how to put Lizzie out of her misery. We don't have guns that rural families have. We use tree trimming tools, and don't have an ax. He was a little beside himself trying to figure out what to do for her to take away her suffering.

Like I said in the initial post, I pictured a disemboweled chicken, so I didn't want to see this part of the show. But once the sun came up, and I got my caffeine going, I asked what she looked like. I heard that she could walk and flap, she was bleeding, but didn't seem to have broken bones. Just really bloody. I asked the hubbie to put her in a box and bring her inside. He brought her into the garage, I honestly think he just wanted to not have to deal with her. I don't blame him, he just went head to head with a raccoon and saw her in it's clutches.

Okay, I put on my brave face and went out in the garage and brought in the box. Honest to goodness, I was petrified to see what I would find. I opened the box in the kitchen, and saw my little Lizzie. Words can't describe how messed up her head was. She was cut up badly. Lots of pretty deep lacerations, but nothing life threatening, like a deep cut to the throat. She obviously put up a fight. She was very quiet. I don't know much chicken first aid, but I know if she is frightened much more, she can drop dead from shock. But I realized, she could survive this. So I closed the box and did what I do best.

I went online. My favorite backyard chicken website is www.backyardchickens.com. Went to their message boards and pleaded for help as well as looked at a lot of other strings of folks who have chickens attacked by predators. Folks, what happened to Lizzie is nothing! There are some pretty horrible stories of what raccoons can do to chickens, and it's awful!

Got some chicken first aid help, and got some pretty valuable raccoon advice. One thing I had a hunch would be correct, the raccoons will be back to this food source (my coop) until the food source is exhausted. I have two other chickens! I will be making some coop repairs in the next few days and locking up the chickens at night.

After setting up Lizzie for the day, I went to work for ten hours. When I came home it was pretty late, but decided to try to clean up her wounds a bit and put some neosporin on them (chicken first aid from the message boards, no kidding). Again, put on my brave face and took her into the bathroom to see what I could do. I tried to wash her head, but the blood was exceptionally crusty. As I held her, no kidding, she cooed at me!! It broke my heart! So I put her in the bathtub and dripped warm water on her head to soften it up. Yucky yucky bloody water drained off her, but I was able to get to the wounds. I put peroxide on them and dressed them in neosporin.

Here is what seriously freaked me out. She was absolutely lethargic. I am putting burning peroxide on her and her eyes are closing. I couldn't figure out if she was dying or falling asleep. I held her for quite awhile wondering if I would hold her while she died. I also could feel her body shivering occasionally, so either she is cold or she is fighting an infection. Ugh!

I put her back in her box and laid a heating pad on the box to keep her warm. I just knew I would open the box in the morning and find a dead chicken.

Nope! I opened the box this morning and her head perked up and she was perking her head out of the box looking around. I found out later that truly, when chickens are tired, they fall asleep in the middle of anything. Since I was doing this at about midnight, her body clock says it's sleep time and doggone it she will sleep. I also found out that is probably the best time to dress her wounds because she won't flap around and fight me. Just picking her up at lunchtime to look at her today, she was definitely fighting me.

So, when she did poke her head out of the box this morning, she looked pretty doggone good. She wasn't dead! The neosporin and peroxide definitely promoted healing through the night.

Another thing, last night when I was examining her all over last night, I noticed a weird puffed section of her skin. just above her wing but below her beak. Just like a balloon had been blown up under her skin. A few feathers had been pulled out there, but not many. I honestly thought that could maybe be internal damage of some kind. I also thought it could just be bruised skin too, but it was weird and a bit alarming. I could bandage wounds, but internal stuff, not so much!

This morning that puffed up spot is only about a third the size it was last night. Much better! She has acted more like a chicken today. She is moving around in the box and bock bocking a little bit. Yesterday, she was laying down and not holding her head up much. Today, she holds her head up and is looking around, and even holding her tail feathers up. Chickens are a lot like dogs in their body language--head up and tail up, they feel good. Head down and tail down, they don't feel good.

I have never nursed an injured animal back to health, but I am feeling pretty good she'll pull through this. Considering that 36 hours ago we were trying to figure out how to put her out of her misery, this is quite an accomplishment for this city girl!

What else did I do yesterday? I bought a pellet gun with a scope. I can't wait to use it.