Changing goals and speed

[AClark]

It's 24 here right now, with a low of 6. We didn't get any snow though, just bitter cold. Tomorrow is supposed to be 38 and Thursday up to 53, ending the weekend in the high 60's. I'm glad we didn't get snow, because even after living in NY for 4 years, I never got the hang of driving in snow/ice at all.
Can y'all keep your fingers crossed for my sons hen, Mother Clucker? She's one that came from the fair, a cornish cross hen that's super friendly and sweet. She wandered in the goat lot this morning and Sadie got her. She's fairly torn up but is alert, one wing is pretty bad but I stopped the bleeding and she has some torn skin. Probably the worst thing dealing with Sadie is that she "plays" with chickens too rough. She's kept away from them, but if they wander in, she hurts them. Mother Clucker being a heavy breed, doesn't fly or move very fast.
I've tended the worst of it and have her in the house. My son doesn't know yet but I know he's going to be upset, so we're really praying she'll pull through. She got lucky that my husband went out to break the ice off the waterers better than I could and caught Sadie in the act.

 

[Bruce]

BAD Sadie!!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Hope she pulls through for you

 

[AClark]

That's quick clot bandage on the wing, you can see it's pretty bad. Probably broken, but the bleeding was priority. The purple is blu-kote which I haven't put under the quick clot. Once I'm sure the bleeding has subsided, I'll pull the quick clot off and rebandage the wing. It's pretty gross under that, there's no skin left, tendons and muscle all exposed and some damaged. I didn't inspect for broken bones initially but pretty sure I saw some fragments further down. I'll assess that when we re-bandage.

She's very alert, drinking water from a mason jelly jar and curious what I'm doing. She's in a tote on my kitchen table. Poor girl is a favorite around here.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sure hope she pulls thru.........that situation is a tough one to handle for sure....hope the son isn't too traumatized by it, or the hen either.

 

[Baymule]

I hope she makes it!

 

[AClark]

Us too Bay. She's really alert and enjoyed attention fro mthe kids when they got home. My boy (oldest) is really pissed at the dog. He's going to help me re-assess her wing after dinner tonight. It bled through the quick clot some but looks like it has stopped, so we'll check it out and doctor as need be. The fact that she's alert and not acting "shocky" is good, I think she'll pull through it.

 

[Latestarter]

Really happy you got her before the dog finished playing with her. Hope she recovers, sounds good from what you described. It's amazing the injuries these birds can recover from. I've read countless stories over on BYC. If you have some Popsicle sticks of the like, you might be able to splint her wing if it is broken and it may heal as well. Grats on the nail gun! I'm sure that makes your labors so much easier and less painful. Good hubby! Pictures of your feeder are anticipated... I need to get off my duff and make one as well. @Southern by choice posted on another thread someplace that they built one that's basically zero waste... Many have asked for pics and I'm waiting for those as well So far, I'm kinda leaning toward the Premier One style...

 

[AClark]

@Latestarter this is what we had in the way of plans for building ours. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ee/4c/6e/ee4c6e6dda1ec7c42ca66cba5886cd91.jpg

That said, I modified ours slightly from this. I wired the bottom pallet because I had wider gaps between boards, and I also put another board on each side on the feeding sides to retain the hay on the bottom, it isn't high, just a maybe 2" lip on either side. Also, instead of wiring just up to the edge we cut ours a bit longer to wrap completely over the top 2x4.
So far, a whole bale was put in ours and there's basically no waste.

Pallet busting, some people use a pallet buster or crow bar. I rip through them with a reciprocal saw with hacksaw blade and just cut the nails, most of the time they are spiral nails and they don't back out even when cut. it's 100x faster than busting them and 9 times out of 10 the boards don't split this way.

Mother Clucker is alive and perky this morning. She ate well when I fed her last night and has been drinking well.

The wing doesn't look broken, but it is mangled very badly. All I could really do was put non-stick pads on it and tape it up to keep the exposed bone protected.
Before :

After:

 

[Latestarter]

Thanks for sharing the feeder pick. I LIKE that and glad you mentioned adding the edge lips to keep the fallen stuff in on the platform. Was one of the first things I noticed and thought about. Did you use the real small opening (no climb horse fence?) style fencing in yours? Can the goats get their mouths far enough through to grab some and pull it out? I have some cut up cattle panel pieces I was going to use, but they can fit their whole heads through and pull out huge chunks, dropping most of it as they chew what's actually in their mouth. What hits the ground rarely gets eaten...

I've never had a bird wounded quite that bad, but did have one with some seriously torn flesh. I used a product called EMT Gel. I guess it's collagen based and hospitals are using something similar on burn victims to help them regrow skin. It worked really well for me and I've recommended it to others over on BYC and they've reported really good results with it. It's VERY thick and "sticky" so it can make a bit of a mess spreading it on, but is seals the area and keeps it from drying out as well.

Hope she continues to do well and recovers.