Baby with broken leg == Follow-up

[ChicNmom]

ChicNmom: Not sure what you're referring to. No roosters. She's been in the house since the original attack, when she was probably a week old.

That's one reason why I'm mostly ruling out the possibility of parasites. No other birds are in the house.

After being kept in the house for a few weeks, she began walking normally, and along the way bonded with a family member R. She'd jump up on his shoulder or head, he could hand-feed her, and when he walked out of the room, she would chirp in panic and try to find him. By the time a month had passed, she seemed to have made a full recovery.

Last month, we decided to ease her out over the course of a few days, perhaps putting her in with our alpha rooster, who has shared a very large cage with his favorite hen since she was a chick herself. He's a big, powerful bird, but also very mature and gentle around any chicks that get into the cage. Once we showed him that Cassidy was part of the family, and not an invader from another propery, we'd hoped that he and his girlfriend would accommodate her in the protected cage area.


From this post it sounded to me like you had put Cassidy in with a rooster and hen.


I Guess it could be possible that as she grows and gains weight it could be a strain on the old injury.

Other than that I have no idea.

 

[cundare]

After being kept in the house for a few weeks, she began walking normally, and along the way bonded with a family member R. She'd jump up on his shoulder or head, he could hand-feed her, and when he walked out of the room, she would chirp in panic and try to find him. By the time a month had passed, she seemed to have made a full recovery.

Last month, we decided to ease her out over the course of a few days, perhaps putting her in with our alpha rooster, who has shared a very large cage with his favorite hen since she was a chick herself. He's a big, powerful bird, but also very mature and gentle around any chicks that get into the cage. Once we showed him that Cassidy was part of the family, and not an invader from another propery, we'd hoped that he and his girlfriend would accommodate her in the protected cage area.


From this post it sounded to me like you had put Cassidy in with a rooster and hen.


I Guess it could be possible that as she grows and gains weight it could be a strain on the old injury.

Other than that I have no idea.

Please read more closely. That doesn't say that we actually put her in the cage with the rooster. We "decided" that it would be a good idea to do so, and "hoped" that he would respond well. But I understand that those words could have been misinterpreted. I hope everything is clear now & thanks for the chance to clarify.

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

We're trying to get her outside again today, but she reacts in panic when we try to get her near the door and seems to be in pain when if we try to pick her up. So it's a delicate process. But it's got to happen.

 

[ChicNmom]

So, do you think the injury is acting up? Or is she just afraid to be outside?

If it's the latter I would probably try to put her in a separate area with one or two of the calmer girls so she can make friends and get used to being around other chickens.

Maybe only give her, her favorites treats outside so she associates being out with yummy treats.

Chickens are pretty smart. I had one that was in our basement cage for a while for a broken wing. She loved being down there and would come to the door to lay her eggs there. And sometimes she would pretend she needed to lay an egg just to go down there and get a treat on hot days. And she would sing her egg song and refuse to get up if you tried to take her out of the cage before she was ready to go.

 

[cundare]

I think there's something physically wrong, but that is only part of the reason why she doesn't want to go outside. We got her out for a little while today, but while she was sitting on the ground, some of the other birds came over to peck at her. We had to stand guard.

Our birds seem to be pretty smart, just like yours, ChicNmom. I think if we bring her out 3 or 4 times and make it plain that she's part of the "family," and not an invader from somebody else's property, that they'll eventually accept her.

But if she can't walk well, not even to the point where she'd be able to jump into a tree to roost at night with the rest of the birds, I don't know how she'd be able to survive outside. I can't imagine keeping a grown hen in the house.

 

[ChicNmom]

Where do you live that your chickens sleep outside in the trees?

And maybe put a board across a couple of branches so she can sit on it instead of having to grip a branch with her feet.