Help! Found a poor chicken that fell off a poultry truck

[Eggcessive]

Introducing is best done with fencing between a new hen and the others. Placing her inna wire dig crate with her own food and water will protect her and after a week or two, you can have supervised free ranging or visits.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Good so far. I’m just wondering what can be the best long-term decision for her. It seems like they can actually live longer than intended to with good care and careful feeding but I currently only have one chicken coop and run and if I were to put her with the other chickens once she’s well I wouldn’t be able to monitor her eating.

Once she has recovered would it be possible to put her in something secure like a large dog crate adjacent to your run? You can often find used crates for free or low cost on places like Craigslist or Facebook marketplace, if you decide to go that route.

Is food available to your flock at night? If there's no food where they sleep and she is successfully introduced to the flock, maybe she could spend her days in her own adjacent space where you can monitor her food intake, then she could still sleep with the flock at night.

 

[Cjcyndi]

Would it be possible to put her in something secure like a large dog crate adjacent to your coop? You can often find used crates for free or low cost on places like Craigslist or Facebook marketplace, if you decide to go that route.

Yea I actually have one. I wonder if meat chickens eventually are able to walk good because she can put weight on her left leg but not her right but I don’t see any visible signs of something.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

As her strength returns maybe she will be able to walk normally again. That would be wonderful!

 

[NatJ]

I was driving and found poor chicken on the side of the road on some grass. It looks like she’s wounded but it’s not infected. I have chickens of my own and want to take her home. I know I’ll have to keep her separated from the flock for a while but any other tips. Do you guys think she’ll make it?

Um, I think that chicken might be a male.

That has nothing to do with caring for it at the present time, but might affect how well the chicken does or does not fit into your flock later. But if you end up housing the bird separately for feeding reasons, and you are able to keep roosters, it won't actually matter.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

As her strength returns maybe she will be able to walk normally again. That would be wonderful!

The CornishX I have raised never walked very well starting from about Week 3. Their legs just aren't strong enough to support their bodies, which are genetically designed to grow at an astronomical rate. I would go out once a day and sprinkle a little corn, BOSS or mealworms on the ground, a little ways away from where they would be huddled, to make them exercise, they had to walk to get some, and scratch, to build up their leg muscles. Otherwise they'd just sit all day.

 

[Cjcyndi]

Um, I think that chicken might be a male.

That has nothing to do with caring for it at the present time, but might affect how well the chicken does or does not fit into your flock later. But if you end up housing the bird separately for feeding reasons, and you are able to keep roosters, it won't actually matter.

What makes you think it’s a male?

 

[NatJ]

What makes you think it’s a male?

The size and redness of the comb and wattles. Meat chickens are usually butchered at quite a young age, before females would have that much size and color in their combs & wattles.

So either it is male, or it is older than I am assuming.

 

[Cjcyndi]

The size and redness of the comb and wattles. Meat chickens are usually butchered at quite a young age, before females would have that much size and color in their combs & wattles.

So either it is male, or it is older than I am assuming.

It still chirps like a chick

 

[Cjcyndi]

Update: This morning I examined her better and a few observations have been that when I give her water or when she eats, she shakes her head and sometimes she stretches her neck a little. She tries to open her eyes, but then she often closes them and they look a little cloudy, so I wonder if debris got in them and it’s rubbing her eyes. Then finally, she is able to stand well on her left leg but as soon as she tries to put weight on her right leg, she falls.