Chicken disappeared, now back, possible wing injury

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AnnieE

AnnieE

Chirping
5 Years
Dec 17, 2014
62
7
66
Southeast Michigan
Hi,

I have an araucana, ~4-5y.o. She disappeared sunday night and reappeared monday sometime. (No clue! City lot. By best guess is bird of prey and she dropped from a height, though no clue how she got home. Yard has a 6' privacy fence.)

Shes now wobbly and her wings are hanging down.

Ive separated her so the others dont bully her (they dont usually, but shes not in a position to defend herself if they do).

I did a full body check (note, ive been feeding her for a year (only got her about a year ago) and this is about the 3rd time only ive been allowed to touch her) and found no visible marks, cuts, scrapes, bite marks, etc and she didnt try to pull away, so im guessing nothing really hurts. ?? She does appear to be eating and drinking.

Any suggestions on how to proceed from here? I was planning on keeping her separated for another day just as a precaution.

Thanks
 
Wings sometimes will droop with dehydration and starving, so hopefully they aren't broken. Put some vitamins and electrolytes, such as SaveAChick in her water. I can only give you a link to a site where they show how to splint a broken wing in a figure 8 wrap, which I would not do until youare sure the wings are broken: http://www.starlingtalk.com/fractures.htm
 
How do i know theyre broken? She doesnt pull away or flinch or anything when i straighten them out and move them.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for sharing these articles. I noticed one of my two chickens with a wing drooping to the ground just today. I was able to examine him and didn't see any fractures. So, I used the simple wing wrap and he seems to be doing ok right now. I have no idea how he could have injured himself, but it's good to know there are others out there with helpful advice. Thank you!
 
smiller said:
Thank you for sharing these articles. I noticed one of my two chickens with a wing drooping to the ground just today. I was able to examine him and didn't see any fractures. So, I used the simple wing wrap and he seems to be doing ok right now. I have no idea how he could have injured himself, but it's good to know there are others out there with helpful advice. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Welcome to BYC. How is he doing otherwise--is he eating and drinking noramlly, and active and alert? A drooping wing can also be a sign of an injury, or can be a neurological symptom of something more serious. Dehydration can cause both wings to droop.
 
She seems to be fine other than the wing droop. But, I will keep my eye on her. It's really odd because she was fine last night when I tucked her in but this morning I saw the problem with her wing right away. It was drooping so low that she was stepping on it! I hope she will be ok.
 
I don't want to scare you since chances are it is nothing serious, but a paralyzed wing can be a sign of Mareks disease. Do you know if she was vaccinated for Mareks?
 
I hope it's not Merek's. I just checked out a county extension service website and Becky doesn't appear to have any of the other signs of Merek's. I have no idea if she was vaccinated since my son got the hen from a NY farmer. I watched her eat and drink this evening, and she seems pretty perky now that I've taped up her wing. I'll hope for the best. Thank you for the advice.
 

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