Brain damaged chicken welfare

[Lixy]

Hi All

We’ve had our flock for a few months now. One of our girls started displaying strange behaviour (bad balance) so we took her to the vet who told us she is completely happy and healthy but she does have brain damage/a neurological disorder, hence the falling over. We don’t want to put her down as, apart from getting unsteady on her feet towards the end of the day, she’s a totally normal chicken. However, she’s definitely bottom of the pecking order and doesn’t always get out of the way when the other girls are coming through and i’m worried they’d attack her if she fell overnight when we weren’t there to see. Also the main run has a raised coop that i’m scared she’d fall out of.
For this reason we’ve built a separate run (attached to the other run) with an omlet coop just for her. She free ranges with the rest of the flock during the day but at night we put her in her own run. Does anyone else do this with one of their girls and is there anything i can do to make her more comfortable/happy? We were going to put some feather dusters in the omlet to give her some “company” but does she need it? I feel bad leaving her on her own overnight but she can see and hear the others the whole time, they just can’t get to her if she falls over while she’s eating, etc. Thanks!

 

[aldarita]

I am now going thru a similar situation, I have a 3 month chick that has a bad leg, she was part of a three chick little flock, unfortunately I had to put one down because of complete paralysis. I have an appointment with an avian vet this Friday to have her look at her leg and make some tests. She still has one chick the same age living with her, I was planning to integrate them to the rest of my flock but now that she has this leg problem, I won't be integrating them. Right now they have a yard just for themselves and a coop that they share with a hen (with a partition). I have to get my handicap chick out of the coop every morning and put her up at roosting time because the coop has a ramp. We are remodeling a coop for them with a hen door at the bottom so she will be able to get in with no problem. Her leg seems to be getting stronger and now she hops and is able to stand on it. So these 2 chicks will be living by themselves. They can see the other hens thru a fence.
I was wondering if you have another hen that is low in the pecking order and has a nice disposition, maybe you can put them together and see how they get along. You will have to be supervising all the time until you see they are ok. On the other hand if she is very close to the others and she can see them at all times, I think she will be fine by herself.
Good luck with your henny and thank you for being a responsible mama and caring about her wellbeing

 

[Lixy]

I am now going thru a similar situation, I have a 3 month chick that has a bad leg, she was part of a three chick little flock, unfortunately I had to put one down because of complete paralysis. I have an appointment with an avian vet this Friday to have her look at her leg and make some tests. She still has one chick the same age living with her, I was planning to integrate them to the rest of my flock but now that she has this leg problem, I won't be integrating them. Right now they have a yard just for themselves and a coop that they share with a hen (with a partition). I have to get my handicap chick out of the coop every morning and put her up at roosting time because the coop has a ramp. We are remodeling a coop for them with a hen door at the bottom so she will be able to get in with no problem. Her leg seems to be getting stronger and now she hops and is able to stand on it. So these 2 chicks will be living by themselves. They can see the other hens thru a fence.
I was wondering if you have another hen that is low in the pecking order and has a nice disposition, maybe you can put them together and see how they get along. You will have to be supervising all the time until you see they are ok. On the other hand if she is very close to the others and she can see them at all times, I think she will be fine by herself.
Good luck with your henny and thank you for being a responsible mama and caring about her wellbeing

Thank you I’m sorry to hear about your chick, I hope she makes a speedy recovery! Our special girl (Erica) is a wyandotte bantam, we have another girl and our boy is the same. We then have 4 larger girls (2 bluebelles, 1 blackrock maran and a light sussex). The other bantam girl (Mary) is fine with her but she’s also the favourite of our boy (Stan) so he tends to stick close by. Unfortunately he gets too over amourous with the little ones and has balded the back of Erica’s head, hence having him with the big girls so he has more ladies to choose from. It’s all so political isn’t it! Wyandottes are meant to be really hardy and fine in cold weather, I think I just humanise them too much and where she’s actually quite happy having her own food, water and bedroom whilst waving at the others who have to share, I just need to relax about it. I haven’t been closing their coops at night as their runs are pretty sturdy (concrete base) so just worry she might be cold with no one to snuggle with but i know they appreciate being able to get up at the crack of dawn and start their day before I pull myself out of bed! Haha

 

[Brooks_]

Hi All

We’ve had our flock for a few months now. One of our girls started displaying strange behaviour (bad balance) so we took her to the vet who told us she is completely happy and healthy but she does have brain damage/a neurological disorder, hence the falling over. We don’t want to put her down as, apart from getting unsteady on her feet towards the end of the day, she’s a totally normal chicken. However, she’s definitely bottom of the pecking order and doesn’t always get out of the way when the other girls are coming through and i’m worried they’d attack her if she fell overnight when we weren’t there to see. Also the main run has a raised coop that i’m scared she’d fall out of.
For this reason we’ve built a separate run (attached to the other run) with an omlet coop just for her. She free ranges with the rest of the flock during the day but at night we put her in her own run. Does anyone else do this with one of their girls and is there anything i can do to make her more comfortable/happy? We were going to put some feather dusters in the omlet to give her some “company” but does she need it? I feel bad leaving her on her own overnight but she can see and hear the others the whole time, they just can’t get to her if she falls over while she’s eating, etc. Thanks!

What you're doing could work. It could also be unnecessary. I don't see the others leaving the perch at night. Come daybreak...different story.

And Good luck and have fun.

 

[Isadora]

Sometimes people put mirrors up for their one bird, but I'm not sure it's necessary if she's only away from them at night. Might make you feel better, though.