Chick with broken wing

[jak2002003]

my 4 day old chick has what appears to be a broken or sprained wing.

It is always getting attacked and picked on my its mother hen, who does not like it as its not the same colour as her other chicks - even through she hatched all the eggs and they are all hers.

I have seen her keep pecking it hard until it runs away and hides under the coop until its recovered, then it goes back for more. This afternoon I saw the mother hen had cornered the chick and was throwing it about by its wings!

Now it is dragging one wing on the ground and the wing seems limp, but there are no bones showing, and I can't see any blood. It look the right shape, its just hanging down.

I tried to foster it with another hen who has chicks, but the chick keeps going back to the abusive mother.

I also tried to keep it separated in a box in my house, but the chicks goes crazy to get back to its family and won't settle away form them. It jumps up and down and stamps all over the injured wing trying to get out.

I have put the hen and her other chicks in a large cage, and have left the black chick with the broken wing outside the cage where it can stay close to the mother hen, but not get attacked.

I don't know what I will do this evening to keep the chick warm.

Any ideas what I should do (if anything) to help the wing heal? And also, what I can do about taking care of the chick - I can't put it back in with the mother and its siblings.

 

[RoxyBird]

Can you put her in a smaller cage next to the mother's cage? Something you could put a human-type heating pad under? (one without an auto shut-off) Maybe also put a couple of the siblings with her or a couple little stuffed animals to help retain the heat/be companions? Making a little tent over the heating pad with a dish cloth or something would also help to retain heat, once the baby settles down (if you can keep her confined).

Have you thought about slipping the little black chick under the friendly hen at night? Maybe keep that group in a cage instead of the chick's other family? (if the hen is friendly to her)

Or, maybe raising a couple of the siblings indoors with her until they are a little more substantial in size?

As for the wing- I would use a little strip of vet wrap and wrap it gently against the chick's body in a natural position so that she can't step on it for the time being (while we wait for someone with wing-repair advice to come along). That will at least keep it from getting worse/keep it out of harms way. If you let a weak joint hang and swing it probably won't heal right, or quickly (same concept as putting a sprained shoulder in a sling).

I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

 

[jak2002003]

Can you put her in a smaller cage next to the mother's cage? Something you could put a human-type heating pad under? (one without an auto shut-off) Maybe also put a couple of the siblings with her or a couple little stuffed animals to help retain the heat/be companions? Making a little tent over the heating pad with a dish cloth or something would also help to retain heat, once the baby settles down (if you can keep her confined).

Have you thought about slipping the little black chick under the friendly hen at night? Maybe keep that group in a cage instead of the chick's other family? (if the hen is friendly to her)

Or, maybe raising a couple of the siblings indoors with her until they are a little more substantial in size?

As for the wing- I would use a little strip of vet wrap and wrap it gently against the chick's body in a natural position so that she can't step on it for the time being (while we wait for someone with wing-repair advice to come along). That will at least keep it from getting worse/keep it out of harms way. If you let a weak joint hang and swing it probably won't heal right, or quickly (same concept as putting a sprained shoulder in a sling).

I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

That's great advise. Thank you.

I put the chick under the friendly mum with all her chicks. So she will be OK for warmth tonight.

I will take another look at the wing in the morning after its been rested over night, and then see if I need to tape or bandage it.

I will keep the 'nasty' mum and her chicks in the large cage. The little injured one can just hand around next to the cage if it wants - I have food and water out for it, and all the other chickens don't bother her at all.

She was calm as she could be right up next to the mother and siblings, but was same from attack. If I put her in the cage she goes crazy to get out to be with mother.

I don't like that mother hen. She is going more and more crazy and is very aggressive to the other chickens and me - flying at me and flogging me like a crazy rooster. She seems to have lost it - perhaps the stress of being a parent lol. I have 3 other broody hens with chicks and they are so sweet and no problems.

I remember I had to get rid of this hens mother because she would KILL her chicks one after another, and then go after other hens chicks. She was also wild and could not be handled. I kept on of her daughters as she was my only black tail white hen. This hen was much nicer, but now I fear she is going to turn into her crazy mother.

 

[jak2002003]

I have finally sorted it out! I got some photos this afternoon of my set up to keep the little black chick safe from the crazy mother hen!

There is the black chick with the 'kind' adopted mother. You can see black chicks real mum lurking outside. She really wants to kill that little guy!

Both clutches of chicks can hop in and out through the holes in the basket. Black chicks has learnt to stay inside with the good mother.

Here is the little guy with his 2 real clutch mates. Unlike the black chick they are safe with the nasty mum and go between both mothers.

This is crazy mum with her chicks.

The 'safe house'. As you can see various sizes of chicks from different hens like to pop in the out all the time. Little black chick now stays in there all the time with his new mum and adopted brothers and sisters.
That hen in the front of the photo does have a head, in case you were wondering lol.

The chick did have a damaged wing, and I was ready to tape it up, but today it looks a lot better and he is not holding it down like yesterday. I will leave it as it is. I don't want to take chances with the other chicks pecking at his bandages.

Thank you again for all the help guys.

 

[casportpony]

More on splinting.

http://theiwrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Duerr_Splinting_Manual_2010.pdf

 

[seminolewind]

I would still support the wing for a few days if mom doesn't mind. I think ms. Nasty gets one more chance with the chicks she has left and that's it. It's good you have a foster mom!

 

[RoxyBird]

Your set-up looks beautiful! I'm glad it's all working out. Are they all doing OK still? And OMG... that hen sounds awful! It *is* kinda funny that she is loitering. Jeez louise, I wonder what he did to offend her! lol

 

[jak2002003]

Your set-up looks beautiful! I'm glad it's all working out. Are they all doing OK still? And OMG... that hen sounds awful! It *is* kinda funny that she is loitering. Jeez louise, I wonder what he did to offend her! lol

They are all doing really well. The black chicks wing has healed and he can now likes to run and jump and do a little fly about with the other chicks when they get excited.

I think it was just because the chick was so different looking to the others that made its mum try to kill it.

I now have the crazy mum under the basket and all the chicks and good mum are outside. Even crazy mums chicks don't like her much and they will often choose to sleep under good mum instead.

I had to put crazy mum in the basket because she started taking out her aggression on the other chicks and chickens. She also decided she hated my fantail doves and kept jumping on them and tearing out beak fulls of their feathers.

Now she is 'behind bars' everyone can mingle and everything is relaxed. I won't let that hen hatch out any more eggs in the future!!!!!!

 

[Reurra]

Sounds like Bad Mum needs to be given a new living situation all together. Shes got something in her head that just isnt right. Hope she doesnt pass that gene onto her chicks!

 

[missnu01]

I believe I would eat that hen...I don't want any hateful chickens...I kind of wish my roosters were a little less friendly with things sometimes though, but I don't want to be rooster attacked either.