Help: not sure how long to separate an injured chick from the others.

[Eagleman]

I am wondering how long I need to keep my recently injured chick separate from the other chicks.

I posted earlier this week about my one month old chick who was hurt when a squirrrel got into the cage she was in outside in the chicken run.

I isolated her and treated her wing as best I could and she has been separated from the others for about 3 days. She is not bleeding and I don't see any open sores or wounds...it looks like some blood feathers broke off and she is letting her wing hang low (but it is not really dragging). She is able to fly to the top of her box and is now letting me hold her, is eating, drinking, pooping, looks good except for the droopy wing and a patch of broken looking feathers.

Here are my questions: how long do I keep her apart from the four other chicks and do I reintroduce her so that she won't get pecked at by them. She seems lonely but I don't want to put her back out until she is ready physically.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated! And thanks to everyone who posted advice after she initially got hurt.

 

[keljonma]

If she is not bleeding, is eating, drinking, walking, flying, pooping all normally, she is ready to go back to her flat mates.

I would make one suggestion that you make sure there is no bloody spots on her feathers and that there are no red spots where feathers were broken. The others will peck at her for sure if there is any red. You can cover it with blukote, which is a dab on or spray on wound covering. Watch out, it will make everything it touches blue. Or you can dab a bit of tea tree oil on the spot and keep her in isolation for another day.

Sneak her back in at night when the others are sleeping. If you leave them on, you can turn out the lights long enough to put her with the others.

Good luck!

 

[Eagleman]

Thanks!
We checked her over and found no blood or open wounds and snuck her back with the others after dark...she is doing just fine!

 

[keljonma]

Congratulations!