Injured chicken on moving day. Advice needed.

[New2theFlock]

Today was a big day for the girls: we moved a couple hours north of ATL to the N GA mountains. While we were dismantling the coop and run, we let the girls free range in the backyard, and Ellie hurt her leg while jumping out of the coop.

She is limping and wouldn't walk or put weight on the leg much of the day. My son held her while watching the other chickens so she could rest. Already very delayed in leaving the old house, we put all birds in the mega carrier, and we left.

When we stopped to check on the girls, I noticed that the other birds were really going after injured Ellie, who was just laying in the middle of the mega carrier. They were pecking at her and stepping on her and picking her feathers (they are molting-- 10 blue sapphire gem hens who are 1 year old).

I pulled Ellie out and transported her in the car the rest of the way. We created a chicken hospital out of moving boxes on the screened in porch, adding food and water of course. I brought in Ellie's friend who is frequently bullied, and they are doing just fine in the chicken hospital. The other 8 birds are sleeping peacefully in their carrier in the back of the pickup.

Tomorrow we assemble the coop in its new location, which is about 10 minutes from our new home on a friend's property.

I have several questions for the group:

1) How long should Ellie (injured) and Jackie (calm friend) stay in the chicken hospital? I will not have the actual chicken hospital (smaller dog crate) until Sunday.

2) What should I do to help her leg heal?

Am new to chickens and quite nervous about the stress this move is causing our girls. Please advise:
. .

 

[sloanbychoice]

I see this was a couple days ago...
How is she doing?

 

[LaFleche]

It would be important to find out, if her leg is broken and where exactly, as this would determine the required therapy.

 

[New2theFlock]

I see this was a couple days ago...
How is she doing?

On the mend. We let the girls free range while we re-assembled the coop yesterday, and Ellie was with the flock. She is still limping but poked around the yard with the others. No one was bothering her.

Once the run was complete, she got in and sat down napped until time to get in the coop for the night. She spent the night in the coop with the others.

Chicken Hospital was pretty gross in the am, so that had to be a short term solution. I closely examined her leg yesterday and didn't see anything wrong: no swelling or wound. With the chaos of the move still going (must go back to old house to finish up), we had to put her with the other girls and hope for the best. . . .

 

[LaFleche]

Glad that it seems to just be a sprain or maybe twisted toe.

One thing I noticed about your coop: The slope of the roof will be guiding all the rain into the run instead of away from it. So maybe you could cut a new pop door on the side and move the run accordingly. This will help to prevent a muddy run.

And welcome to BYC!