Injured pullet needs help

[hayley3]

Your coop is so cute...love all the curtains...I hope to do that on my next one.

 

[AnneLovesChickens]

I would think if it was him, it would be more of a plucking than a pecking. Those measurements are in feet? The 4sqf recommendation is generally a minimum number and bigger birds need a bit of extra room, just as smaller birds can suit with a little less. More space never hurts; they will gratefully use whatever you provide them.
I'm assuming the bigger girls are getting pretty close to lay, right? They can go a bit crazy and get temperamental around that time - I find there can be a lot of OCD-like behavior, but they do tend to mellow out after that first month or so.
I think you'll really need to sit down with them and do some observation work to see what's really going on. If you can isolate her in line of sight till she's healed, do so or at least bring her out to mingle with the other girls regularly so she stays familiar to them. I've heard that around a week is the longest you can push it without having to reintegrate, but I've never pushed it.

I hope I’m replying to both of you at once, but I’m sitting here telling my boyfriend what both of you are saying and trying to come up with an idea- what if we put in a loft? Do you think that would help? Maybe give the loft to the babies?

 

[AnneLovesChickens]

Your coop is so cute...love all the curtains...I hope to do that on my next one.

Thank you! You know the curtains are just cheap cloth place mats I found that I cut down the middle and tied with twine. Took 10 minutes to do those.

 

[Eggcessive]

I can’t find any of my old pictures to post, but when I introduce youngsters to my coop of grown chickens, I use some portable metal fencing from Lowes or HomeDepot that locks together in a circle or square. The chickens are inside with a little roost and food and water on pine shaving on the floor. I put plastic poultry netting around it, and bird netting on top. There is an opening that is secured with velcro to get in and out to replace food and water daily. The older birds get used to seeing the young ones for a few weeks, while they cannot Once the chickens are similar in size, I start opening the netting, and let them come out. This is the fencing I use, and it is connected by the posts, and can be disassembled and stored away:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/No-Dig-Act...ed-Point-Decorative-Metal-Fence-Panel/1054845

 

[AnneLovesChickens]

I can’t find any of my old pictures to post, but when I introduce youngsters to my coop of grown chickens, I use some portable metal fencing from Lowes or HomeDepot that locks together in a circle or square. The chickens are inside with a little roost and food and water on pine shaving on the floor. I put plastic poultry netting around it, and bird netting on top. There is an opening that is secured with velcro to get in and out to replace food and water daily. The older birds get used to seeing the young ones for a few weeks, while they cannot Once the chickens are similar in size, I start opening the netting, and let them come out. This is the fencing I use, and it is connected by the posts, and can be disassembled and stored away:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/No-Dig-Act...ed-Point-Decorative-Metal-Fence-Panel/1054845

But they’ve known each other their whole lives. They could see each other even though the younger ones were in the baby pool and the older ones fenced in- they had a window to each other so they knew each before they played together. A couple of times an older one would sneak in with the younger ones to cuddle or eat their food or play with their toys. They’ve always been together, just a loosely fenced window between them, where again they figured their ways around it and that’s when I just let them move in officially. I think you’re right about them needing more room, so we’re coming up with ideas, but it can’t be they don’t wanna live together. They all get into a snuggle-row and line up together every night while roosting. We did everything to make sure they would take to them happily. And when they were newborns, the older ones were only 2-3 months old. The large white (“light”) Brahma with the giant butt is only 4.5 months old. The Rhode Island Red as well. 2 of those tiny ones are full grown bantams at 5 months, and there are 3 that fully grown at just a dash bigger than a bantam. Only 2 of them are large... (for now, because I loved the Brahma so much, I got one in every color = 2 of the babies are a dark and buff Brahma). The picture below is actually a 1 week year old Olive playing Lion King with me when everyone still lived in the basement. If you look behind the pool you’ll see it was connected to a larger cage and has a opening we cut out on the side of the pool to where they could see the adults and the adults could see them. They’ve always known each other and have been sharing a pen together for 2 weeks now- one week in the garage and one week in their new pen.

 

[AnneLovesChickens]

I just washed her head gently to clean to put on fresh neosporn and it looks weird with all of her feathers in that area wet and parted out of the way- WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE??? It looks like her brain is growing outside her skull? I don’t know but it’s creepy looking:

 

[Eggcessive]

It is hard to tell in the picture if it is just tissue swelling, but if her brain was exposed, she probably would not be alive. I realize what you are saying about the chickens being together for a long time, but when you have pullets coming into lay, and cockerels starting to mate, they should not be in with 2 month old chicks. Some can have good luck with that, especially if they have been broody raised inthe flock, but it would make me nervous with non-broody raised chicks being in with grown chickens, ducks and mature cockerels. As always, you will get varying opinions here .

 

[AnneLovesChickens]

It is hard to tell in the picture if it is just tissue swelling, but if her brain was exposed, she probably would not be alive. I realize what you are saying about the chickens being together for a long time, but when you have pullets coming into lay, and cockerels starting to mate, they should not be in with 2 month old chicks. Some can have good luck with that, especially if they have been broody raised inthe flock, but it would make me nervous with non-broody raised chicks being in with grown chickens, ducks and mature cockerels. As always, you will get varying opinions here .

You seem like a wise person, I trust your opinion. I trust others opinions too and so I decide by trying to do both at the same time lol. Like putting the babies in their own loft so they can escape easier and hangout there and integrate when they feel comfortable.

 

[AnneLovesChickens]

Just as an update, the youngins got their double loft and love it. And Red is in the basement learning how to live a life without sex. Feeling pretty confident this might help. Fingers crossed.