Potentially Hurt Wing

[ChristianChicken]

Hi there! I’m new to here and new to “chicken tending”. I have a chicken who keeps escaping somehow (and I am currently working on that). Her name is Tiny and she’s sweet but doesn’t like to be touched. I was trying to pick her up to put her back in their area (they have a huge area to run around freely in) and usually she flaps her wings and floats on down. But this time, we kinda fumbled and she landed on her back from maybe two feet off the ground? She didn’t hit hard but it definitely concerned me and I feel horrible. She stood up, readjusted, and immediately went to go eat. I didn’t hear any horrible sounds or anything, just a soft ‘thump’. One wing was looking a little odd, just being held differently, but not dragging, twisted, or oddly shaped. But when I checked on them tonight, she wasn’t high up like the rest of them so I was concerned she wasn’t able to use it. Do these seem like signs of a broken wing? Maybe it’s just bruised or hurt like if I had bumped into something? I’m just very concerned as someone new to chickens (I wasn’t expecting to have to take care of them..it kinda just happened). But I love them very much and would hate to cause pain or not recognize the signs or do the right thing! Sorry for the long post! Thanks in advance!

 

[ChristianChicken]

She is doing a-okay! Acting perfectly normal and being social. I think she just needed a day or so to take things slow. Thanks for the help everyone

 

[ChristianChicken]

It's hard to know what to do.

Me, I would be inclined to let her be for a few days, watch and see how it goes. If it's sprained then you should see some improvement. Think about how it feels to sprain an ankle, it takes several day to see that it's getting better, birds are no different.

Since she's difficult to catch, then attempting to do that can cause further aggravation to a sore wing or make injury worse.

Thank you so much! I’ll leave her alone for a few days and just observe. I just hate the thought of her being in pain!

 

[ChristianChicken]

Did you check for open wounds, and is she behaving differently in other ways? If the answer is 'no' to both, the best course of action for now is probably to observe her closely.

She had no open wounds and besides holding her wing a little different and not sleeping as high as the others last night, she was acting fine. She let me examine her and seemed to be doing okay. I’m checking on her soon and will keep this updated!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hopefully she just sprained it a bit. Let us know how she is doing.

 

[ChristianChicken]

Update on Tiny!

She was away from the group today but that’s not necessarily odd for her. But she does typically run up to meet me and she didn’t today. I even opened the gate to let them into a bigger area and she was by herself under a little area of low trees. When I went to try and inspect her, she ran from me and wouldn’t let me get close (which is normal as well). I stood back and observed her for awhile. She was able to lift her left wing (which looks “lower” then the other one) and cleaned under it. Her right one is being held up a little bit higher but she was able to spread it while trying to get away from me.
She’s walking fine, she’s eating, she’s drinking. Just spending a little time alone and not moving around a lot.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It's hard to know what to do.

Me, I would be inclined to let her be for a few days, watch and see how it goes. If it's sprained then you should see some improvement. Think about how it feels to sprain an ankle, it takes several day to see that it's getting better, birds are no different.

Since she's difficult to catch, then attempting to do that can cause further aggravation to a sore wing or make injury worse.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She is doing a-okay! Acting perfectly normal and being social. I think she just needed a day or so to take things slow. Thanks for the help everyone

Glad to hear she is much better!
Thank you for the update

 

[Kneedles]

Did you check for open wounds, and is she behaving differently in other ways? If the answer is 'no' to both, the best course of action for now is probably to observe her closely.