Questions for those of you with "special needs" chickens

[Happy Chooks]

As many of you know, I had a BR cockeral that injured himself hatching. I never expected him to make it, but he did and he's now 14 weeks old. I started integrating 5 babies (him included) in with my 5 11 month old hens. (I put them in last Wed at night) Integration is proving difficult for him.......he's not fast enough to evade an attack, he cannot get on the roost like the other 14 week olds can. He's fine most of the day as the hens are outside and he's in the coop, but my lead hen is not happy with him there when she needs to lay her egg. So he runs out of the coop only to get attacked by the others. I usually find him in the corner of the run with his head under a section of fencing where a rock used to be.

I have a small coop I could put him in, but I'm getting some pure Ameraucana babies and need the space for them. I will be getting them in a couple weeks and they will be 3 weeks old. So it would be about 5-6 weeks before I'd put them in the small coop. I also have a small dog crate I could probably get in the coop, but then when he is let out, won't his hatch mates beat him up too? (then he'd have 9 chickens beating him up instead of 5)

So my questions:
What made you keep your special needs chicken vs culling?
Do you put babies in with your special needs chicken?
Do you put broodies in with them?


I hate for him to live alone and I want him to have a normal chicken life. But he's terrified of my hens and hiding with his head under the fence is no way to live either. With all the problems he had hatching, and he beat the odds and lived, part of me feels like he deserves a nice life. (Originally all excess males were going to be given a trip to freezer camp)

I don't know what to do for him. If someone in Northern CA is just starting with a flock and wants a super sweet, cuddly cockeral who has not crowed yet, let me know. (he has crooked toes and no tail, so he's definitely not breeding material)

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

Did you try putting him in at night after they where all asleep?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Yes, I did that last Wed night. And since then the adult hens stay outside most of the day, and the 14 week olds stay in the coop. I let my hens free range this morning, and I had to force the 14 week olds out of the coop.


Oh, I also gave him a hiding spot. I leaned a piece of cardboard against the wall of the coop and nailed it at the top to hold it. It is like a tepee, and big enough for him to fit in.

 

[chookchick]

I think it's worth trying to stick him in with the babies (3 week olds-right?). I have heard of some doing this, and it could work out really well (keep a close eye at first of course). He would have time to mature, and have some buddies to hang with until they are ready for integration. If that doesn't work I would build a separate pen for him, next to the others, until he matures and try again. If you can keep him separate, but still visible, he will still be considered "part of the flock".

 

[fiberart57]

I had a Blue Andalusian pullet who was crippled as a baby; incubator problems probably. She limped badly and one wing hung down, she couldn' t fold it quite right. I didn't realize this until 24 hours after I got her home when it showed up with her 10 brooder mates. She chose me rather than the other way around. The guy at the feed store let me get my own chicks so as I reached in, she came running up and pecked my hand. Of course I had to grab her.

She was also slow to thrive and I would spend time hand feeding her and making sure that she got more of crickets and mealworms than the others. As the smallest in a group of 11 rambuncious two week olds she was constantly slammed around during flying practice. I finally divided a small section of the brooder, a swimming pool by now, and kept her and a couple others that were smallish seperate from the "big girls". She did well there.

She continued limping her way through adolescence and tween years when she was moved outside and allowed to roam the yard. This seemed to have helped her strengthen her weak leg, now noticably thinner than the other and flapping around helped the wing. And once my neighbor took his birds and we were down to six chickens, she didn't get picked on - not at all. I thought the other girls would be mean to her, but they aren't, even the New Hampshire Red.

I figured with her problems she'd have trouble laying - or not lay at all - but she's surprised me and finally started laying about two weeks ago - at 36 weeks old. She has medium sized eggs, tan colored rather than white (hatchery chick) and is perky and happy. I see her limp only because I know it's there. She will lift her bad leg stork-like once and awhile and seems to forget what to do with it, but other than that she's fine.

Thanks for reading and to finally answer your question about why I kept her: I like her. She's my favorite, I worked hard to keep her going. Every week when she was younger I would think to myself that this might be the week to send Carmen over the rainbow bridge but I never had to do this. She's a pretty little blue bird, very vocal and extremely independent. She's always wandering off into parts of the yard by herself.

I think that working with her caused me to bond with her, as you did with your little cockeral. Is there a way for him to be able to be with the others, but have a means to escape and be on his own? At 14 weeks, Carmen still had a substantial limp but since she was a spring chick she had the summer in the yard to really strengthen her muscles. Perhaps a few more weeks of strengthening will help him.

Good luck. I know how the little crippled ones can tug the heartstrings more than that beautiful perfect one strutting in the yard.

Mary

This is Carmen at approximately 22 weeks. Thanks.

 

[gritsar]

So my questions:
What made you keep your special needs chicken vs culling?
Do you put babies in with your special needs chicken?
Do you put broodies in with them?

I can really only answer one of your questions. I kept my special needs hen Lil' Bit because it never occured to me to do otherwise. Plus, she'd already stolen my heart by the time I realized there was a problem. She required extra care and help with the bullies when she was little, but is part of the flock now. She's a bit sassy and one day she decided she'd had enough of being picked on.

Now I really have two special needs birds. Lilith doesn't have anything really physical wrong with her, but she gets bullied just the same and is pretty much a loner.
I do intend to see if with careful manangement Lilith can live peacefully with my spring chicks. I so want her to finally feel like she belongs.

 

[cobrien]

I got Special Edna as a 3 month old when I was at the chicken farm getting some new hens. I was not planning on getting a Cochin but the farmer could tell I was a softie and he gave her to me for free because she had been injured as a chick and was hobbling around on one leg. He was right, I am a softie.

For about 4 years, Edna has done fine hopping around on one leg with our 3-5 other hens, all of which were slightly smaller than her. 2 things have changed recently - her good leg has started to fail, I suspect she has arthritis or other pain from having all of her weight on one leg for so long, and also we raised 4 new hens from chicks, all are the same size or bigger than her (3 BA's 1 Marans). The new girls are about 10 months old now and they pick on Edna. Luckily Edna still has 2 mild mannered friends (1 polish 1 silkie) left that don't pick on her - in fact, because she's bigger, they still see her as the dominant hen. I have to keep these three separate from the others, I have tried everything I know on how to integrate but the 10 month olds pick on the silkie and Edna to the point where they might kill them.

Have you tried putting out several feeders and a little house within your coop/run for your boy to hide from the others. If the bullies aren't being super aggressive, he may just need to get out of their immediate way. If you have one particular bully, can you put her in chicken jail (dog crate or similar, separate from flock) for 3-5 days, it can reduce her rank in the flock. In the end, you may need to create a separate place for him to live, but I'd try everything I could before doing it as it makes for extra work. If he does end up in his own place, hopefully you can find a few mild mannered friends for him to live with, otherwise, I agree with a previous poster that he would not feel lonely as long as he has visual contact with other chickens.

Good luck.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
That's it EXACTLY. I spent so much time caring for him, that I've bonded with him, and him with me.

He's fine with the 4 he hatched with. But now that I've integrated them in with my 11 month old hens, he's the easiest target.

I've never integrated before, so this is all new to me. Since Thursday, the 14 week olds stay in the coop. Every time one comes out they get ambushed by the hens who take the yard (which is plenty big about 50X100 ft orchard) How long until some of the young ones (especially the 2 other healthy cockerals) take on some of the older hens?

The other thing I've been considering, is taking all my hens out of the yard, and sticking them in the small coop. If I do, how long would I have to leave them there for an attitude adjustment?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
What kind of housing did you make for Edna?

 

[chickenannie]

This is a tough situation. I have tended to care for my special needs chickens quite a long time (too long?), sometimes with good results, and sometimes with poor results. I've had to keep the vulnerable ones in a separate area and do extra work to provide for them, which is ok most of the time, but when I'm gone it's really hard to get my chicken-sitter to understand what kind of care is needed.

One runty, gimpy rooster I kept for a long time, but he was picked on, and so spent most of his time away from the others which was kind of sad. (He slept and ate in his own personal coop but free-ranged outside with the others). I'm not sure it was fair to him to let him be the low guy on the totem pole, but I knew he was social creature (they always WANT to be with the others) and he seemed to enjoy life in general so I just kept my eye on him. He got the most human attention and coddling and was a real pet, so maybe that helped?? He was several years old when a marauding dog killed him late last summer. RIP Brownie.

But right now I have a pullet whose leg was stepped on by a cow a while back and it didn't heal back to a strong leg. She managed very well for a long time, but now that she's bigger, her 'good' leg get's tired from all the pressure being put on it all the time. I now care for her exclusively in her own pen. She can drag herself around somewhat and seems healthy and thriving, but I keep asking myself if it's really fair for me to keep her going, when she cannot hardly even walk anymore and must live separately from the others. What kind of life is that for a chicken? I have debated bringing her into the house, but again, is it really fair to house a chicken for the long term?