About a month ago our chicken Twinkie was attacked. She basically had her shoulder ripped off. Amazingly she has survived and seems to be well on her way to having a normal life again. So here's our dilemma... I kept her in the house for a few weeks to do everything possible to keep her going. She now seems ready to be with her friends. When I originally put her back in the coop, a younger chicken was picking on her, but I saw her stand up for herself, and her BFF Ariel stood up for her too. After letting them roam the yard for a few hrs it seemed like they were doing much better. I haven't seen any further fighting. And anytime the one becomes aggressive the other two put her in her place. So I believe that part is ok. The problem is at night... The healthy two will go in the coop but Twinkie stands at the gate like she's waiting to come back inside. We have left her out there till its very late, but she still just seems to be waiting for us to bring her in. Once we do, she settles right in. I worry about just leaving her out there. It's getting really cold and she doesn't have feathers on that shoulder. Should I just leave her and hope for the best? Or is there another way to get her in there? I just want her back with her flock happy. On a side note, where we live we have really harsh winters. (Another reason I worry.) My husband read we don't need to worry about heaters, that true? Also would it be better to have a red heat lamp? Thank you!
When everyone goes in to roost scoop her up and put her on a roost and close the door,if you don't shut them in wait a few minutes till she settles then walk away, come back out in 20~30 mins to make sure she's not sitting outside, if she is repeat the process. Good luck
Well if she is unable to roost with the rest, then she may be in danger of being attacked at night by a predator. I would take her in for a bit longer if this is the case, or you may want to help her up on the roost at night. You also have to keep that shoulder in mind. She could re injure that shoulder if she has to jump down with all her weight on it. On the heat lamp, if she has a lot of feathers missing and it gets in lower 30 and she is out the wind, like in a coop or barn, she should be able to withstand it, but if she is sickly on below her normal weight, and missing a lot of feathers, you may want to add her a heat source. I would take all this into consideration and proceed with caution., but observe her close the first few nights and see how see does. Good Luck!
After reading both of your suggestions we decided to put her in the coop and close off the door. She spent her first night out there since getting hurt. When we opened it this morning everyone seemed fine and just came out for breakfast. We decided we will do this for the next couple of nights so she gets used to being out there again. I think she may have just gotten too used to being inside. Cypressdrake, thanks for the heat suggestion. That's one reason we decided to just close up the coop for the night. It isn't in the really low temps yet, and she doesn't appear to be freezing. So we figured this way she is out of the wind and able to get used to the temp. I really appreciate your help! Thank you!
