Should we isolate an injured wing?

[Zud]

We woke up yesterday to a droopy wing on our most skittish hen. She seemed otherwise fine (until we tried to catch her) and when I was able to look at the wing there was no blood and the bones felt intact. We have tried wrapping up the wing with varying degrees of failure. She manages to wiggle out of the one wing wrap and we haven't wanted to tie up both of her wings.

Anyway, we brought her in yesterday because she'd gotten so worked up with us handling her we wanted her to have some quiet and calm to rest, but now I'm wondering if we should keep her isolated for longer. I don't want to allow her to roost with her wing tied up because her balance is terrible. If we do separate her, is it best to keep her inside or in a crate in the coop with the others?

She's doing fine right now, we have her in a quiet corner. I'm sure we'll ruffle her feathers when we try to tie her up again.

Thanks for the help!

 

[APK]

I had a similar problem with my hen with a droopy wing. She had been in a fight and was dragging the wing. Making a one wing bandage is very difficult. In her case what I did was cut away the feathers so the wing didn't touch the ground and the wing eventually righted itself over about 1 week. This can happen from a wing sprain. If you play with the bandage and touch it, it can do more damage.

If you suspect the wing is broken then it will need to be set straight and immobilized. I saw a vet use a tape or wrap similar to duck tape and wrap it around a goose that had a broken wing and said it would heal in 2 weeks.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

droopy wing on our most skittish hen. She seemed otherwise fine (until we tried to catch her) and when I was able to look at the wing there was no blood and the bones felt intact. We have tried wrapping up the wing with varying degrees of failure. She manages to wiggle out of the one wing wrap and we haven't wanted to tie up both of her wings.

Anyway, we brought her in yesterday because she'd gotten so worked up with us handling her we wanted her to have some quiet and calm to rest, but now I'm wondering if we should keep her isolated for longer. I don't want to allow her to roost with her wing tied up because her balance is terrible. If we do separate her, is it best to keep her inside or in a crate in the coop with the others?

I put her back with her flock if she's not getting picked on.
Likely an injury or sprain if you aren't feeling any bones sticking out and there's no abrasions/wounds. I bet you will see some green bruising over the course of a few days.

As she gets over her soreness and injury, she'll begin to hold her wing up more.

Being separated is very stressful, so if you feel she must be caged/crated for her safety, then crate her in the coop so she's near the others.

 

[Zud]

I put her back with her flock if she's not getting picked on.
Likely an injury or sprain if you aren't feeling any bones sticking out and there's no abrasions/wounds. I bet you will see some green bruising over the course of a few days.

As she gets over her soreness and injury, she'll begin to hold her wing up more.

Being separated is very stressful, so if you feel she must be caged/crated for her safety, then crate her in the coop so she's near the others.

Thanks for the suggestions.
We put her back in the run with her flock today without the wing wrapped and everyone seems fine. She's a little calmer than she ever has been, especially when we come around, which is probably not a bad thing. Her tendency to take flight frantically if she even thought you might come near her is likely what overworked her wing in the first place. The special attention she got overnight appears to have made her a little more trusting. At least for now.
We'll keep a close eye on her, especially around bedtime to make sure she can get to the roost.

 

[Zud]

Update, in case anyone was wondering/going through the same thing:

Our girl was doing ok in the run but by bedtime she was tripping on her wing on the roost and the others were knocking her off balance. We took her in for the night with the intent to crate her in the coop tonight, or clip her feathers, but this morning her wing was much better and she had no trouble roosting this evening.

The injured wing is still slightly lower, but she's been stretching both wings today and seems to have a lot more energy.

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad to hear she's starting to improve!

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Is she completely healed now? I have a chicken that has a drooping wing. looks quite like yours. just hoping she’ll get better!

 

[Zud]

Is she completely healed now? I have a chicken that has a drooping wing. looks quite like yours. just hoping she’ll get better!

Totally fine and back to normal.
It got better every day until it was back to normal in about a week. No problems since. We ended up leaving her out with her flock in the day and taking her inside to sleep for a couple nights because she was tripping on her feathers, and the others were stepping on her and she was falling off the roost. Once she could roost without falling, we left her alone and she was back to good in no time.

We found that trying to tie her wing up didn't work because she would wiggle out of it. The fact she could move it to do this was actually evidence the injury was minor. I wouldn't bother to try it again if it happened this way again. She was just annoyed and it didn't help any. Someone suggested to trim her wings so they'd be less of a tripping hazard, but since she healed so quickly I'm glad we didn't. She likes to fly quite a bit and I'd have felt bad if it would have grounded her.

Hoping for the best with yours!