Stepped on chicken's head!

[LibertyChick]

Good to hear she is up and around. Poor thing. The will to survive exceeds out expectations sometimes. It's amazing how they can live with certain disabilities. I have a friend that had a chicken with one eye. She had to be kept with the bantams but was happy and laying otherwise. I have a girl with a gimpy foot. I call her Gimpy Girl. Most people would have culled her as a chick but I decided to let her live and see how she adapted. She is a trooper and can hold her own. She can even run, although not as fast as.the.others.

LibertyChick

 

[tullypippin]

Update: This morning I checked on the hen, and she had laid an egg! Her right eye was half-open, which was an improvement. I let her out of her box, and placed a shallow dish of chicken feed in front of her to make sure she could eat on her own. Her beak was still partially open, and she didn't seem to be able to eat any of her feed- she ended up pecking it without getting any in her mouth, which was heartbreaking. I made up some oatmeal (very watery) and she seems to be able to eat a little of that, and otherwise she is very vigorous and was wandering around the basement on her own, pecking at ants (she managed to scoop one in her mouth). I'm thinking that it's possible her jaw was injured when she was stepped on, and she can't close her beak because of inflammation. Hopefully this is the case and eventually she'll be able to close her beak.

 

[LibertyChick]

Can you try to close her beak with your hands? Maybe it's dislocated. I think you would be better off trying this sooner rather than later. If you wait too long, she may be too weak to recover. But if the beak is dislocated and you can close it and open it, then maybe you will have prevented her from dying.

LibertyChick