Unintended House Chicken

[Aunt Angus]

Really quick background:
Poppy, 4.5 year old Orpington, is paralyzed for unknown reasons. I've been treating her since late November, as documented in this thread. All other indicators are normal: appetite, energy level, poop, etc. I was putting her in a separate area of the run during the day and bringing her back into the house at night.

today, I came home to get her, and she'd gotten pretty badly or ked. She must've scooted over to the side of her area and got close enough to the barrier separating her from the rest of the flock. She was pretty much scalped. She's back inside and doing fine now that I've gotten her cleaned up. So what this means is that she's now a house chicken. NOT what I intended at all.

Will she do ok without a friend? I'll still take her outside in good weather.

Please be nice. My birds are my pets.

 

[Psyclops]

Sounds to me like she has at least 1 friend.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Sounds to me like she has at least 1 friend.

We got her a therapy chair. I may ask my boss if she can one to work with me. She's silent and can't run around. She just likes to sit and watch.

 

[sdm111]

Man I had all what I was about to post ready until the last sentence. So I'll change it to
As long as she seems happy I wouldn't worry about not being with the others.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Man I had all what I was about to post ready until the last sentence. So I'll change it to
As long as she seems happy I wouldn't worry about not being with the others.

Yeah, yeah. I know. She's just a chicken...

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

She will be fine as long as she isn't left alone the vast majority of the time. You are now her flock member, same as people who keep lone parrots, cockatoos, cockatiels, etc become their bird's flock. It will be Great if you can take her to work with you to keep her mentally stimulated; I think she would love that! Otherwise, quiet music and a view out a window will help her pass the hours when you are away.

 

[Acre4Me]

I’d still try to keep her outside as much as possible. To the fencing you use to separate her, I would add some inexpensive plastic garden fence or deer fencing that has small holes. We use this when we separate chicks using a portable 3’ fence. The hens that want to peck the chicks cannot do any harm bc of the small holes in the plastic fencing attached to the metal fence with zip ties.