We agreed to refresh our chicken flock (all the old hens will remain and have “forever homes” with us) and in mid-March picked up 21 chicks from a local co-op. Our brooder box is large, with 3’x4’ floorspace and 2’ high walls, but it may not be “21 chickens large”. And within a few weeks, the chicks were growing so fast we started planning the move to the outdoor area: the chicks may not have been ready for that, but they were clearly outgrowing their home!
Each evening we’d sit in the garage (where we kept the “indoor brooder”) and socialized the chicks. This mostly means putting your hands in and among them to get them used to human contact. A few would jump in your hands, and a few more might dare that if you coaxed them with a treat.
One night Suzy stepped away to clean their waterer and when she returned I noted that the chicks were acting crazy that night: flying around and smacking into each other. As a way of replying she concernedly asked, “what happened to this little one?!” I feel terrible for not having noticed but up against the brooder wall was a chick with a lolling head. We scooped her up and over the next couple months stressed about her. While my initial suspicion was trauma from being hit by one of the other rambunctious chicks, it’s hard to believe these several ounce balls of downy fluff could generate enough energy to cause this sort of damage. That left the door open to concerns of wry neck (torticollis) or even Marek’s disease.
And so that was the beginning of our segregating this little hen who we’ve started calling Birdie Bird for the lack of any other name.
We set Birdie Bird up in a separate brooder box; a plastic crate with a heat lamp, feeder, and waterer. It was directly adjacent to the main brooder box so that, while she wasn’t interacting with the other hens, she could hear them. This went on for about three weeks before we moved all the chicks except Birdie Bird into the outdoor brooder. At that point she had healed enough to hold her head up, but she’d suffer spasms whenever she tilted her head at an angle or was surprised. She would clearly be in danger with so many other active hens (chickens really don’t care about one another … they’ll walk right over a sleeping hen to get to the other side), and we still hadn’t convinced ourselves we knew what had caused it. We were unwilling to expose the rest of the flock to something she might have.
This, however, leads to a problem: what’s our plan? For the longest time it was just to “wait and see”. And during that time, we gave Birdie Bird what care we could.
Beyond the basic animal comforts, we got her a tiny dose of pain killer, along with vitamins said to resolve wry neck syndrome. Neither was an instant cure, but over time Birdie Bird has had fewer and fewer spasms. We never really see her lifting her head; she looks up by cocking her head to one side.
After moving the other chicks to the outdoor brooder, our concern centered on the isolation Birdie Bird must be going through. While we’d moved her to the newly evacuated and cleaned main brooder box, we noticed that she’d just sit in one place until our nightly visits. So we started dropping in more often, each time she’d enjoy a few treats and then settle on our hands or arm and start preening herself. In recent days, as the weather has allowed, we’ve started taking her outdoors. We pop her into a laundry basket with a couple folded towels at the bottom and then walk her outside. Once there she’ll get lifted onto the grass or soil and then Suzy will garden or, if I’m looking after her, she will listen to an audiobook with me.
For the most part, Birdie Bird will remain in our shadow. Literally. We’re not sure if she is uncomfortable in sunlight or just feels more secure below us, but she’s typically found directly under us. Suzy does the lion’s share of watching here, and it’s gratifying to see this little chicken get some care and consideration, and not just completely isolated 24×7.
At this point we’ve come to the conclusion that whatever happened must have been trauma and so we’re willing to reintegrated her with her peers. While it’s a hassle for us, we don’t feel now is the right time to be included with the others. We’re not 100% positive on the integration plan, but the rough idea for now is that when the majority of her siblings are integrated into the main flock, we’ll hold back a few of the calmer chicks and have them keep Birdie Bird company in the outdoor brooder area for an additional few weeks. Once we’re convinced she’ll do well in a 29-bird flock, we’ll integrate them all.
Suzy is the unsung hero in all of this: she’s done the research, got the meds, played the role of vet, and is spending the majority of time “chicken sitting”. My role is one of support and gratitude that I’m on this journey with someone who will put this much energy into a tiny little feather-being.
And a big thanks to you for dropping in to see what’s going on in our little unincorporated corner of our town.
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