Injured Chicken

We were driving home the other day and as we pass the main road field, which is where our meat chickens are, we could see something odd going on inside their pen.  Upon investigation, I noticed the chickens torturing one chicken.  I don't know how it happened, but this chicken had a bloody head and it looked like it had a decent gash on the top of it's head.

Head Injury starting to heal

I watched for a while and sure enough, there was no way that chicken could stay in there.  So I put it in with the 5 layers we have.  Those chickens didn't peck at it's head, but they didn't want this new chicken in their area and they let him know it.  They basically stayed away and I figured after a couple of hours, they would all be used to each other.

I went out right before dark to check on things and the injured chicken was gone.  Disappeared.  We looked all over for it, but couldn't find it and eventually figured that it decided to go to a neighboring farm.  The next morning, he was back, inside the pen, as if he never left.  A couple hours later and he's back outside the pen.  So I captured him and wanted to see if he could go back in with the other meat chickens.  As soon as he went in, the torture started again.

So, I had to put him in the barn.  He's now living in the same kennel that they all lived in until his head can heal.  I know he would rather be outside, eating grass & bugs, feeling the breeze, but at least he isn't being eaten by other chickens.

Life in a dog kennel

I guess this serves as a lesson to make sure you have a "triage" area to put injured or sick chickens away from your other birds.  I thought about making a small moveable pen that I could use as a triage area.  But the dog the fold-up, portable dog kennel is fast, easy, and stores in a small space.