Thursday, January 3, 2013

Update to "Live chicken with a broken neck"

Cinnamon

Back on 22Dec12, I posted about how Cinnamon hen suddenly had a broken neck out in the chicken pen.  She was listless and doubled over in the chicken pen, not eating for days, not moving much at all, keeping her distance from all the other birds.  I brought her into the house into seclusion, so no other bird could pick on her when she was hurting or worse, so no rooster could attempt to mount her, which is probably how she got the broken neck in the first place.  The roosters hold the hen's neck with their beak and sometimes can be rough on the hen if the hen struggles and attempts to run.  And Cinnamon is a small bantam hen, the 2 roosters are bigger than her.

Cinnamon stayed in the bathroom, which is warm and dark.  At first she didn't want to eat much.  She wiggled her head and neck around and it had a terrible kink in it.  After 3 days she was eating better, but still doing the terrible looking neck wiggle every now and then.  We moved her from the warm bathroom outside to the infirmary coop under a heat lamp, where another hen was placed with her to keep her company.  We had to make sure the visiting hen was lower in the pecking order than Cinnamon; we didn't want anyone picking on her when she was injured.

After 4 days in the infirmary coop Cinnamon seemed to be much better.  She perked up as soon as she was with another hen.  We rotated in various hens to keep Cinnamon up with the chicken gossip.  You know how hens like to talk and gossip.  Most chickens do like to be around other chickens.  Every now and then you'll find a chicken that doesn't like to spend time with other birds, but that's unique.  Cinnamon started eating much better when she was in the infirmary coop.  She also started roosting in the infirmary coop, not just sitting on the ground.  Those we all signs that she was getting better.

Finally on the fourth night, one week after she was separated from the general flock, she was put back in with the flock to roost at nighttime.  She's been doing fine ever since.  She still has a kink in her neck, but she seems to be pain-free now.  She's been hanging with the other hens, eating normally, roosting at night, no problems.  And so, it seems a chicken can survive getting a broken neck.

8 comments:

Carolyn said...

Glad she's alright. A little "kinky" chicken in the hen house might be just the thing your farm was lacking!

Mary Ann said...

All I can say is WOW! I have never seen this in many years of keeping chickens, but gosh, I learn something every single day!

Barbee' said...

Until the next rooster attack, poor thing.

LindaG said...

Congratulations. Glad to hear she is doing well. ♥

CaliforniaGrammy said...

Amazing story . . . WHO knew a chicken could survive such an ordeal!

Chai Chai said...

Amazing!

Ronna said...

So happy little Cinny is better. One of my favourite cat's names was Cinnamon.

Knatolee said...

Glad she's better!!! I had one of my hens drop dead for no apparent reason today. :( One of the baby "muffs' born last June. I hate it when that happens!!

Cinnamon is quite the survivor!