Office chicks and the leg sprain

 
Around 5-6 weeks old, I started letting the chicks roam my home office a couple hours a day.

We kept this up until they went to their “college dorm” coop in our AZ room.

Whenever we would let the flock out to play, Britters would stay in their house. She wouldn’t come out unless I helped her to. When she would come out, if she got spooked, she would literally fly/run in a panic into objects. Sometimes she would get trampled by her nest mates. 

At some point she hurt one of her legs and started limping. 

Developmentally Britters seemed to lag behind the others physically. For example she didn’t learn to jump or fly on the same schedule with the others. Even as a 5 week old chick, she seemed colder/shyer and stayed under the heating plate more than they did. 

At around 6 weeks old, she sprained one of her legs in one of her anxiety attack/ panic fits. She started limping around. This made her less mobile and less willing to come out of the pen. The others picked on her even more. 

We tried to separate her in a cat carrier in their pen with them but she was miserable. We put her back with the others.

That turned out to be a bad idea. Her sprain only worsened. She was picked on more. 






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