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Perhaps she could use a perch set close to the ground to practice with. It won't meet her need to be up higher, but sometimes half is better than none.
Looks great!
Be aware that the "forth" toe has obviously been damaged which will add to her balance issue. With such deep tissue damage, you're probably looking at some nerve issues also. It'll take a while for her to have complete use of that foot, if at all.
All in all, it looks great.
Perhaps she could use a perch set close to the ground to practice with. It won't meet her need to be up higher, but sometimes half is better than none.
Update: She did great! One night I took off the bandage and was able to peel off the big plug of junk. Her foot was clean and healthy looking. I put some antibiotic on it and wrapped it up for one more day just to be sure. I figured it was the last time I would need to treat her.
That night a stupid raccoon broke into the coop and killed a bunch of chickens, including the little hen with the sore foot!
Argggh!
(The raccoon has since been "relocated".)
All that work, but not quite for naught. You made progress and that's worth something.
Helpfull info for all of us. You mentioned her ''learning'' to roost. Years ago someone told me that chickens need a flat roost at least 3-4'' wide. Anything round or narrower is hard for them since their toes aren't built for gripping like small birds. I've seen these fancy, cute BYC type coops for sale & a lot of them use dowels for roosts. Just something to consider.
Typical of BYCers, use what's fancy, pretty or good looking, without regard to practicality. Flat roosts are also important for species like peafowl, which have mostly adapted to being kept in colder climates, but which still may suffer some effects of the cold, like frozen toes.
In colder climates the wider the flat roost the better. As the birds settle down on the roost the more of the foot is covered. Less frozen toes. Rog
Sorry Evy but I have to ask where the trees are that have 3-4" flats on the top of the branches? yep we always used boards for roosts but our reason was we didn't want frozen toes in the great frozen north. with the boards they could cover their toesOriginally Posted by Evy
Maybe it gets colder where you use the flat boards than it does here. It dipped to -22F here several nights last winter and a long spell of below -15F. I made 2" square roost and sanded the corners enough to smooth them and remove any potential splinters. My chickens didn't have any problem with that set up. If I lived were it got a lot colder I probably would have used larger flat boards just for keeping their feet warmer.
Huh??????? I may misunderstand but you're not making any sense...or is it just for sake of argument?
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