Our littlest Barred Rock, Mimi, hurt her toe and was bleeding.
(This post has some great photos towards the end – but I hope you read the whole story!)
First Noticed
I opened the chicken coop as usual on a Sunday morning and the chickens rushed out. I noted right away that there were spots of blood dotting the wood shavings litter throughout the coop. My first thought was that someone got pecked and immediately began to look at combs. Everyone was fine. Then I noticed Mimi’s bloody toe. There was also blood on the bottom of her other foot.
I didn’t take any pictures, but the short version of the story is that it looked like she injured her middle toe around the toenail on her left foot. I couldn’t see that her other foot was injured, but I couldn’t be sure. I went inside to tell Mr. Gordon and grabbed our chicken first-aid kit. Back in the run, Mr. Gordon held Mimi while I washed her feet with a clean, wet rag, then applied some Blu-Kote. (Wear gloves! It stains!) This first step would be the immediate “fix” while we figured out what to do next.
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“We’re bringing her in.”
We had to run an errand. When we returned, I nearly bolted from the moving vehicle because I could see Mimi sitting on the ground and the other chickens hovering around her. I was worried that they were pecking at her. In fact, I saw a little red on her head and thought she was being pecked. (Turns out she wasn’t. She scratched her head and wiped a little blood on herself.) BUT, her toe was bleeding again.
Anyhow, it was enough to convince us to bring Mimi in for a few days to reduce her movements and keep her safe from the other chickens.



We had an old pet cage that was perfect. We made a mini roost for her. We piled fresh straw on the thick plastic mat on the bottom of the cage. We made sure she had constant access to food, water, and grit. She also got plenty of treats. At night, we completely covered the cage to help her feel more secure.
We brought her in on a Sunday, again washing her feet and applying the Blu-Kote. We did that two more times over the next few days. The toe stopped bleeding the first day. The other foot appeared to be just fine. By Wednesday, Mimi was vocal and wanted to return home to the coop.
Concerns, But Take Heart
We had a couple of concerns from the beginning. One, Mimi would be in a warm house and we were worried about returning her to a cold outdoors when the time came. Secondly, we were worried about returning her to her flock. Would they see her as a new chicken? Would she be bullied? Would she be hurt by the other chickens?
I’m going to take a moment and address a real frustration of mine. The internet is a wonderful tool full of great information and helpful people. It can also be a source of horror stories.
Let me state right now in this post for the newbie chicken keeper: You can return a chicken back to the flock with NO DRAMA. Sure, there are plenty of unhappy stories that you can find in search returns or in chicken keeper forums. And, it’s a good idea to educate yourself and to have a plan. But take heart: You and your returning chicken CAN have a drama-free experience. We did.
Many chicken keepers suggest returning a chicken to her flock into the coop when the chickens are roosting and drifting off to sleep. This is when you sneak in and gently place the returning chicken onto the roost with the others. The theory is that in the morning… viola! No one knows the difference. (Supposedly.) Mr. Gordon’s son Kyle has done this successfully with his chickens.
Sounds like a great plan if you can walk into your coop. Ours is about 3-ish feet off of the ground. You can’t walk into our coop. This recommendation wouldn’t work for us.
After terrifying myself for a couple of hours reading about people’s failures and chicken drama, I landed here at Jack’s Henhouse. The portion on introducing a new adult chicken to the flock gave me hope.
Then, I developed a plan.
Distraction and Treats
Mr. Gordon built a gift for the girls (and me!) right before Mimi injured her toe. I hadn’t given it to the chickens yet.
A Chic-Nic Table. That’s right, a pic-nic table for chickens! A table that could be loaded with tasty treats: a big salad topped with grubs!
The plan: We’d move in tandem. I’d sweep in and deliver the Chic-Nic Table, top it with the goodies, and Mr. Gordon would be right behind me sneaking Mimi into the feasting party!
And that was exactly what we did. It worked with absolutely NO DRAMA. In fact, no chicken seemed to notice Mimi’s return. Enjoy these AWESOME photos of the Chic-Nic celebration! (PS, the coke can is an empty can with pennies in it. If someone went after Mimi, I was going to shake it at them. Never needed to use it.)





Mimi in the center of the photo below with Daisy by her side.







Mimi’s in the house, Chickens!
Well, Mimi herself did bring a little drama to the party. I think she channeled her inner RuPaul upon entering the coop for the first time.

Then, strike that pose!

😉
Oh! And the weather? About three days of sunshine and close to 70 degrees. We got lucky.
And all’s well that ends well. Sigh. 🙂
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Because all chicken-keepers – new, kinda new, and well-seasoned – need to hear the good stories. 🙂
Good story about Mimi and some good advice on how you accomplished your answer to your personal dilemma.
Thanks, Mom! I wonder what Grandma would have done? I’m sure she had her share of injured or sick chickens to deal with back then!
You reassured me about putting my sick baby back with the flock. We are putting in their favorite treat (kale) and setting her in.
Oh no, poor Mimi! Sounds like you guys handled everything like chicken keeping pros! We have had a similar situation where we’ve had to quarantine a chicken for more than a few days and we used the night time method of reintroduction. We snuck out there and put the chicken in the roost with the rest of them and even after an extended period of time away from the flock, they seemed to go on like nothing ever happened once they woke up in the morning and she magically reappeared. Love the chicnic table! So hilarious and adorable! So glad that Mimi is now feeling better – she looks fabulous 🙂
Hi Steph! If we had a walk-in coop, we likely would’ve tried that method of reintroduction. It’s funny how many things you realize you need to be prepared for AFTER you have chickens. While I knew (academically) that you might need to bring a chicken indoors and then return to the flock, in practice, the reintroduction needed to be planful. I’m convinced the treats and the chic-nic table made a big difference in our success.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Well done! Chicken keeping should pretty much be drama free. They’re biddies for sure, but in reality it isn’t as hard as everyone makes it out to be. As long as the confined chicken isn’t inside for an extended period of time (more than a week) there shouldn’t be any issues with reintroductions. At least that’s been my experience. And my last flock was full of drama. Oy!
Hi Kristin! We were definitely “watching the clock” to make sure we got her back out as soon as possible. Mr. Gordon originally thought it would be a week in convalescence. The weather forecast had me concerned. If we waited a week, it would’ve been very cold on reintroduction day. But then, we needed to make sure that toe was healed. I was aiming for mid-week with my fingers crossed.
I think we got lucky on so many fronts: toe healed quickly, she was very easy to care for (she’s a pretty sweet chicken), reintroduction could happen after three nights away, and drama-free return. (Hmm, maybe I should be placing chicken scratch on some altar to a chicken god… ha!)
Thanks for stopping by! XO!
awwww! I am so happy to hear that Mimi was ok…and giggled at the grand entrance back. Heehee
Thanks, GKGirl! That grand entrance back into the coop was EPIC! 😀
Thank you for some ideas. We have a little girl who broke her foot last week. The vet found that it needed amputated. So our little Darcy has been living the spoiled life in our basement in a “hospital recovery room” If all goes well, she will be gone about a month maybe 5 weeks from the coop.
Unfortunately it’s also winter here in Central Pennsylvania and it’s been pretty cold.
I’m really worried not only about the change in temps – our basement is about 60 degrees and the coop is kept warm with an iridescent heater that keeps it about 35-40 degrees – but also how things will go with the pecking order. So I’m looking for some ideas for a drama free re-entry.
I’ll definitely check out the links you provided and keep searching for the right solution for our sweet girl.
Hi Tammy – I’m glad you found this post helpful! Good luck with Darcy.
I don’t post here much anymore, but I would like to recommend a blogsite that really helped me out when I was looking up answers to questions: ChickenLibrarian.com and specifically her posts regarding animals she’s tended to over the years: https://chickenlibrarian.com/category/animals/
Happy holidays to you, and thanks for stopping by!
XO,
Tracy
Thank you so much. I will definitely check it out. 🙂