Limping chick - delay integration but keep where she is?

Hi,

Scenario - I have an enclosed run which houses a coop suitable for at least 12 hens.

I have 4 hens, one of which went broody this summer. I seperated her from the other girls in her own small coop and run.  After a failed attempt with supposedly fertile eggs I bought 4 day old chicks.

The chicks are now around 12 weeks old.

Mindful that winter is approaching (and that the main run provides the best protection), I decided that the best thing to do is to start theintegration process.  Consequently I have split the run in half so that the older girls have access to the main coop and mum and chicks have their own coop at the front.

I noticed this morning that one of the chicks is limping quite badly. I checked advice recently on this group for limping chikens and have since checked her leg. There are small spots of blood, which I didn't notice this morning.

To confuse matters, the divide between the two sets of hens became dislodged some time today without me noticing, and so the girls have all been mingling (there are no signs of all out war, but there is the odd pecking order squabbles going on).

Could the blood have been caused by the others pecking at the chick? Spotting weakness?

Most of the advice given here seems to be to monitor her for a couple of days and if she doesn't get better then take her to the vets - does the small amount of blood (and it is small) change this?

Should I quaranteen her from her surrogate mum and chicks - bearing in mind she then has to go through two integration processes?  She is currently sat in her coop looking dejected - I've put some food right in front of her, but this has obviously got the interest of the others and despite them having their own, they want to share with her.

None of her siblings seem to be picking on her, so should I leave her where she is?

Sorry - long post!!!

Thanks for your advice - makes sense regards the bullying thinking about it.  My dominant hen loves pecking the other ones' bums!

No, I noticed the limping before the barrier fell over (and it only fell a few inches - just far enough for the other girls to squeeze through the gap).

If she wasn't limping already, I think I would have taken down the barrier for good today - I feel she is going to be particularly vulnerable now and not fast enough to get out of the bigger hens' way.

Unless anyone else has any contradictary thoughts, I think I'll leave her with mum and siblings but check her regularly for the next couple of days.  If she recovers then I'll take the plunge and remove the barrier.

Out of interest - at what age do you let your chicks free range? They've been out a couple of times but for no longer than 5 minutes and then I panic and put them back (lots of cats in the area).