Young Hen with Broken leg

[msmolly]

Has anyone had success with a broken leg healing? One of this years chicks- (10 weeks old now) showed up with a leg injury today. She was limping visibly and we found several cuts and some swelling on one leg. Soaked it in some Darek's solution, and when I examined it closely realized it was broken, midway down the Fibula/tibia(the long part). The leg seemed pretty straight, so hoping its a clean break. We put bacitracin on the wounds, wrapped, splinted and taped as best we could and have been giving her an aspirin/water solution. I've got her in the house in a small cat carrier to restrict movement. So far she seems comfortable, She's eating really well, but is panting a bit. I'm giving her the aspirin/water solution in a bowl as her only water (per instructions in a book) and feeding it to her through a syringe when she's panting. Can she over dose on the solution? Am I doing this right? Any other suggestions? Has anyone had a success story with this sort of thing? Advice and suggestions welcome.

 

[Eggcessive]

You can give her 1 baby or low dose 81mg aspirin twice a day, but watch for any bleeding or bruising. She shouldn't need it more than a couple of days for pain. Keep her confined for at least 2 weeks until you can feel a callous or thickening of the bone where it is healing. She may benefit from a chicken sling or chair to get her up out of her droppings. Here is a sample of some:

 

[msmolly]

Thanks, I really appreciate the info. I gave her an aspirin solution that really helped and brought the swelling down significantly. The original splint became so loose, finally had to rebuild it.
I'm afraid she's not as comfortable with my latest attempt. So she's back on the aspirin again and I'll evaluate her in the morning- see if I need to loosen or adjust something. I love all those sling ideas.

 

[alibabba]

Had a little girl damaged by a fox, found in dead chicken position (details not necessary). She opened her eye.


turmeric in food (will help toxicity, and inflammation, but same as aspirin can cause bleeding)

and oxytet in water and food from day 1. Per advice on BYC, I think that is what saved her.

She did not like the sling after 2 days and prefered to scoot around the dog bed. Tried our best to keep paper towel under her bottom.

9 days and she was back outside (don't think anything was broken though, just crushed and punctured)

 

[msmolly]

Had a little girl damaged by a fox, found in dead chicken position (details not necessary). She opened her eye.


turmeric in food (will help toxicity, and inflammation, but same as aspirin can cause bleeding)

and oxytet in water and food from day 1. Per advice on BYC, I think that is what saved her.

She did not like the sling after 2 days and prefered to scoot around the dog bed. Tried our best to keep paper towel under her bottom.

9 days and she was back outside (don't think anything was broken though, just crushed and punctured)

Thanks Alibabba- I get the whole paper towel thing, can't tell you how much time I've wasted trying to re-invent the "chicken diaper". I hadn't thought of tumeric, thats a great idea- how much do I give? I thought the whole thing with Tumeric is that it didn't cause stomach problems. "Peg" as we are calling her now is doing really well. "Peg" as she's been dubbed, is doing really well, the leg seems to be healing quickly. It's been 9 days, and She might be close to healed. My concern now is how much the other chickens want to pick on her when I put her out again. Did your chciken fit back in?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would gradually take her out with the others to sit in her cage, and let them see her. When she has healed enough and can stand, then give her supervised visits while free ranging. They will peck her at first, but just don't let it get out of hand. In the past with a new chicken or introducing chicks I will keep them in an enclosure such as this portable one:

 

[alibabba]

Thanks Alibabba- I get the whole paper towel thing, can't tell you how much time I've wasted trying to re-invent the "chicken diaper". I hadn't thought of tumeric, thats a great idea- how much do I give? I thought the whole thing with Tumeric is that it didn't cause stomach problems. "Peg" as we are calling her now is doing really well. "Peg" as she's been dubbed, is doing really well, the leg seems to be healing quickly. It's been 9 days, and She might be close to healed. My concern now is how much the other chickens want to pick on her when I put her out again. Did your chciken fit back in?

Hey, with turmeric, I honestly liberally sprinkle! Like I do when I cook...the mix looks golden yellow. Sorry! I know there are actual dosages here someplace....

And when I took her back out, there were just 2 other survivors in her group, they seemed actually glad to see her. It was 9 or 10 days? No one pecked her, they sat with her, didnt notice that she rested alot. I took her 2 days then to be able to roost, i gave her a step stool - I spoil. LOL if it was a bigger group, might have been different.

She is all back to normal. Can even get on the higher roosts now that she's part of the flock.

Turmeric is good for alot of thing, pain, inflammation, antioxidants. It is a blood thinner so you have to be a little careful, like aspirin, but their isn't much of the active ingredient in powdered turmeric, you have to get an extract to really have to worry.

I saw a study where it was fed to broilers, that group had gained better and with less mortality. Should be taken with black bpepper and something fatty...for best effect. yogurt, olive oil, fish, egg (might be some examples) I throw some cayenne in too for blood flow.

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-turmeric/

 

[Kadydid]

We found one of our older ladies (a barred rock, maybe) lame next to the water trough one evening. We guess that somehow she was injured by the sheep. The break or dislocation was up by her thigh. At any rate, even though my husband thought we should "cull" her, I just kept her in a separate space until she was ready to rejoin the flock. She has a limp now, but gets along great free-ranging with all her sisters. Since she came to us as a stray, has only one eye, and survived the sheep attack, we have renamed her Lucky.

 

[msmolly]

Has anyone had success with a broken leg healing? One of this years chicks- (10 weeks old now) showed up with a leg injury today. She was limping visibly and we found several cuts and some swelling on one leg. Soaked it in some Darek's solution, and when I examined it closely realized it was broken, midway down the Fibula/tibia(the long part). The leg seemed pretty straight, so hoping its a clean break. We put bacitracin on the wounds, wrapped, splinted and taped as best we could and have been giving her an aspirin/water solution. I've got her in the house in a small cat carrier to restrict movement. So far she seems comfortable, She's eating really well, but is panting a bit. I'm giving her the aspirin/water solution in a bowl as her only water (per instructions in a book) and feeding it to her through a syringe when she's panting. Can she over dose on the solution? Am I doing this right? Any other suggestions? Has anyone had a success story with this sort of thing? Advice and suggestions welcome.

Happy Ending to the broken leg. Peggy did very well, healed beautifully, no limp and just a yellow bumpwere the callous is and a very slight bend/crookedness in the leg. Want to know what I used for a cast/splint?.........tried several things- but what worked?....A cardboard Tampax tube. No kidding, it worked great! Because there were lacerations to the leg, I wanted to be able to remove the dressing, check and re-apply ointment to the wounds,-without struggling with a difficult splint that might in turn un-do any bone healing. I cut the tube to length, split it up the middle- lined with a thin layer batting (this was the hard part, as couldn't stick to healing wounds, but had to be compliant for cushion and swelling)- placed on leg with slit opening forward, and closed with a light paper medical tape. Then covered with vet wrap. Kept her immobilized as much as possible in small cat carrier- but let her out for stretching and hopping more and more each day. After only a few days started socializing her outside with other chickens in the chick-cage, so she wouldn't get alienated from the flock. That was my biggest fear- and rightly-so, she still got hen-pecked a bit when she returned for good. Altogether, she healed in 3 weeks give or take. Thank you for all the advice!

 

[Eggcessive]

Great news. Thanks for the update. Telfa pads cut to shape work great to wrap a wound without sticking to it. You can also pad the Telfa.