Broken Chicken Bones

Our 8lb rooster did his duty and got between two 50lb dogs (roaming loose/stray and never before seen anywhere in our area before) and his girls yesterday. He led both dogs on a lengthy high speed chase (our security cams captured the entire thing) all over our property before one dog managed to pin him down, which allowed my shovel-wielding DH to catch up. While the dog let go of our roo, it bolted before my DH could get within shovel range.

Roo lost a lot of feathers, smells like dog breath, got several minor cuts on his legs, and a broken middle toe (between his foot and second toe knuckle) on his left foot for his efforts. The toe was at a 90-degree angle to his foot when we finally managed to find him after he ran off when the dog released him. The bone did not puncture the skin. My DH held him while I set the toe and splinted it. I had to reset and resplint it two more times because he kept managing to tear the splint off. FINALLY got him in one he could not remove and which has held the toe straight since last night (when it happened).

He's in a large dog crate in our garage for now to minimize his walking (good luck getting a chicken to sit down and take it easy) and he's eating, drinking, and pooping normally....also growling and rawring a lot about his confinement, so he otherwise seems to be good so far. How long should I leave the splint on and keep him crated? How long does it take for chicken bones to knit?

I know with a high protein diet they heal quicker and for just a toe I would give him a week confined and then let free with the splint for maybe another couple weeks. I am new at this and this is just what I have found out so far on my Duck with a broken leg. Good luck and you have a mighty fine Roo there!

I have never had a chicken with a broken toe or foot before, but I would keep him in the dog crate for as long as he will tolerate it. He looks like a nice German New Hampshire fellow. You could always put him in the coop or in the yard (in his crate) with the chickens so that he can kind of be with them unless it makes him too rambunctious.

He's on a 20% protein flock-raiser diet for a staple, so hopefully that will help with the healing, if he doesn't keep mucking it up by acting like there's not a darn thing wrong with him.

That seems reasonable enough. They apparently knit quite a lot faster than our bones, that's for sure! Thank you very much, we're pretty darn grateful for and proud of him, ourselves. I hope your poor duck recovers well and quickly, too!!!

Eggcessive said:

I have never had a chicken with a broken toe or foot before, but I would keep him in the dog crate for as long as he will tolerate it. He looks like a nice German New Hampshire fellow. You could always put him in the coop or in the yard (in his crate) with the chickens so that he can kind of be with them unless it makes him too rambunctious.

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He didn't really tolerate it from the moment we put him in there. XD He wanted out, bad! But he doesn't have a whole lot of choice, because he otherwise runs all over the garage and goes nuts trying to get to his flock (whom he can hear and will come to right outside of the door when he gets to crowing). I'll see about giving him a view and some proximity to his girls and see how it goes. I don't want to cause him too much stress from the separation, but I haven't been able to strike a deal where he can go back and stay in the run with the ladies if he'll mostly be still and not try to mount them.

Yep, he's our big red NH.

RedDrgn said:

He's on a 20% protein flock-raiser diet for a staple, so hopefully that will help with the healing, if he doesn't keep mucking it up by acting like there's not a darn thing wrong with him.

That seems reasonable enough. They apparently knit quite a lot faster than our bones, that's for sure! Thank you very much, we're pretty darn grateful for and proud of him, ourselves.

I hope your poor duck recovers well and quickly, too!!!

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She is taking alot longer then expected actually. Been about a month and she is still healing. One of our Drakes got really aggressive with her but we see improvement thank you.

chickensnewtome said:

She is taking alot longer then expected actually. Been about a month and she is still healing. One of our Drakes got really aggressive with her but we see improvement thank you.

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Birds are absolutely ruthless; if a flockmate has any kind of injury/illness that others can detect, they don't seem to hesitate to drive them off or outright kill them (if they can). D: It's why they are so good at masking injuries/illness. Glad to hear she's improving!

thanks. Hope to hear in the future how your Roo is doing.

So we kept our roo in the crate in the garage until last night (8 days since breaking his toe). He was right by our three new chicks, but they all totally ignored each other. By day 6, he was just laying around the crate, doing very little and looking like a sad, droopy dishrag. He'd eat and drink when we were there visiting him, but every time we left and would come back to check, he'd look deflated and miserable. We weren't sure he was eating or drinking anything in between our visits since we'd always find him sitting wherever we had last seen him standing (which wasn't always in reach of food/water).

Anyway, we got through a week and then I cut off and re-wrapped his toes, removing the splint entirely and simply wrapping all three of his toes together. This seemed to provide a lot more support for the broken middle toe than the single wooden splint and there was no chance of him shaking or pulling it loose. We let him out in the garage and while he limped, he walked better that way as well and seemed happy to be out of the cage.

We decided we'd take him back to his girls, thinking that with his current energy levels, he'd probably be alright and that being back with adults might perk him up and get him eating/drinking regularly. Uh-huh...

So I scooped him up and took him out to the run. He started clucking and calling to the ladies as soon as he heard them and they crowded around the run door and then followed me through the run as I took him in. He squirmed a little, but I held him tight and set him down very carefully amidst his hens. So far, so good, he seemed more perky, but wasn't going crazy....

As soon as he hit the ground and I stood up and backed away, two of the girls squatted in front of him and he leaped right on top of the one and did his thing, jumped off, started doing his courting dance as ALL of the hens starting squatting in succession...and he went along shooting his gametes all over the place while I watching in horror thinking he'd break his toe right off with his antics! But he was fluffed up, strutting around (with a limp), clucking and calling and crowing and inundates with willing hens. So we let him be....

This morning, his toe was swollen a bit and bruised along the length (no surprise), but it is still straight and set and the wrap is still secure (and not too tight, I checked). He's eating/drinking and doing his roo "thing", so we'll just continue to monitor (planning to leave toes wrapped another 2 weeks). But good grief, roos make the WORST patients.

LOL!!!! so glad he is back to his antics. sounds like one happy roo. Way to go on officially becoming a Roo doctor LOL!!!