Interesting thread. Sorry to hear about your chick. I can totally understand you wanting to work with your chick so that it can continue on and have a healthy life. As previously stated, you will have to seek out professional/medical attention to see if the legs are broke or not. Once you have determined that, then you will be better equipped with the knowledge on how to proceed with your chick. If you find out that the legs are not broken, you can better care for her during the rehab process of getting her legs stronger so that she can walk.
Many years ago, my relative brought me some "white" chickens. He has no knowledge of chicken and had no idea what he was buying. He just wanted me to have some white chickens. So, when he brought the chickens to me, I noticed that they were kinda big and didn't look like regular chickens. Well, once I figured it out, I knew that he had bought me cornish chicks. Well, I did my research and found out all about them. :/ I didn't want to process them, so I researched on how to prolong their lives. Well lo and behold I didn't find anything on the internet about that, so I came up with my own plan and it worked.
My girls lived to be a little older 4 years old. I had 6 girls all together. Only have a pic of the 3 of them.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/551431/life-span-in-cornish-white-cross
The girls were dust bathing on this day.
My girls were too big to fly on the roost. I sometimes would put them on the roosts, if at coop closing time, their eyes were sparkling with envy to get on the roost. I would lift them up and place them on the roost. I had to take them off and place them on the ground the next morning. Sometimes, they just chose to sleep on the ground in their chicken house. I made their ground sleeping arrangements as comfy as possible.
There are a few other people on this forum who have raised Cornish as pets and I am one of them. My girls had an excellent chicken life. Anyone who knows me know that my animals have 5 star status in terms of health, nutrition and living arrangements. I wouldn't have it any other way.
This is what I did that allowed them to live so long.
1. Do not overfeed. Give the same amount of feed that you would give your regular flock/per bird.
2. Free range as often as possible (daily if you can). Free ranging also promotes exercise. They have to walk and run to get those juicy bugs.
3. Place feeder several feet away from them, so that they have to walk (exercise) to get their food.
4. Feed healthy snacks (fruits & vegetables)
5. Make sure that their living arrangements are functional for their needs. Some cannot fly on roosts at night. They may have to sleep on the floor.
6. Do not place FEMALES with roosters. Roosters will try to mate with them. Their legs cannot take the extra rooster weight on them and neither can their stress level.
**If you feel that your bird is still hungry after eating her regular feed, feed her fruits and veggies. It's just like humans on a diet and we are still hungry after eating our meal. We fill up on healthy fruits and veggies. Find out what she likes and give that to her daily.
I can give this information because I have experience in raising Cornish as pets.
With her not being able to stand (not even to poop), you will have to clean her bottom area daily. If not, it will go bald and you will have another problem with skin issues and sores. You may even have to place a chicken diaper on her or make your own functional "outfit" for her so that her area is kept clean and dry.
Anyone that knows me knows that I will go above and beyond to "save" my animals. And I"m usually able to save them 98% of the time and they go on to live productive lives and have a great quality of life. Now, if an animal is obviously suffering, then I do put them down but that has only happened a few times in all of my years of raising animals. I exhaust all avenues in trying to save my animals. My motto is, "No losses on my shift."
Kathy (casportpony) is a BYC expert when it comes to meds, dosing, etc, etc etc, so I trust EVERYTHING she says and recommends. She is our mad scientist who knows her stuff. I would bring my animal to Kathy before I would bring it to a vet. So she is providing you expert info (in my opinion).
Here is a link where you can find all sorts of info on Poultry podiatry, pain killers, etc. Please take a minute to read.
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry
I wish you good luck with your chick and I hope she pulls through.
Please keep us posted on her condition and what you decide to do.
Four years is amazing! Great job!
