Yesterday I rescued a pullet that has an old leg injury. The former owner told me she had a cut on it two months ago. She is 4 months old now. He said he wrapped it for a couple of days but was unable to keep it clean enough to heal because of lack of time. The pullet is very small and he separated it from the other pullets because they were picking on her.
The pullet's leg is much worse than I had expected it to be. She has a lesion that goes all the way around the leg. It is obviously old injury (probably 2 months). Her leg is enlarged and hard to the touch - no heat or swelling. The skin seems mostly healed except for a scabbed portion on the back of the leg.
When the pullet walks, she doesn't seem to be able to move her toes or have any conscious proprioception in the injured foot. It looks like she has nerve and/or circulation issues. She can stand and put weight on the injured foot, but doesn't not grip with it or seems to know what the foot is doing. She also picks at the the leg from time to time. She is supposed to be 3/4 marans and 1/4 ameraucana. She is rumpless as well has having feathered legs. Although she weighs just over 2 pounds and is smaller than my 10 week old pullets, I do believe she is about 4-5 months old since she is already clucking and her sisters were normal sized and twice as big as she is.
The pullet is a good flyer. She will fly up onto the roost, but has a lot of problems balancing. When she sits on the roost it seems she cannot bend the joint in her foot so she sticks it out in front of her and rests her weight on the back of the leg, which I think is why she has the big scab on the back. I soaked the leg, gave her a little bath, treated the wound with furasone ointment and then wrapped it.
So, my questions...is there something else I should be doing for her leg? What is the probable prognosis for this girl? Is she likely to get better or worse at this point, and is it going to compromise her quality of life? She is separated from the other pullets. She has her own run during the day and is in a cage in the house at night. We free range our chickens and I don't think this girl will be able to scratch or get away from predators.
Here are some pics. Thanks for helping!
The pullet's leg is much worse than I had expected it to be. She has a lesion that goes all the way around the leg. It is obviously old injury (probably 2 months). Her leg is enlarged and hard to the touch - no heat or swelling. The skin seems mostly healed except for a scabbed portion on the back of the leg.
When the pullet walks, she doesn't seem to be able to move her toes or have any conscious proprioception in the injured foot. It looks like she has nerve and/or circulation issues. She can stand and put weight on the injured foot, but doesn't not grip with it or seems to know what the foot is doing. She also picks at the the leg from time to time. She is supposed to be 3/4 marans and 1/4 ameraucana. She is rumpless as well has having feathered legs. Although she weighs just over 2 pounds and is smaller than my 10 week old pullets, I do believe she is about 4-5 months old since she is already clucking and her sisters were normal sized and twice as big as she is.
The pullet is a good flyer. She will fly up onto the roost, but has a lot of problems balancing. When she sits on the roost it seems she cannot bend the joint in her foot so she sticks it out in front of her and rests her weight on the back of the leg, which I think is why she has the big scab on the back. I soaked the leg, gave her a little bath, treated the wound with furasone ointment and then wrapped it.
So, my questions...is there something else I should be doing for her leg? What is the probable prognosis for this girl? Is she likely to get better or worse at this point, and is it going to compromise her quality of life? She is separated from the other pullets. She has her own run during the day and is in a cage in the house at night. We free range our chickens and I don't think this girl will be able to scratch or get away from predators.
Here are some pics. Thanks for helping!
