Baby chick broken leg

[WVduckchick]

So like what do I do ? I’m confused by the messages do I leave it for a few days ? It doesn’t know what food or water is yet and it won’t be able to get to it unless he pulls himself towards it but he spends most of the time with his eyes closed he doesn’t even know how to use the one leg he has

We can't make that decision for you. Have you ever euthanized a chick before?

 

[sumi]

I'm just going to throw this in here fwiw. This is my son's 2yo game hen. When she was about 3 weeks old, he accidentally closed the door on her leg, breaking it in 2 places.

I applied antiseptic cream, bandaged it up as best I could and hoped for the best. As you can see she has a bit of a wonky leg and foot, but she is moving, running scratching and doing everything her flock mates do without issue.

I think you can see from this there is hope. Take a deep breath, give the little one some baby aspirin (someone here should have a dosage for you) Make sure the splint/bandage is not interfering with the chick's blood circulation and

 

[Ms Clucky]

So, how is the little chick? Did you get it's leg fixed?

 

[staceyj]

So like what do I do ? I’m confused by the messages do I leave it for a few days ? It doesn’t know what food or water is yet and it won’t be able to get to it unless he pulls himself towards it but he spends most of the time with his eyes closed he doesn’t even know how to use the one leg he has

When you have a chick with problems or who’s slow to start and you need time to make a humane decision, my opinion is that it should be kept safe, warm and not allowed to starve to death.
I suggest you bring the food and water to him/her.
Dip it’s beak in the water so it learns how to drink.
Put the food in your hand or right in front of it and tap your finger right next to it. Alternatives would be making a “mash” of chick feed soaked with warm water to the consistency of loose oatmeal, or make a soft scrambled egg and offer it a tiny bit of it. Chicks that are raised by hens are taught by their mothers where food is.
Chicks raised in a brooder have to rely on us to provide for them.

 

[casportpony]

give the little one some baby aspirin (someone here should have a dosage for you)

This is what I have:
One 325 mg tablet dissolved in 8 ounces of water. Change the water 3 times daily because it alters the taste and smell of the water.
Source:
https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazo...eae44de2bba70c90e9f12d7c/filePV_27_04_299.pdf

Edited to add:
I have not used aspirin so have no idea how accurate this is.

 

[Shezadandy]

Did you leave the bone sticking out ???

You'll need to immobilize the chick - dragging the leg around will definitely not help. Look up "chick chair" - there are lots of ways to do it- then have little water and food dish in easy reach. I used the cups from on top of the Nyquil bottle after a major washing - poked a little hole in the top and used a twisty-tie to secure it. A chick chair is basically a sling that lets the leg hang instead of getting banged around. It's important

Yes, I pretty much left the bone out- there wasn't much else I could do. I manipulated both sides and sought to cast the leg in the most natural possible position. He was bleeding heavily, so my first problem wasn't so much the break- it was stopping the bleeding. Given his size, it wasn't likely that I was going to accomplish anything else - it's been said with young animals that if you have a break and you put the two halves in the same room together, they'll grow together.

The wound was open for over a month because so much of the skin and surrounding tissue was damaged from him trying to free himself. I thought it was just about done … then had that nice infection come spewing out, but since then the skin has healed.

I had a couple things going for me- my guy continued to eat and drink through the whole thing, and while he was with his mom and siblings when the accident happened, he was big enough to be comfortable indoors without special heat etc. Going under momma hen isn't going to be good for that leg- baby can be in the same area with others but will need to be supported- kind of like confining a patient to bed.

And I still had some toe/lower leg movement. Now when I go to stretch the bad side, there's a little bit of flexion in the foot but not like the undamaged side. And the hock has some flexibility but not a normal range of motion as the bones had to heal whichever way they could with the support of the cast.

He can stand, walk, and run if he uses his wings- by no means 100%.

 

[Vhope77]

You'll need to immobilize the chick - dragging the leg around will definitely not help. Look up "chick chair" - there are lots of ways to do it- then have little water and food dish in easy reach. I used the cups from on top of the Nyquil bottle after a major washing - poked a little hole in the top and used a twisty-tie to secure it. A chick chair is basically a sling that lets the leg hang instead of getting banged around. It's important

Yes, I pretty much left the bone out- there wasn't much else I could do. I manipulated both sides and sought to cast the leg in the most natural possible position. He was bleeding heavily, so my first problem wasn't so much the break- it was stopping the bleeding. Given his size, it wasn't likely that I was going to accomplish anything else - it's been said with young animals that if you have a break and you put the two halves in the same room together, they'll grow together.

The wound was open for over a month because so much of the skin and surrounding tissue was damaged from him trying to free himself. I thought it was just about done … then had that nice infection come spewing out, but since then the skin has healed.

I had a couple things going for me- my guy continued to eat and drink through the whole thing, and while he was with his mom and siblings when the accident happened, he was big enough to be comfortable indoors without special heat etc. Going under momma hen isn't going to be good for that leg- baby can be in the same area with others but will need to be supported- kind of like confining a patient to bed.

And I still had some toe/lower leg movement. Now when I go to stretch the bad side, there's a little bit of flexion in the foot but not like the undamaged side. And the hock has some flexibility but not a normal range of motion as the bones had to heal whichever way they could with the support of the cast.

He can stand, walk, and run if he uses his wings- by no means 100%.

I had to take the wrap off as his hip is dislocated and his leg was being dragged in weird directions and it looked painful I don’t know about the chick chair it has never worked well for me the chicks just struggle the whole time more than anything but will see how things go it may need to be used

 

[Shezadandy]

I had to take the wrap off as his hip is dislocated and his leg was being dragged in weird directions and it looked painful I don’t know about the chick chair it has never worked well for me the chicks just struggle the whole time more than anything but will see how things go it may need to be used

Instead of a chick chair (mine kept flipping himself over) - mine responded well to being in a box full of the crinkle paper - like construction paper grade … it supports their body weight just fine and they can move a little bit. And it's pretty easy to clean. The main thing is the weight is off the leg but the chick is supported and nothing gets twisted.

Like this stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0752BY9TP/?tag=backy-20

 

[Shezadandy]

I had to take the wrap off as his hip is dislocated and his leg was being dragged in weird directions and it looked painful I don’t know about the chick chair it has never worked well for me the chicks just struggle the whole time more than anything but will see how things go it may need to be used

First - still would want to cast the lower leg and above and below the break. Then I would tuck the upper part of the leg up against the body and use vetwrap to secure the 'drumstick' up against the body. To get it to stay, I cut a little hole in the vetwrap and put the wing through, then gently wrapped around the body making sure baby can still breathe, of course, then loop the vetwrap over the upper leg to secure it to the body. I wish I had a picture. ​

Once the upper part of the leg is secured to the body, then put whatever supports to keep the upper and lower leg lined up- in my case it was those flexible metal strips (wrapped in vetwrap) - can use a number of things - that will help keep the body parts in the right spot. Secure the supports to the inside and outside of the leg with a strip of vetwrap, then - loosely- wrap the casted lower leg onto the body so the broken section can't flop around and get caught on stuff - don't want the hock bent too severely though. Hard to describe.

You might find that once the leg is immobilized against the body that the baby will be more active- but obviously--- strongly recommend supportive containment- and that crinkle paper worked miracles.

 

[Ms Clucky]

Did you ever contact Dr. Jeff? How is the chick doing?