Baby chick injured!!

[FrauChickens]

Hi there, I have a 3 week old Lav Orpington chick who’s experiencing some difficulty. She was found today with her head stuck in a crack between two pieces of wood, her body looking limp. Below her head on the floor was a piece of pine shaving with (what looked to be) some blood. After freeing her, she was just sitting on the coop floor while the rest of the chicks were running around and being active as normal. She was hobbling around a bit, but was stumbling as if a leg was broken.
I examined her all over and I couldn’t find any injury or blood. I’ve never had a chick with a broken leg/toe/slipped tendon before, but it didn’t look like anything was out of place or different. I placed her in a secluded place in the brooder coop with her own food/water. She ate and drank a bit. She seems healthy, it’s just that her legs don’t seem to be functioning right.
Is it possible that all the struggling with her head stuck caused brain damage and paralyzed her? Maybe she coughed up blood, and that’s what’s on the floor? Please let me know if you’ve seen behavior like this before!

 

[azygous]

Have you ever taken a first aid course? When a human is injured, we learn to treat for shock first right after stopping the bleeding. This is also what you must do to treat an injured chicken. Shock can mimic leg injury and even paralysis. Like in humans it can also kill a chicken.

So warm up some water and stir some sugar into it with a scant pinch of salt and baking soda. Get that into the chick ASAP. You can syringe it into the right side of the beak or dip the beak and see if the chick will resume drinking. This will revive the chick. It may even resolve the leg issue.

 

[sylviethecochin]

She could also have strained a muscle struggling. Supportive care (warmth, calm) can be helpful. If she doesn't immediately improve, separate with a gentle buddy (loneliness is extremely stressful to chickens) and just make it so she doesn't have to move around too much to reach food and water for a few days.

 

[FrauChickens]

Have you ever taken a first aid course? When a human is injured, we learn to treat for shock first right after stopping the bleeding. This is also what you must do to treat an injured chicken. Shock can mimic leg injury and even paralysis. Like in humans it can also kill a chicken.

So warm up some water and stir some sugar into it with a scant pinch of salt and baking soda. Get that into the chick ASAP. You can syringe it into the right side of the beak or dip the beak and see if the chick will resume drinking. This will revive the chick. It may even resolve the leg issue.

Thank you so much for the advice! She drank up a good deal of the solution and now is back in the brooder with a friend. Fingers crossed!

 

[FrauChickens]

Hi there, I have a 3 week old Lav Orpington chick who’s experiencing some difficulty. She was found today with her head stuck in a crack between two pieces of wood, her body looking limp. Below her head on the floor was a piece of pine shaving with (what looked to be) some blood. After freeing her, she was just sitting on the coop floor while the rest of the chicks were running around and being active as normal. She was hobbling around a bit, but was stumbling as if a leg was broken.
I examined her all over and I couldn’t find any injury or blood. I’ve never had a chick with a broken leg/toe/slipped tendon before, but it didn’t look like anything was out of place or different. I placed her in a secluded place in the brooder coop with her own food/water. She ate and drank a bit. She seems healthy, it’s just that her legs don’t seem to be functioning right.
Is it possible that all the struggling with her head stuck caused brain damage and paralyzed her? Maybe she coughed up blood, and that’s what’s on the floor? Please let me know if you’ve seen behavior like this before!

Ok, here’s an update! The chick has been with the rest of the chicks for a few days, and has mainly been laying down (still limping considerably) and occasionally making her way over to the food/water. Today, however; her limp is almost unnoticeable and she’s moving around with the rest of the chicks! I think she just needed some good rest.