Bantam Cochin dislocated or sprained right leg

[kickinchicken]

I feel just awful for my bantam cochin, Lilly.

I went outside this afternoon with my toddler to play and saw 4 out of 5 of my bantams tearing up my mulch areas, as usual. I assumed Lilly was laying an egg. Peeked inside, no Lilly!

Went to the back of the coop and she was laying on the ground looking broody. Went back to play. After about 15 minutes, checked in again...she was in the same place. And no egg! I walked towards her, she didn't do her usual squat or even try to flee. When I picked her up, she held out her right leg!

I was in shock. Went inside, laid her on my lap and checked her range of motion. The right leg seemed to just be non responsive. Just limp. No obvious breaks and the thigh and knee seemed to be in their respective locations.

So I went to the archives, found Kharmel's post on the underwear sling and went to work. Made the sling and hung it inside one of my storage shelves at eye level and lined the shelf with newspaper. Stacked up a few pieces of 2x4s and set her up with yogurt and water. ******Scratch that! She escaped the sling. I just went downstairs and she was sitting on the shelf...out of the sling. So at least she isn't THAT bad.

Her comb is a bit wrinkled and she seems sleepy....well, it is her bed time right now. I really hope she just sprained her knee. She is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE hen.

Figures!

 

[daddysgirlz]

I appears your hen is like mine....I have a black silkie hen that is about 8 months old...Earlier in the summer I thought she had mareks based off of all the descriptions....she never did get worse and was in top condition as far as eating and wanting to get around. We decided after 2 weeks of her not geting better we would treat her for a broken/ strained leg. I could not find a break or dislocation. we wrapped the leg with black vet tape many times to form a soft cast...After 14 days of her hobbling around on that we took it off and she was walking great and running around.....Ugg.. last week it happened again and she is now hobbling on both legs, I think she fell out of the hen house and hurt both legs....She is very healthy and fat and just started to do the egg laying squat! ... Eats well and even chases the others away from the food. Then she goes to a corner and rests....she seems happy. Come time to go into the hen house at dusk she can't manage the ramp...so she plops her fat ole self in a corner of the run and goes to sleep...problem it is getting cold here at night (30 deg). I thought at least this would help knowing it may not be a disease, but a sprang or a sore on the botttom of her foot. Try the vet wrap..we wrapped from the wrist all the way past the knee....she had a hard time manuvering at first but got used to it in a day or so... I am now interested in the underware sling for our bird...I will check that out next...let me know how it goes...I will post a pic of my hen tommorrow so you can compare. Dave

 

[daddysgirlz]

BTW....how do you keep her feet feather so clean?? She is perfect looking like you just bathed her!

 

[Sumatra503]

Just wrap her leg to help her walk until it heals. It will heal with time. Also you can treat it like splayed leg and tie her leg to the other healthy one to keep it at the correct angle. It should be a long piece of string or prefferably a soft shoe lace.

My hen Puffles had a similar injury. I treated it like this and she's fine now. My rooster Rusty came to me with a completely dislocated hawk joint. With a splinted wrap and few weeks to heal his leg is now as good as new.

Don't give up her. She will be just fine with the proper treatment.

Just wait til tommorrow and see how she is doing. If she can get around even a little bit I'm sure she'll be just fine.

She is a cutie. I love the foot feathering on her.

 

[kickinchicken]

Thanks for the replies....and compliments. Lilly is naturally clean....but our Sultan..now THAT'S a dirty bird.

I had to cut off her foot feathers because she just so messy.

I had Lilly in a laundry basket on a blanket, as the pictured showed, next to my bed last night. I heard her flutter her feathers to adjust herself a few times. All was well until.......THE SMELLY POO! Oh...my.....GOD! Talk about stinky! Wooooo!

I said "Lilly, I love you, but you are going in the kitchen!" Oh, the smell. Yikes!

So this morning, she is alert, her comb is still wrinkly but she did eat a bit and she even did her tell-tale egg squat when I approached her. I am waiting a bit to let her eat then I will change her blanket and give her a nice undercarriage soak in some warm water. I need to pick up some vet wrap. I know its not Merek's. She was vaccinated for that by her breeder.
I am so glad she made it through the night. She is my only layer right now....not that I have 5 bantams for eggs. I just love watching them with all their chicken drama. They are hilarious!

Is there a "how-to" video on how to wrap for a sprain or how to reset if it is dislocated? I'm thinking youtube but maybe someone on here has one too.

Ashlee

 

[kickinchicken]

So I just wrapped BOTH legs. the one that seems limp and the left leg because when I check her range of motion, I am feeling and hearing a pop in her hip socket.

I think I need to rethink the layout in of the coop.

I am adding some more climbing roosts for them. She must have really landed wrong to hurt both legs. Just when I thought that darned coop was done!

 

[daddysgirlz]

did you wrap her legs together or seperatly?? Not sure what to about mine...I cant change the hen house or the run...This morning she is not eating as much and sitting much more than usual....Gets cold at night now so I may bring her in to stay warm...let me know how yours is coming along....hope all goes well for you!

 

[kickinchicken]

Well, I removed her wraps yesterday before her evening soak....this is sooooo necessary as her poo is just water and mush at this point. And wooooo, does that bum smell!

Oh, and to make things so much more fun, she has a suspected impacted crop. Woo hoo!

She was super pale this morning. Her waddles and comb were light orange and she is usually red. She perked up when I took her outside to see her flock. They were so sweet. They laid in the sun with her.

So, she has an appointment on Thursday morning with the avian vet. I didn't rewrap her legs as I suspect the right one is just dislocated out of the hip and the left leg just can't support her so she splays out.

I took away her food, left the water and started giving her olive oil by oral syringe, 3 or 4 drops at a time, for the last 3 hours. Once every 30 minutes. She is NOT a fan of this!

I also changed the location of the roosts and added a lower landing roost....they were on it tonight and checking out their new place. Hopefully this will prevent any future injuries.

 

[kickinchicken]

Took Lilly to the vet, after being there nearly 90 minutes, x-rays, cytology on her crop...she ended up aspirating on the meds for her crop and died in the tech room. I cried, its raining outside, and today stinks!

I will bury her tomorrow.

I will take future chickens to another vet as this one is only available for 3 hours on Monday and 3 hours on Thursday.

Had she been available on Tuesday, we might not be mourning our poor Lilly. She started spiraling yesterday and wasn't looking too hot before the appointment. The crop was pretty much septic by today. Oh, and the legs not working....no break or sprain or dislocation, the vet suspected calcium deficiency. Seriously?

The birds get cottage cheese, shredded cheese, yogurt, meal worms, leftovers....and they are still on grower feed and they get crushed oyster shells.

I hate today!

 

[kickinchicken]

SO, in my stages of mourning Lilly, I was looking at the 4 eggs on my counter. Wondering if the 3.5 month old roo in our flock could have POSSIBLY fertilized one or more of these eggs. I called a new friend, April, who has a bator and we are going to try to hatch them. Its worth a shot. It would be so nice if a part of Lilly could live on.