Broken Leg :(

[Ma Noob]

My roo has a broken leg. Its already survived 2 battles with cats that took 4 other chickens, but it somehow ended up out of its pen last night and not moving in the weeds. It already had a limp from other attacks and now its leg is broken. I dont know what happened.

Its broken up in its thigh. Best i could descibe is the top of the drumstick i suppose. Its not unhappy, its eating and drinking and moving around when it wants to. But it cant do anything with the leg.

So what do I do? Do i let it go while its happy and see if the leg comes better. I dont have anything to bandage it up at the moment. but i might be able to get something from work. Hubby thinks it would be better having a loooooonnnggg sleep.

Any suggestions?

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I'm so sorry

poor bpy. Unless you can take him to the vet to get it fixed up I would say cull him. Even if he doesnt look like he's suffering it would be better to send him to a nicer place.

 

[Ma Noob]

Vet visit is def out of the question. Apart from the fact i already have a sizeable bill, no way will hubby ever let me do that.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
I feel your pain, my parents are the same way about taking a chicken to the vet.

 

[Dora'smom]

Is the bone through the skin? If it isn't, then you might be able to help it in some way with a sling to rest in while the bone mends as much as it will. (There are threads on here that deal with such a sling made for birds that had frostbitten (I think) feet, which eventually fell off.) If not, then I say you might need to cull. Chickens generally hide their pain very well, as they are all eyeing each other as snack items if any one of them shows any weakness. If a bird shows signs of going down, the others will begin to attack. Being as the bird is still eating, drinking, etc., I might be tempted to support him, and see how he does, letting his behavior dictate his fate.

 

[Ma Noob]

The other chooks are leaving him be. There is only a small group anyway, coming over and checking him. I might see if i can get a bandage or something tomorrow, I tried to make a bandage out of chux but it didnt really work. I will see if i can find that sling thread though.

 

[CMV]

I hope this helps. It's a lot of work, I know. You need to decide if your roo is worth all this fuss. He may be just fine in a month, or the leg may be a bad break that cannot be reset. In that case, he has little chance for a meaningful recovery, and euthanization is probably your best option.

I would try to splint it using some flat pieces of wood and some Vet Wrap/Coban. Feel along the bone to see if the bone is displaced. Try to reset the bone in it's normal position if it is out of alignment. This takes a bit of brute strength. Hopefully, the bone isn't broken in such a way as to make resetting impossible. After that use the flat pieces of wood to splint the leg and wrap it in the Vet Wrap. Splint the whole leg, not just where the break is. You will need to check the bandage a lot in the first couple days to make certain it is the right tightness- not too tight, not too loose. The leg size will change a great deal due to swelling. Change the bandages as needed to keep them clean-ish. I would then isolate the roo from his flock while he healed. Maybe put him into a dog crate inside the coop? Where he can recover, but still be around his flock. He is going to be attacked if the other birds realize he has such a disability. Chickens are pretty brutal in that regard. At least with closed wounds, he can still be housed with the flock as long as they can't get to him to attack him. Keep him splinted for 4-6 weeks


Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Ma Noob]

Thought i would update on my roo with the broken leg.

Had a bit of mixed luck on the chooks. The one with the broken leg came good!! It mustnt have been too bad a break. Was going to get hubby to put him down, but i said to do it when i was at work, i had notice the other roo pecking him and decided it was time. That night he was too busy with other things and it didnt happen. Then in the next day or so, i noticed him starting to use his leg again. So we decided to let him go a bit more as even when he was at his worst, he was still getting around, eating, drinking well and quite happy. From then he has been getting better and better! So he has been spared, im glad he was too busy cause he is my favourite. He has now been named Mr Limpy, but then also come the jokes about having a limp cockeral. And the other roo has just started picking on everyone (not badly) the hormones must be starting to kick in. He still has quite a limp but is moving better and faster everyday. He sits alot and give it plenty of rest, so im not sure what exactly happened with the break or if it was more of a dislocation. I think he will always have a limp but only time will tell.

On the bad luck though, the chooks got out on thursday, we think the gate may have blown open, Hubby found most in the shed but hubbys favourite hen was missing. Looked high and low in the back yard, but nothing. poor thing could have easily got lost in the shed but couldnt hear anything. We have kept an eye out but there is not trace, not even a feather.

So now we are down to 2 roos and a hen, but we are going to get some more as soon as we get back from a weekend away in a couple of weeks. Think we have been lucky with this one though!! Maybe he should be Mr Lucky!

 

[amydurose]

What a lovely story, well in parts anyway. So sorry about your loss with the hens, but fab about Mr Limpey

 

[OregonChickenGal]