Broken or sprained leg

[emptynester]

I went out into my pen this afternoon and found one of my 9 week old hens had gotten stuck between a crate and the fence. At first I was worried about one of her wings ( it had gone through a hole in the fence) but it is fine. What is wrong is that she cant or wont put weight on her left leg, and when she tried to walk she drags the leg behind her. I felt ( carefully) along the length of her leg to her hip and can not feel a break. Her foot is warm so I know she is getting good blood flow to it, but when she is laying down it is kinda out to the side in a weird position. I have her in a small compartment in my brooder to reduce her moving about and to keep her calm. Any ideas?

 

[greening]

i have no ideas. but your pic looks exactly like my 3 wk. old cochin. how cute

 

[NanaKat]

Quote:
Was her leg pinned? If she strained to get free she could have pulled a muscle, torn a tendon or sprained a joint.
Allowing her to rest the leg is necessary for a few days. Additional protein in her diet will help build the muscle.
Exercising her leg will be an important part of recovery. So increase the size of her recovery pen every couple of days. Provide her with something to climb on to roost...(two short pieces of a 1 x 3 with a 12" piece of 1/2 x 1 nailed or screwed in place makes a low roost for a box or cage.

 

[ForgottenGlen]

I have this similar problem with one of my hens, but I never saw her pinned or how it would've gotten broken. She will not move the leg at all, doesn't pull it back if I'm touching it, and hops around on one leg in the run. The toes are curled under her foot because she's not using it at all, but did manage to get up on the roosts last night, just looked all sorts of uncomfortable. Has anyone dealt with chicken legs that just "quit working"?

 

[javaman661]

I have the same problem with my Sebright rooster. Noticed he was just hanging around inside the coop one day, and he just wouldn't use his leg. His toes are curled under, and he just uses his wings to pinion himself about. He had plenty of spunk still, flappping away when I got close. I moved him to a separate coop to keep him from gettin picked on, but it just seems to be getting worse. He isnt fighting as much anymore Just tried to go and give him some vitamin oil, had A, E and D3. But I never saw him do anything that could have caused injury