My one-year-old buff orpington broke her leg just above the hock joint. She got it caught in some fencing in our yard (we believe). It was very sad, but we decided to try and save her versus the alternative. Both were difficult decisions if I'm being honest. Luckily we have an avian vet within 30 minutes, but I had to decide if the cost of the vet visits would be worth saving her. Ultimately, I decided it was. It was a bad compound break so there was major risk for infection. She had to be on antibiotics and pain medication, and her leg was immobilized. We had a few visits back to the vet for bandage changes and checkups during the 8-week recovery. What I learned was:
If I am totally honest, I really question if I could dedicate the time to something like this again if it happened to another one. Depending on the break, some fractures could probably be immobilized by you -- but because of where this break was, there is no way we could have done it.
If anyone is interested, I made a video about cornbread and her recovery progress here:
- It takes time and patience to take care of a caged injured chicken.
- Puppy pads were KEY for inside the cage. I had to change it out 2-3 times per day.
- Giving her pills and liquid medication hurt me more than her - it was very hard!
- Bones heal fast and chickens are very resilient
- They will become VERY bonded to you!!
- They will actually learn their name because you spend so much time with them! LOL - she now comes when called.
- Chickens are JERKS when it comes to accepting back a member who is injured. They literally tried to kill her several times.
- Introductions back need to be very gradual, and you need to accept some of the getting picked on, but it was hard to watch at times.
- Eventually, they will find a place back in the order!
If anyone is interested, I made a video about cornbread and her recovery progress here:
Well done.
