Chick with broken leg!

[Lifesong Farm]

I am on my way home from class so I don't know the extent of damage but my mom and daughter heard a ruckus in the brooder and DD found a chick dragging its leg. Has anyone had success in splinting a leg and getting it to heal? T5he chick is about a week old.

I don't want to put it down but...

 

[chicknmania]

If it were mine I'd definitely try to splint it if you can tell for sure it's broken, or at least let the chick rest it a bit, if you can put it in a separate pen where it can hear and see the others, but it won't be harassed, that's ideal. Can you tell for sure it's broken? Might just be a sprain.

 

[Lifesong Farm]

Its the upper portion of the leg. No way to splint and I also found a nasty gash under the wing.

Do rats attack and eat chicks? My barn cat killed one 2 weeks ago and where there is one there are more.

 

[chicknmania]

Yes, they do. If you want to protect the chicks, you can try mixing powdered sugar and plaster of paris
in a container, and leaving it for the rats, preferably not where the chooks can get into it. The rats will eat it and yes, it is eventually fatal if they eat enough of it. I don't like to do that to any animal, even a rat, but it is better than having rat poison around and sometimes you have no choice. And it does work pretty well. WE have had rats in the past eat eggs with embryos right out from underneath a setting hen at night. Now we have two barn cats who stay in the barn all night and it does seem to help to have them there. I don't know what to do about your chick's leg, if you're sure it's broken and there's no way to splint it. Someone may have an idea to help you. Can you bring the chicks inside til they get a bit bigger?

 

[Rapptors]

Help, I have one with a hurt leg also. It got out of the pen and the dog got it. There are no marks on it but it can't put weight on its little leg. Kept it isolated over night and still today it can't walk, it kind of hobbles/drags across the pen. It will eat food or drink water right in front of it. It is a cornish x. It seems completely fit otherwise.

 

[chicknmania]

WEll, if you try to set it use somethimg light, I havem't tried settimg a chick leg. (sorry, my key does't work, gotta use the m...) It womt fix itself everight though. Amd im the meatime give baby some vitamisms/ electorlytes im the water for shock, keep it warm, too.

 

[tinydancer87]

Maybe splint with two small pieces of popsicle stick and a bandaid. Or tiny pieces of vet wrap. The chick will walk on it if it is splinted well. Keep separated.

Had a hen who broke her leg bone completely in half, through the skin, and it got infected. Washed it, splinted with a modified finger splint from Wal-Mart (perfect size for chicken legs!) and athletic tape and vet wrap. Put her on antibiotics, kept separate from flock for 4 weeks. Put back with flock and wore splint for 2 more weeks. Removed splint, good as new. Until "she" morphed into a rooster and had to get a new home.

I felt really good about being able to help her/him.

 

[Lifesong Farm]

My chicks leg was able to be imobilized after some trying but her leg is never going to be right. She broke what would be the femur in other animals. She gets around fine and isn't in pain so I have a friend who is willing to take a special needs chicken.

I was going to use a qtip shaft if I could have splinted mine. Lightweight and sturdy. Just remember that the splint has to cover the joint below and above the break.

 

[Lurkeygirl2011]

I had a chickens leg crushed last fall by a pig. It got stuck in a mud hole, they are like quicksand, and well it wasn't pretty, when she was pulled out we thought she was dead, but then we say her blink. Because of how high up the break was I was not able to splint it. I ended up putting her in a smallish box with food and water close so she didn't have to get up and move around much at all. She stayed in the box in the garage for two weeks. Eventually she started using the side of the box to lean against for walking. And I did eventually let her outside. She couldn't walk well at all at first, she did summer-salts and fell over... again not pretty. So, she got her own special cage outside too for awhile, but she did learn to walk again, and now if you saw her you would never know about her near-death experience.

 

[GallopingGoat]

One of my hens was stepped on by my 1000lb horse last spring, making her drag a leg. I thought I would have to cull her, but became a softie and instead kept her in a nesting box with food and water where she could reach it without moving. She stayed in there for about a week - then slowly started hobbling around. Fast forward to now, a year later, when you can't tell which one she is (and I only have 3 RIR's). If you can spend the time to help her heal, she may.