We recently had an accident with one of my chicks and I was so devastated. It happened thanksgiving day we were moving the chicken coop and one chicken was out and got caught and now she has a hurt leg. It was my fault and I still feel terrible about it but she's never been able to use the leg again. She's healed up just fine and only has a couple of weeks till you won't even be able to tell if the wound was even there. She's now in ICU in a large kennel in our shop. We let her out everyday to try and get the good leg stronger and use her wings for balance but she struggles. The bad leg kind of rest in front of the good leg so that makes it hard on her too. She can move the leg up and down kind of. This really depresses me, she probably won't ever be able to go with the rest of the flock bc they pick on her. I've thought about amputating it but if it's really pricey at a vet I can't afford that. Does anyone have any experience with bringing a chicken to the vet and having it's leg amputated? Prices? Do y'all think I should just put her down? I don't want her to be a sad chicken and just taken care of by humans her whole life.. Any advice is welcomed. She's a hen by the way. I included pictures from when it first happened to just recently and the way she stands with it.
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Welcome to BYC and Happy Holidays! She is your chick, and special needs chickens can be a lot of work, so it is understandable if you don't have the time or money to try and treat her and if it is best for all involved to go ahead and euthanize her. But as long as she is eating and drinking and generally acting like a chicken, chickens are amazingly tough and can deal with some pretty bad injuries and handicaps. If a chicken has been separated from the flock for any length of time, it is pretty normal for there to be a lot of pecking and picking on when you try to reintegrate it, it needs to be done slowly and carefully. So I wouldn't give up on her ever joining the flock again, even with her injury.
