Chicken with wing out of place

[Swift387]

Can anyone suggest what I should do please. My chicken has a wing out of place as you can see on the photos. She is still fluffing her feathers on the wing and she is still eating but I'm worried I have no vets near me that are exotic and will look at her.

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you think that she has broken it? You can try to tie it up in a normal position to her body with some kerlix gauze or vet wrap. Here is a long article with pictures, but be sure not to tie it up too tight:
https://www.gardenbetty.com/chicken-first-aid-how-to-wrap-a-sprained-wing/

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Can you feel her wing bones to see if there's an obvious bump or break somewhere? We've never dealt with a dislocation but have dealt with a broken wing on our hen Donna.

One day, her wing was hanging down, and she was chirping in a frustrated way. I scooped her up and could feel where the wing bone was broken at her "shoulder" area. We're low on vets here, too, so I googled "wrapping broken chicken wing" and contacted a doctor friend for a pep-talk on wrapping broken bones.

If it's broken, you'll basically want to gently position the wing in a natural position, then wrap the wing with vet wrap (easily found at Tractor Supply), then secure the wing to her body in as good and natural a position as you can.

I was helped by this article (with a grain of salt; I never put our chickens on their backs): https://lafeber.com/vet/wing-wrap-placement-in-birds/

I left her good wing free so she could at least stretch that wing while the broken one was immobilized. Make sure her crop is free and not compressed by the bandage, and that it's not too tight across her back, restricting her breathing. It sounds tricky, but you get a feel for it.

Rewrap when the wrap starts to loosen (every 2-5 days) for 3 weeks. Rewrapping is stressful because the last thing you want is for her to flap and break the bone again. I'd rewrap at night in a dim room so Donna was calm to start with, gently holding her wing in place through the entire process.

Maintenance: I'd keep her inside at least a day to get used to the wrap. For pain, she can have a tiny dose of aspirin for 2-3 days as long as you don't think she has internal bleeding, or even a little Meloxicam if you can get it (search this site for dosages of aspirin or Meloxicam). Be sure she can get to water, food, calcium, and grit without having to move much since she's not too mobile right now.

As she gets used to the wrap, she should be able to hang out with the flock again. Our hen was able to go back with the flock within a day, but for the first week, I snuck her off the roost every night and brought her inside to sleep. I reasoned she might hurt her wing or legs trying to jump off the roost when she woke up.

After a week, she was used to not using her wing, and the other birds weren't bothering her, so it was no problem leaving her with the flock 24/7. Our roosts are pretty low anyway.

Pictures attached show Donna in a wrap that was a few days old, where she's groomed some feathers out of it, but it was still safely immobilizing the wing. You can see her crop is not restricted.

It sounds like a lot, but it's really not. Just part of having chickens. I would've loved to have a vet's help, but it wasn't an option and did greatly reduce Donna's stress having us handle it at home. In 3 weeks, your chicken should be healthy and ready to use her wing again. Best of luck!