I have a silver laced Wyandotte pullet that has one leg injured from the knee (sprained right after hatching?). I got her from a lady whom I bought some other pullets. She offered this SLW to me, as she didn't want to cull her and I had less birds and more room...
It is clearly too late to do something with the leg that is injured from the knee: the lower leg is bent to the side, the pullet lean to the knee. She has never walked normally and she has never used also the other leg normally. She simply leaned to the knees. The toes seem to be weak in both legs, but I think it can be due to little use? She can curl toes around my finger and hold and she moves them often. Sometimes it seems that the lower part of the outward bent leg disturbs her, but she manages to move around and she even flew each evening up to the chicken tractor roosting area (about 60-70 cm from the ground). She did not roost, but just sat under her friends. Then one night I heard some tapping from the tractor. I went to check, but everything seemed to be OK, except that the pullets were a bit disturbed by my checking. Next morning the SLW looked exhausted, the comb area (she has no comb yet, though she should be 3-4 months old) looked blueish and there were some bruises on one side hip area. I took her inside, gave her water (she was extremely thirsty) and food and kept her in a box overnight. Now she is in a small cage inside the main coop (I was just introducing the new pullets to the rest of flock) with a lot of woodshavings. She eats and drinks well and looks nice again, but the other leg (that is not injured from knee) causes me still concern. The other leg is often just completely straight, something like splayed leg, but she holds it in front of her.
Why she holds it strait (from the hip and knee) in front of her?
I have examined her carefully and all the joints in this leg seem to function normally, there is no swelling and this side was not even bruised. It seems really bother her, it seems that she doesn't manage to move where she wants. It seems she doesn't manage to lean on the knees anymore. When I kept the leg in normal position, she seemed to feel better (but where do I know?) and ate without trying to correct her position as before.
Should I try to fix the leg to the right position for a while (not standing, but as she used to lean on her knees)?
And would she still start to lay eggs one day? She has gained weight a bit slower than the other pullets, but the other may be older and are from different breed. She also still make baby noise, whereas others don't, but she must be at least 3 months (I have had her for 2 months and she had already full wing feathers when I got her).
Also, I have a young SLW rooster (a small one, 1.6 kg) and as this is my kids favourite breed I would like to get some chicks next year. Would the rooster fertilize her if she is crippled? Rooster can see her in the coop and he hasn't shown any aggression toward the pullet, actually he pays no attention to her.
Sorry if the text is unclear, I have had hens just over a year and it is difficult to describe the situation, plus English is not my native language.
It is clearly too late to do something with the leg that is injured from the knee: the lower leg is bent to the side, the pullet lean to the knee. She has never walked normally and she has never used also the other leg normally. She simply leaned to the knees. The toes seem to be weak in both legs, but I think it can be due to little use? She can curl toes around my finger and hold and she moves them often. Sometimes it seems that the lower part of the outward bent leg disturbs her, but she manages to move around and she even flew each evening up to the chicken tractor roosting area (about 60-70 cm from the ground). She did not roost, but just sat under her friends. Then one night I heard some tapping from the tractor. I went to check, but everything seemed to be OK, except that the pullets were a bit disturbed by my checking. Next morning the SLW looked exhausted, the comb area (she has no comb yet, though she should be 3-4 months old) looked blueish and there were some bruises on one side hip area. I took her inside, gave her water (she was extremely thirsty) and food and kept her in a box overnight. Now she is in a small cage inside the main coop (I was just introducing the new pullets to the rest of flock) with a lot of woodshavings. She eats and drinks well and looks nice again, but the other leg (that is not injured from knee) causes me still concern. The other leg is often just completely straight, something like splayed leg, but she holds it in front of her.
Why she holds it strait (from the hip and knee) in front of her?
I have examined her carefully and all the joints in this leg seem to function normally, there is no swelling and this side was not even bruised. It seems really bother her, it seems that she doesn't manage to move where she wants. It seems she doesn't manage to lean on the knees anymore. When I kept the leg in normal position, she seemed to feel better (but where do I know?) and ate without trying to correct her position as before.
Should I try to fix the leg to the right position for a while (not standing, but as she used to lean on her knees)?
And would she still start to lay eggs one day? She has gained weight a bit slower than the other pullets, but the other may be older and are from different breed. She also still make baby noise, whereas others don't, but she must be at least 3 months (I have had her for 2 months and she had already full wing feathers when I got her).
Also, I have a young SLW rooster (a small one, 1.6 kg) and as this is my kids favourite breed I would like to get some chicks next year. Would the rooster fertilize her if she is crippled? Rooster can see her in the coop and he hasn't shown any aggression toward the pullet, actually he pays no attention to her.
Sorry if the text is unclear, I have had hens just over a year and it is difficult to describe the situation, plus English is not my native language.
