Dead leg

[SnowytheNinja]

One of our chickens has no feeling in one of its feet. We have taken him/her to the vet and they have confirmed this and recommended aqn xray to see if it had broken anything. Xray came out clear with no breaks, so we've assumed its tendon damage. He finds it hard to walk and it collapses under him, he will walk from one end of the run to the other, but the other chickens are now excluding him and he is very hungry if we hand feed him. We don't know what to do, putting him to sleep seems kindest, does anyone have any advice as to what we can do/how it could have happened. When touching the foot he doesn't feel any pain; it just has no feeling, doesn't clench or anything. But his upper leg is fine.

 

[CMV]

I would have him put down. A one-legged chicken has no quality of life in a flock. He will be beaten, excluded and driven out of the flock. He will not be allowed to eat or drink, and will eventually die a broken bird. The kindest thing you can do for him is to put him out of his misery.

I am sorry.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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How long has he been like that. If it's been a while with no improvement, I agree with the above.

 

[Tambo26]

How many chickens do you have? Is is manageable to just give him some additional care? Feed him separately? Watch him with the other birds. Is he really in danger? I would have a hard time putting him down if he isn't suffering. Honestly I find it amazing how people are so quick to euthanize an animal...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You could wrap his leg to give him support and time to heal. Use gauze and then flex tape. With leg supported he may not be low in pecking order anymore. Hens are ruthless when the roo gets injured. We are going through this too. Our boy dislocated his leg and was a toss up as to what to do; cull or heal. We splinted with thick layer of gauze backing and watched him. He was hobbling around in a week, flew down into pen only to get brutalized by the production reds. Another week staying in coop and he could go into pen again. Four weeks and he started crowing again; we took off splint and re-tapped gauze. Walking better, getting weight on his leg. We'll probably go another week with bandage to make six total. I say all this to impress both how resilient birds are and how difficult a decision to cull due to injury can be. We were very close to culling that first week, especially after his hen pecking. The bummer is if he doesn't make full recovery (rule the roost and mate) he'll have gone through a few weeks of pain for not.

Good Luck

 

[CMV]

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When an injury/illness impedes on an animal's ability to live a meaningful life, I think that is very good grounds to euthanize. Keeping a chicken in the house is fine for a chicken that knows no other life, but removing a chicken from a flock and isolating it from its own kind, keeping it an unnatural environment away from all it knows, and keeping it trapped in a body that is failing... that seems unnecessarily selfish to me. Flock dynamics will not allow this animal to remain in with the flock. That is the way of life. Separate feedings and additional care are not going to change that fact. He will be killed for ailing. Period. It may not happen today or tomorrow, but I assure you it will happen. If he is removed from the flock he will pine for them. Isolation for flock animals is a particularly cruel form of punishment. Who wins by "saving" this bird? The bird? I think not.

 

[SnowytheNinja]

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We have seven chickens, we can give additional care although my sister and I attend school and my parents work until 5ish (mom comes home for lunch), we can feed separately and we already do watch him with the other birds. He isn't in danger, but is shoved around and generally 'not accepted' by them. My family doesn't want to put him/her down.. but if its the right thing to do, then of course we will. Eh I don't think people are quick to euthanise, there is no 'cure' and if the rest of his life wil be spent pining for other chickens or being bullied while not being able to walk very well, then maybe euthanisation is something to be considered.

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Thanks for this, I'll ask about this with my parents. But its just his foot, not his whole leg; he stands on it but it collapses and he falls, so he has taken to stepping on it really quickly then using the other leg to stand properly.

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He has had it for a week and a bit, and no improvement. His status with the other chickens has not changed, they don't go out of their way to pick on him, but he is pushed away and excluded.


Thanks to all the replies, I think my parents are going to make a decision tomorrow about whether to take him to be put down or not. I'll post an update of what we are going to do, or if his situation changes.

 

[SnowytheNinja]

Just letting you know that unfortunately he had to be put down. He caught his leg in something and after being untangled, could only move with his wings. I'm upset, but my sister will be devastated when she finds out