Flopsy updateHen with suspected hip dislocation
History:
Greeting all, I have a yr old hen who has injured her hip. The limb is aligned and there are no fractures that may can feel. But her hip does slip back and forth when I palpate it. And it clunks… making noise is never good for a joint.
Having dealt with many human patients with fractures hips, I know that their limbs are always misaligned, shortened, and absolutely no weight bearing.
Similar observations would be with a dislocated hip.
At first I was suspicious of a fracture of the femur off the actual ball joint. A call to my Vet resulted in a quote for over $800 for a consult and X-rays, so that was not an option.
So this hen has been on crate rest for the past week, she is allowed out for about an hr to socialize and eat some grass. Through the week the hip has continued to make noise when she thrashes if I hold her wrong or she doesn’t want to be held.
Today she has been out most of the day, she has actually improved with her lameness but she is still quite lame.
Medication:
Initially I gave the hen .25ml of Tylenol twice daily (dose is 10mg/kg for poultry the liquid I use us 80mg/ml therefore she received 20mg she is around 4lbs).
Thursday night I switched to 1/2 tablet of aspirin (40mg is half a low dose 80mg tablet) once daily at night
Each night she has received a 1/4 tablet of calcium in case it’s a fracture (1/4 of a 650mg caltrate).
Question for anyone:
Has anyone had a chook with a hip issue where the hip made noises?
How did you treat it?
Did the chook heal?
How did it fair long term?
Her name is Flopsy
She is an Azur Blue
View attachment 3969551
Well this little lady is doing really well! I would not have thought she would do so well, but her limp is greatly improved.
Her hip still clunks and has crepitations, but not much really I can do about it but keep her protected from running and being chased by others. She has been on crate rest mostly with some time outside and m the evening when I am home.
Today she pitched a real hissy fit in her crate this morning while I was doing chores so I let her out for a bit. Then she just would not go back I. The crate and settle down. I ended up leaving her out in the pen I have my old Roo and his ladies in. I checked her during the day on the camera and she was calmly eating and snoozing with the others, so I will likely let her stay out in the pen from now on.
I figure if I can keep her quiet like this for another few weeks she should be ok. But that creaky clunking hip has me very worried. What if a Roo tries to breed her and re-injures her? So far my old Polish Roo hasn’t bothered her when she is in with him.
I may have to keep her in a ladies only flock if she can’t get the hip to heal. So much worry
