Dislocated / Fractured Hip / Femur

Khavilah

Chirping
5 Years
May 26, 2014
70
3
66
Southern Utah
Long story short, I went outside Friday to discover my goats had knocked a pallet over onto one of my alpha hens and the vet confirmed today what I had figured out but with more detail:

Her right leg is either dislocated and fractured at the hip or her femur is broken and the grinding feeling we both felt is the ends of the bones rubbing together. Either way, she's in a lot of pain and can't stand up. She may never lay again either, the vet said, because there might be a fracture inside that would make her egg bound or just not work anymore.

I'm so sad. I've looked up slings and I don't think the success rate on something like this is very high. She weighed in at around six and a half pounds, though, so I might get some meat out of her if I go that route.

I'd euthanize her and make her death worth something if I could, but I don't think I can do the deed. Killing, maybe, but butchering and cleaning, no. Maybe. I don't know. I'm still sad.
 
Do you have any hunter friends who would put her down and use her meat? That's what I do with extra roosters, since I don't want to eat my own chickens. Sorry about your hen. Pallets and gates can be very dangerous around chicken yards. People think I'm OCD for tying every gate, and laying anything that can fall on the ground. Our winds can blow things over pretty easily.
 
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Pallets and gates can be very dangerous around chicken yards.
Learned my lesson; that won't be happening again. It's extra sad I had to lose a hen to learn that, but it'll protect the rest of my flock for sure.

I do actually have someone who could use her meat. I have a rule against eating my own pets and she was kinda half pet, half farm beast, you know? She wasn't overly friendly or accommodating, and she was one of the flock I got from my mom-in-law's friend earlier this year, but she was still one of my flock and wasn't aggressive towards me. She did try to take on the turkey, though.
 
Well, I did what needed to be done.

Verdict is: multiple breaks in the femur right below the hip joint. The muscle was lacerated as well, though I suspect that happened during the death flail.

Then I put her in the stew pot, marinated by my tears. Not a lot of meat on her; she was mostly fluff.
 
Well, I did what needed to be done. Verdict is: multiple breaks in the femur right below the hip joint. The muscle was lacerated as well, though I suspect that happened during the death flail. Then I put her in the stew pot, marinated by my tears. Not a lot of meat on her; she was mostly fluff.
Sorry for your loss, since with that injury she would have never recovered. It's still sad when you lose one even though they are not your pets.
 

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