Dog attack, 8 week old, injured!!

[macyllehub]

Oh man, its been a hard couple days with our chickens. This is our first flock, and we started with 11, currently we're sitting at 10 chickens and I'm gravely concerned for one of them. This morning while our children jumped on the trampoline and our chicks were enjoying some outside time supervised one of our chicks walked near our dog. She's never even showed an interest in them as smaller chicks, and she's safe around kids, free range bunnies, cats, etc. But all of the sudden she jumped up and caught this poor chick in her mouth!

Of course my children witnessed the whole event, as did I, and we're all stunned. Our dog did drop the chicken immediately on command and ran to her bed. But our poor chick!!

She is the smallest (and the favorite) of our bunch. She's a tiny Americauna and has no puncture wounds, and when checked over appears completely normal - until you set her down. She can't walk! I have watched her extensively this afternoon and she really is trying to move but one leg is completely useless to her now. We brought her inside to our brooder area to watch her and keep her safe. She appears in good spirits, responsive when you approach her, and has hobled around to eat and drink.... But I have no idea what to do! Is it a broken leg? If she was in pain would she be loud? Should I kill her to stop potential suffering (please, I hope this isn't the answer!). Is it best to keep her alone inside away from our flock? Should I put her back with the others?

I'm totally clueless. She's been injured 14 hours now and still is alive, responsive to approach, but cannot stand up AT ALL.

Help

 

[gambit2178]

I am clueless as to what to do in your situation, it's a terrible situation but I hope for the best!

 

[Nsampsel]

If it's just 1 leg it sounds to me like she either pulled muscles or broke it...but I'm fairly new to chickens too. Everyone keeps saying it's not good to completely isolate them, so I would either bring her in a companion, or if you are worried about her being picked on, fence her off within the coop with the others so she has company without having physical contact with the others. As for recovery, only time will tell. I would wait a couple days to see if she improves on her own, then try some chicken physical therapy if she needs it to help her stretch out sore muscles.

Someone more knowledgeable please correct me if I'm wrong!!!

 

[macyllehub]

Day 2 update:

She is SO much happier outside with the rest of the chicks. She is standing on one leg and using her wing to balance if she falls. Her companion chick hasn't left her side. She's eating, drinking, and has hopped all over the place today.

Still just dragging her injured leg though I'll keep updating if anything changes.

 

[dukzzz]

i would post pics on here so someone more experienced can tell you if its broken or if it is something else. i would also bring both her and her buddy inside. she needs rest to heal. if it is broken you can splint it.

 

[macyllehub]

Day 3: She is resting most of the day, but happy to sleep in the middle of the coop with her companion. I checked her over extensively to feel for breaks in the bones, and I don't feel anything that is abnormal from her other side. However, it is very tense and her foot is pretty limp. She can move it, but doesn't hold any weight on it and it lays out to the side when she lays down.

She doesn't seem bothered when I pick her up and touch her, I just really don't want her to be suffering and me not know it!

 

[oliv]

ok, once again i am not an expert on chickens but i am a wildlife carer who specialises in birds so as always the best thing you can do is take her to your vet, the diagnosis is relativley simple and so is the strapping, shouldn't cost much more than a consultation fee, but as most dont want to spend that much on their chickens here is my advice. First up. at this point do not think you need to euthanize, whilst it is obviously painfull she will deal with it and if there has been some improvement in the first 24 hours chances are she will recover though perhaps with some impairment. there are a few things it could be, muscle damage (unlikely without wound), dislocation (Possible), tendon damage (possible) nerve, or supported fracture (also possible) it is unlikely to be pelvis if she in now standing and dragging the leg.
first up, establish if she has sensation in her foot particularly in comparison to her good one, to do this pinch between her toes, she wont like it but its a good way to diagnose nerve damage, ie, if she cant withdraw but can feel then it is more likely to be muscle, tendon, or fracture. if she cant feel or withdraw then it is nerve. (is she holding toes straight or are they balling?)
try and ascertain where abouts the problem starts, ie, where is the highest point that has normal movement, is the problem in the hip, or is that moving fine and the 'knee' swinging below..
see if you can figure these things out and always compare to the functioning side, lack of symmetry is a great clue to an injury.
note, Often when chickens are grabbed they can over stretch there tendons badly when struggling, this can often result in leg injuries where they drag legs.. at this point my advice is this, if you cant take to vet do what you can to establish whether there is a fracture, have a really good feel, if you really dont think there is one then just rest her(small area or box with her friend or dark box so she spends most of the time asleep., keep the food and water up, keep an eye on her bum sometimes the vent can get blocked with lack of movement and wait, it can take three weeks or so for those other things to improve. bear in mind that a happy but slightly impaired chicken is possible, contact me if feel like it.
best of luck.
olive.