Emergency!!? Chicken with injury acting odd

[micstrachan]

Wow, she is REALLY favoring that left leg. My first hunch is it is unrelsted to the back injury. Have you looked her over for other injuries? I wonder if this girl might benefit from a little aspirin (I direct dose half an 81mg tablet) and s chicken sling to tske her weight off the leg. Then you could orop food amd water within her reach. If she’s a littke more comfortable, maybe she’ll eat better.

 

[NatalieP]

Also, if the stores are closed, people have given Tums for a boost of calcium. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tums-why-do-we-give-them-and-how.213099/

 

[JHH3]

Well, she survived the night and still seems to be in good spirits, doesn't want to move but is alert and doesn't seem lethargic to me.

As near as I can tell the only poop she's done was another watery one with a green glob in it.

She's drunk some water but hasn't taken much for food. I've offered her some scrambled egg and wet a little of her regular food and mixed some crushed tum in it. She ate a small amount of egg and a very small amount of the mush but was mostly using her beak to push it around. Shes got her regular food, mush food and eggs sitting within reach of the crate, as well as water, hopefully she'll do what she did yesterday and reach out and eat some on her own.

I tried to feel her crop, couldn't feel anything. I'm going to pull her out later and give her a good going over to make sure I haven't missed anything.

I have some leftover turkey that I could chop up and give her, I've been saving it to give to the main flock anyway as a treat, I'd imagine she'd gobble it up. Should I give it a try or no?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can give her a little cooked turkey, that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[JHH3]

Felt her crop, appears to be empty.

It appears that her left foot is sprained, she won't grab my finger with it and pressing gently on it causes her to freak out and try to escape. She does appear to be in some pain, she's panting a little.

She's drunk some water today, but has barely eaten anything, a piece here and there, not enough to sustain her. Not even the turkey tempted her much.

I think if I can figure out how to get her to eat enough, she'll be ok, but I'm at a loss for how to do that.

 

[JHH3]

Wow, she is REALLY favoring that left leg. My first hunch is it is unrelsted to the back injury. Have you looked her over for other injuries? I wonder if this girl might benefit from a little aspirin (I direct dose half an 81mg tablet) and s chicken sling to tske her weight off the leg. Then you could orop food amd water within her reach. If she’s a littke more comfortable, maybe she’ll eat better.

I'm pretty sure she's hurt her foot.

How does one give a chicken an aspirin?

Not sure how I'd rig up a sling for her, not sure how/where I'd hang it.

 

[JHH3]

Chicken update.

After starting her on sugar water and then switching to pedialite, we've apparently gotten her going. She's eaten some egg and some yogurt, as well as some of her regular food and selected bits of some scratch grain that I give them.

Also got some aspirin in her, so hopefully that'll help with the pain.

Still pooping funky, but the last one was more solid.

Here's hoping she keeps improving.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Felt her crop, appears to be empty.

It appears that her left foot is sprained, she won't grab my finger with it and pressing gently on it causes her to freak out and try to escape. She does appear to be in some pain, she's panting a little.

She's drunk some water today, but has barely eaten anything, a piece here and there, not enough to sustain her. Not even the turkey tempted her much.

I think if I can figure out how to get her to eat enough, she'll be ok, but I'm at a loss for how to do that.

Chicken update.

After starting her on sugar water and then switching to pedialite, we've apparently gotten her going. She's eaten some egg and some yogurt, as well as some of her regular food and selected bits of some scratch grain that I give them.

Also got some aspirin in her, so hopefully that'll help with the pain.

Still pooping funky, but the last one was more solid.

Here's hoping she keeps improving.

Glad she is doing a bit better.
You can give her 81mg aspirin twice a day if needed, but only for a couple of days.
Does there still look like blood in the poop? If so, I would be cautious with the aspirin and give the minimum. Sometimes pain is a good way for them to self limit so they heal better.

 

[JHH3]

Glad she is doing a bit better.
You can give her 81mg aspirin twice a day if needed, but only for a couple of days.
Does there still look like blood in the poop? If so, I would be cautious with the aspirin and give the minimum. Sometimes pain is a good way for them to self limit so they heal better.

I gave her 1/2 an 81mg aspirin yesterday and 1/2 this morning with plans of giving her another this afternoon but if she can take whole aspirin safely then I'll give her a whole one twice a day once I've checked her poop for blood.

It's hard to tell about the blood, she's pooping on the wood shavings in her box. I haven't noticed any more, I'll examine the next one more closely. Still the yellow and green poops so far.

She also keeps doing that lip smacking thing. She doesn't seem to have any physical issue eating, it all goes down fine.

When she stands she seems to have trouble getting one of her toes out flat, the first toe on the inside on her left foot. Not sure if I think her ankle joint is swollen or not, it kinda does but I don't think it's too much different from the other foot. The main issue does seem to be her foot hurting, she just wants to lay down and keep off of it and she "looks" like she's in pain sometimes. It might just be a normal, tired chicken look, I don't know.

I'm wondering if she's sprained the foot or just messed up her toe. It's cold enough for her to have gotten frostbite, but would that have injured the foot and left it looking otherwise normal just not functional?

What kind of steps should I take to examine the foot and ankle or should I just leave her be at this point?

 

[JHH3]

Her latest poop. I'm questioning the green balls, I can't think of anything she's eaten recently that would be coming out green, it's winter and the ground is covered in ice/snow.

Is this an indicator of something?

Also, here's a picture of her foot, she seems to have an issue with the one toe that looks like it's bent backwards a little.