Help! Chicken broke it’s foot!

[Old Ben]

Hopefully, she only has a sprain, not a broken leg, or especially not Mareks disease. But Mareks is a virus that some chickens can get. It can cause lameness, sometimes tumor, sometimes blindness or eye changes, and it may kill them. It strikes young chickens usually in the first year of life. I really don’t want you to worry too much about this being Mareks, but I just want to point out that her leg could be lame due to a disease, not just a broken bone or a sprain. When you have time, you might want to read this link about the disease:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

I checked her foot today, and it seems to be barely swollen on the base of foot where all the toes meet, if not completely normal. I can’t really tell so its not obviously over swollen if it is. I’m going to make a chicken sling to put her in and keep her inside because it’s unusually cold today and she was shivering outside. How long should I keep her in the sling?

 

[Eggcessive]

You need to let her out for frequent breaks to stretch, and to sleep at night. Each day, note if she can stand and walk normally. The sling is a good way to get her upright, to keep her cleaner, to rest the leg, and to put food and water right in front of her to help her get enough.

 

[Old Ben]

For anyone who was interested in how this ended up. Sadly, I have cause to believe that it was the sickness that Eggcessive mentioned. She seemed to get better for a while, even being able to sleep on the roost, this trend didn’t last though, she got worse and worse. Till yesterday I found her dead in the run. I just hope none of my other chickens catch the same thing.

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh, I am very sorry for your loss. If you should lose another chicken, it might be good to get a necropsy by your state vet to see if it is Mareks or something else. You may refrigerate (but not freeze) the body, then take it or ship overnight to your state poultry lab, and her is where to find yours:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm