Help, Chicken with broken wing

[leaf brothers]

One of our chickens has a broken leg. A few months ago the neighbor's dog attacked her. She drags it around and never uses it. We kept an eye on her and found that she was still eating and drinking fine. Here we are months later and she still doesn't use the leg. She lays in one spot all day except to eat and drink. She is quite dirty in her own droppings. Our biggest concern is that she would bring disease to the other birds. Should we put her down?

 

[birdlover]

Your subject line says she has a broken wing . That's very sad that you didn't get her leg treated when it first happened. Obviously, she must be in pain if she just lays in one spot all day. Before putting her down, I'd take her to a vet and see if he can't somehow splint it. If this happened a few months ago, she deserves better treatment than she's been getting in my opinion. Sorry if I sound harsh but we are responsible for our animals well-being.

Also, I'd give her a bath, for Pete's sake and give her a little human compassion.

 

[Poohbear]

Birdlover, you can't give human compassion to a chicken. They are fowl, FOOD, chickens! Not HUMAN. Unless you WORSHIP animals in which case that is just WRONG. Treat ALL creatures with care, but not human compassion. That should be for HUMANS.

 

[birdlover]

Oh, well, I suppose "humanely" would be better. I know they chickens are animals but they still deserve to be treated well, in my opinion. Sorry if I over reacted. I won't say anymore.

 

[brooster]

I agree, nothing should have to go through so much pain and suffering.

 

[leaf brothers]

Wow, I am very sorry to have represented myself so poorly. But those are quite harsh assumptions.
It has been my attempt to treat this chicken well. We would prefer to keep her and not put her down. That's why I am taking the time to write this forum. So let me give a little more info. When the leg was broken (sorry I mistakenly wrote wing on the title) we separated the chick from the others, by bringing her inside where she was warm, safe and close to food and water in hopes that she would survive. Within days she was moving around and seemed to be happy. We called local vets to ask questions and look for help but no vet in our town worked with "exotics". Our friends who have had chickens for 10+ years encouraged us not to splint because she thought the leg might heal on it's own. In hindsight, we question this advice, but we had only had our new chicks for one month when the great chicken massacre occurred, we were emotional and new to the task. "Pepper" , the chicken in question, could stretch her leg and toes, but could not stand on the leg. Although the leg began to heal awkwardly, Pepper still seemed in good humor. So we reintroduced her to the now small flock and watched for signs of pecking, etc. This happened in November and as time has gone by she gets around less and less. Pepper comes out for food and water and then quickly goes back to live underneath the ramp to the chicken door. Only in the last few weeks, with her increased weight, have we assumed that she was in pain. Had we known that she was in pain we would have put her down right away. We are just newbies!

She is messy, but we clean her up and freshen her area under the ramp. My initial questions still loom in our mind: Could she bring disease to the other chickens, or should we put her down, assuming that she is in pain. We would appreciate any helpful ideas.

These chickens are the first pets my five boys have ever owned so we are all a little emotional about Pepper.

 

[birdlover]

Oh wow. I'm so sorry I came across the way I did. Things sound much more reasonable after your last post. The first one didn't sound like you had any feelings towards Pepper. My bad. No, I don't think Pepper can give your other birds a disease unless she gets sick herself. I can't advise you on culling her.

Many people on here have gone to the extreme to help their birds with broken bones and/or animal bites and others feel compelled to put them out of their misery right away.

So, Pepper and the gang were just babies when the dog attacked? How old is she now? All I can think to do is to watch her when she goes over for food and water and see if she acts like she is in pain. By the way, some people give their chickens aspirin in water for pain but better find out the ratios. I don't know. My vet gave me a medicine that is supposed to be better than aspirin. I think it was called meloxicam. They use this for all sorts of animals. Do you think you could ask a vet for some of that if they won't actually see her?

Hopefully, others will come here and try to advise you. Oh and there is a chicken doctor that a lot of people turn to on here who has his own website. His name is Dr. Peter Brown and his website is: www.featherfanciers.com You might post to him and see what he advises. I have an old phone number for him, too. Don't know if it's still the same; haven't used it in years: 1-800-950-8387. If he's there, his number will probably be busy time after time and you'll have to just keep redialing until you catch him.

Again, please accept my sincere apology.

 

[Teach97]

wow...that was a neat exchange...

I am of the put down culture...to me...animals don't feel pain like us but don't deserve to be in pain...many vets will not treat exotics and cost is often prohibitive...depending on your birds breed and size...things may just get worse...I would bet she hides most of the time because she is on the lowest rung of the pecking order...I am usually overly fast to cull...unless it is my own animal...I can give the advice I just don't follow it well!

 

[banter]

A long time ago in a land far away, I had many a wild and pet domestic bird that I rehabilitated. Here are two links which should also work with chickens.
For small birds, it was common to pull the leg out to "set" the two ends of the bone together, wrap (pad) the leg with a little gauze or cotton, and then slip a drinking straw split lengthwise and cut to size over the leg to hold it straight. The splint wrapped in adhesive tape to hold it on. This I think would work very well with chicks. I bet some clever person could figure out a way to adapt this to chickens. I agree that most Vets do not want to deal with chickens, or it's cost prohibitive, so we're on our own to do the best we can for our animals
http://www.lbah.com/avian/fxtibia.htm

http://www.lbah.com/avian/fxtibia.htm

 

[banter]

OOPS-here's the other one!

http://www.starlingtalk.com/fractures.htm