Help! Hen has Injured foot!

[JoeInPA]

I just took a quick peek in the coop and she's calmed down now and is laying down in the crate.

What should my game plan for tomorrow be? Should I let her out of the crate and allow her to go around as usual? Should I keep her confined to the crate? Leave the splint on or take it off? The video said to leave it wrapped for a week but I don't think my bird (now nicknamed "Lame Lucy") has quite as bad of an injury as the bird in the video.

 

[JoeInPA]

Just did another check on her, she was standing up in the crate on her good leg holding the bad leg up as before.

I had one member PM me and say this was bumblefoot, but I don't really think it is based on the appearance. Anyone?

 

[aart]

I didn't see any bumble scabs on feet in your pics.
The swelling on leg that @Shezadandy picked up could be the problem.
Whether that's a break or not, no way to really know without an xray.
I'd not have wrapped it as that could cause other problems,
and I'd want to be able to see any changes there.
I'd have just isolated her for observation.
You're going to get many opinions here, and I guess in PM,
you'll have to decide how to proceed.

 

[Eggcessive]

I cannot see any bumblefoot, but the foot was a bit dirty. There is swelling in the leg in the one picture. I would put some pine shavings in her crate to lie on tomorrow. I would place her crate outside for the day with the gang.

 

[JoeInPA]

I didn't see any bumble scabs on feet in your pics.
The swelling on leg that @Shezadandy picked up could be the problem.
Whether that's a break or not, no way to really know without an xray.
I'd not have wrapped it as that could cause other problems,
and I'd want to be able to see any changes there.
I'd have just isolated her for observation.
You're going to get many opinions here, and I guess in PM,
you'll have to decide how to proceed.

That's where I'm a little conflicted, you can ask 10 people the same question and get 10 different answers. And I don't have enough experience to be able to decide what is or isn't correct. I think it may be a good idea to keep her crated for a few days or so. I may or may not remove the bandage tomorrow just depending on how things look.

I cannot see any bumblefoot, but the foot was a bit dirty. There is swelling in the leg in the one picture. I would put some pine shavings in her crate to lie on tomorrow. I would place her crate outside for the day with the gang.

Yes her foot was sort of dirty, part of why I decided to change out the straw in the run. It was getting poopy. I will put some pine shavings in there for her tomorrow. I ran out of them today, not realizing how bad the litter in the coop was. I will pick some up tomorrow. I think you are correct that placing her outside in the crate is the best thing to do for now.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm going to jump in here, since you haven't got 10 different opinions yet
I just found this thread so I'm late to the party. I saw that swelling in the OP and was happy that people more experienced than myself said they also thought that was where the problem was. I've been following along and learning what different people think should be done about it. I think wrapping it is a good idea, but I wouldn't keep it wrapped for more than a couple of days. And why should you listen to someone as inexperienced as me when it comes to chickens? Because of my sore fingers, lol. And the kids I have raised. I do have some experience with injuries. A day or two of rest will reduce inflammation and give her some relief, but I think much more than that will actually weaken it. Exercise after that will strengthen it. That's my opinion, which is only worth what it's costing you! I do wish her well.

 

[JoeInPA]

I'm going to jump in here, since you haven't got 10 different opinions yet
I just found this thread so I'm late to the party. I saw that swelling in the OP and was happy that people more experienced than myself said they also thought that was where the problem was. I've been following along and learning what different people think should be done about it. I think wrapping it is a good idea, but I wouldn't keep it wrapped for more than a couple of days. And why should you listen to someone as inexperienced as me when it comes to chickens? Because of my sore fingers, lol. And the kids I have raised. I do have some experience with injuries. A day or two of rest will reduce inflammation and give her some relief, but I think much more than that will actually weaken it. Exercise after that will strengthen it. That's my opinion, which is only worth what it's costing you! I do wish her well.

I do appreciate your input! I think I will keep her in the crate for a couple days so that she is forced to rest but then I will let her out and let her go about as usual. As for the splint, we'll just see. I may wind up taking it off tomorrow, I may not.

I do have a lot of errands and running around to do tomorrow so I will have to leave her unsupervised for a while but I will be checking in on her at least every hour or so.

 

[Shezadandy]

LOL -- if you're headed to pick up some shavings, I would pick up some vetwrap too - the store will know what you mean.

https://www.farmstore.com/product/asi-wrap-it-up-cohesive-flexible-bandage-4-in​

If you're going to leave the bandage on, I would add a layer of vetwrap over the top to keep her from picking at the gauze (and you can take the tape part off), and it adds a little extra compression and provides support. Just don't get RED and I'd avoid pink too. (attracts pecks from other chickens)

It does come in narrower rolls that are easy to work with, or you can pull out a length and cut it down the middle for the right width. A little goes a long way- and it lasts a long time- and it's a good thing to have in your first aid kit. It sticks to itself and is somewhat moisture and water resistant.

It's hard to know the extent of the injury, that's the hard part about giving advice from a distance. Mostly with this stuff you end up just seeing how the chicken does with option 1, and reevaluate from there.

 

[Shezadandy]

Just did another check on her, she was standing up in the crate on her good leg holding the bad leg up as before.

I had one member PM me and say this was bumblefoot, but I don't really think it is based on the appearance. Anyone?

Agreed, I don't see bumblefoot either- you can always clean the foot up a big more to double check.

 

[JoeInPA]

So this morning I let the chickens out, and I let "Lame Lucy" out of the crate just to see how she'd do. She went right to the water and drank. She seems to be holding her foot normally but still limping and not putting any weight on it.

Also I decided to pull the splint off, her foot appeared a just a little bit discolored, more white than the other. We didn't wrap the splint tight, we were very careful to make it only as tight as it needed to be so it wouldn't fall off, but I still wanted to remove it to be safe.

Her injured leg does feel a little warmer than her other leg.

After I removed the splint, I put her back in the crate inside the coop. It's cold and a little windy so she'd probably rather be in there anyways. She can see out the pop door too so she can still see everyone else even if they are in the run.

I'll be going to TSC today to get some more wood chips and supplies. I'll see if I can get some vet wrap as well.