HELP!!! I have a chick with a possible broken or sprained leg.

[brady]

my chick's leg seems to be broken but im not totally sure, it cant put any pressure on it and has it somewhat lifted and it kinda just drags when he tries to walk. it is definately swollen and seems to cant be able to move his toes. when he walks he tries to use it but it just slides back behind him. I dont have a clue as to what to do with this poor little thing. if anyone has any questions and hopefully answers please let me know.

 

[bantymum]

Hi Brady, welcome. I havent yet had this happen, however, what type of bedding is in the coop/brooder, can he get a foothold, has he been dropped by accident?
Please someone correct me here if you have a better way but I would do a splint as they do for birds.
Get some gauze from ist aid box, wrap this around only once. leave foot free. get a small stick which is measured from top of leg to ankle, not to ground.
lastly wrap some thin plaster bandage, the sticky white bandage. You may have to slice this in half to make it thinner. Then keep this on for 3 weeks and keep watching for sign of movement in the foot. When he starts to bear weight you can remove the splint but still keep the bandage on.
Have you got a closeup photo of the leg?
Make sure the floor isnt slippery.
Newspaper bedding can break legs from slipping.
Use pine shavings or hay if you havent done so.
I really hope he/she gets better soon.
Dont worry, unless its a rooster, a leg injury will not affect his/her way of getting around once it has healed.

 

[speckledhen]

All good suggestions made, already, but I want to add to this leg thing that there is a condition called Slipped Tendon. I had it one time in one chick and can be a genetic weakness of some sort. Not sure what you're describing is this condition, but I wanted to mention it as an educational thing here. The leg at the hock joint sort of looks dislocated or loose and can just go to the side rather than forward. I chose not to slint it and to put him down, but I'm not sure even a splint would have done any good. It was just suddenly like that, whereas it had been fine for two weeks since his hatch.

 

[brady]

jmj
Quote:

 

[brady]

should the splint make its leg straight, or should i make it so it bends or stays bent???

 

[speckledhen]

Brady, I've never splinted a bird's leg so I need to defer to someone else who has done that. I don't want to give incorrect advice.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I believe these articles might help you:
http://www.lbah.com/avian/fxtibia.htm

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

 

[brady]

EXELLENT!!!

 

[bantymum]

Oh Dhunicorn that was a great link!!! hooray.
We used a stick to splint birds here but that method of using tape only seems much better.
Thanks
Good luck Brady keep us posted.

 

[BlueMoon]

I had a chick with a broken leg and set it with gauze. She was about a month old at the time and now is fine at about four months.

What I used was a QTip, halved with one soft side into the inner leg and the other into the foot. I kept her leg bent for a day and then rebandaged with her leg straight. Wrapped with a small section of self adhesing ace bandage. I removed the bandaged all together after about a week. Kept her isolated then and very slowly reintroduced her to the flock.

Don't make the bandage too tight and give her a bit of physical therapy by making her use her toes. I put a finger under her foot to remind her how to grab on. It took a few weeks for it to be a full grab, but it worked.

Good luck!