Help - I have an injured chick. :(

[ryborg]

I did a dumb thing and I feel horrible.

I picked up a silver Polish 2 days ago and put him into an old rabbit cage which I lined with finer meshed wire cloth on the bottom so that it could walk around. I gave him food, water and a light to keep him warm. I kept this cage inside my hen house, thinking he would be safe from the other chickens and cozy. What I did not expect was for him to escape his cage by squeezing through the tiny meshed walls of the rabbit cage.

He was pretty banged up, and nearly lifeless when I found him, but he seems healthy and energetic now; thats the good news.

The bad news is that his left foot/ankle seems like it may be broken. He is unable to put any weight on it, and as you can see from the picture, he keeps his claws pretty limp and does not spread them out. I can tell that he is able to move his leg, but I have no idea if he will ever make a full recovery with or without some assitance.

What should I do? Is there anything I can do?

 

[sourland]

Left foot and toes look severely bruised. I'm thinking that with rest given the wonderful recuperative powers of chickens that this chick will be fine. It doesn't appear as if the foot or toes are flopping as if broken.

 

[Adenium]

Would a chick chair help him? A little sling to suspend him so he doesn't have to put weight on it for a while? I've seen them on here and a search should easily turn some up.

 

[ryborg]

The little guy (girl?) seems to be doing better this afternoon, but I'm still concerned. Thanks for the chick chair advice and assurance that they are pretty resilient.
I'll keep an eye on him tonight and if there is no noticeable improvement tomorrow I'll be going to chick chair route.