Hen attacked by dog.

[wife2brad]

My pen was broken into by my neighbor's dog. She got ahold of only one of my hens thank goodness. My hen seems ok except for her right leg. It is limp. I can not feel a break anywhere but when I hold her up her leg just hangs there. It feels the same as the other leg which she is using and while down...holding straight behind her to hold herself up. I have only had my chickens since the first of December and I do not know what to do. She is in a box in my bathroom for now. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[McGoo]

I really can't help since I'm new at this too, but I know that isolating her is correct. So you're already on the right track. Good luck to the gal.

 

[wife2brad]

Thanks for your reply. I don't think she can live with one leg not working. I will see how she is in the morning and go from there. Thanks again.

 

[geoaware]

Hi...we had the same thing happen to our rooster. This is what we did. We took him inside and kept him in a warm bathroom (in the tub...shhhhh don't tell the visitors when they use the tub) with some water and food for a couple of days. We were told if he lasted that long then he would do ok.

The issue of having them back with others is more if they are bleeding...cause the other gils will peck at them.

We then took him out during the day in a tote...his one leg was limp...no life in it at all. He sat in the tote for the first few days then started to venture out hopping on the good leg. Each day he got better, and so we let him mingle with the girls. After about a week we let him stay with them even at night.

Its now been 3 months and he seems to be using the leg more and more....almost perfect, but with a limp.

Hope that helps

Gaz

 

[Renegade]

I too had a hen that had a non weight bearing (totally limp) leg. I brought her in the house in a crate for a few days to make sure she was eating and drinking. I then placed her back with the flock and kept a very close eye on her to make sure nobody picked on her. More then once I considered slaughtering her but she is a young hen so I decided to wait and give her more time. She gradually started putting weight on it and now walks with almost no limp. She is only about 7 weeks out from the injury. I am very glad I gave her a chance to recover. The entire time this hen managed to roost with the rest of the hens every night and free range with them during the day. The only change I made to the hen's group was to get rid of the rooster so the hen did not have to deal with being mounted.
Good luck with your hen.

Donna

 

[wife2brad]

Thanks so much! I just hope she is better tomorrow. I don't want to have to put her down...but I don't want her to lay there and have no way to move. It is so great to hear similar situations that have turned out good. Maybe by morning once her shock of it is over she will move around.

 

[wife2brad]

Today my hen is flopping around occasionally. Her right leg still limp. She can not walk. She was shaking when I held her...all except for that leg. What would you all do? I am thinking about keeping her in a box away from everyone until my husband gets home this weekend anyway. He has been out of town and it is just me assessing the situation. Would you try to splint that leg? How? From the hip or just part of her leg? She is not eating much and having very few but watery poop. Not sure it is gonna work out for her.

 

[Buster]

If you don't feel any breaks in the leg she may have damaged her hip/ pelvis. I'm not a chicken vet so I'm not sure what you would do for that. Sorry- good luck

 

[arlee453]

Keep her quiet and in a darkened - not completely dark, but just not bright light - area.

Time is what she needs right now - she is probably still in shock over the attack. Hope she pulls through for you.

 

[SpottedCrow]

It sounds like it is her hip, rather than her leg...I suggest you take her to the vet and hand the neighbour the bill.
The shaking might be because she's stressed and/or in shock. If you can get to the petshop buy some baby bird handfeeding formula...you add water and warm it up and feed it to the bird. If you don't have a syringe, use a plastic spoon. Put some on the spoon and try and get it into her beak. Once she tastes it, she should like it.
To me, putting an animal down is the last resort...
Good luck with her.