Hen found hanging upside down in chicken coop by leg - help.

[Farmer Manda]

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
It's a large white chicken, with small red comb. Neighboors called her a Fryer Chicken - doesn't lay eggs.

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
She's limping and has a tiny bit of red on her foot. She'll just sit most of the day b/c I'm sure it hurts. Not sure if broken or sprained...

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
2 days

4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Tiny blood, but mostly just limping.

5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
She was probably perched up on her perching stick to get ready for bed, and either got pushed by the other chickens and fell, lost her footing, and got her foot caught between the perch and the board. She was hanging upside down when I went to close the coop door. She's quite heavy so she probably wasn't able to fly herself upright. Don't know how long she was hanging there, but hopefully not that long. She only perches there when it's night time and she was fine during the day.

6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Cracked corn and drinking water.

7) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Normal

8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Just put her feed in front of her when she's sitting during the day so she doens't have to walk to the feeder.

9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Hoping to help myself, low on vet funds

10) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Don't have one...can you still help?

11) Describe the housing/bedding in use
16 live in a horse pen I converted to a chicken coop. There's a makeshift ladder for them to climb up on and get to the perch for sleeping. Food and water in the middle. I use hey for bedding. There's also nesting bins we made that stack on top of eachother in the corner. Only some of them lay there. They others lay eggs on the floor - geesh! I keep a heat lamp (2 of them) on during the night, and turn them off during the day. I bring water to them in the AM and in the PM as we don't have a heated water container.

Please let me know if you need any other info and I appreciat any help and advice offered. It was very sad to find her that way - hope she gets better soon.

-Farmer Manda

 

[MarriedToTheFarm]

Hopefully others will come along with some better advice. If she is eating and drinking then I would just watch her. If she is comfortable in her coop and can rest there that should be fine, if the other birds are bothering her or bullying her than maybe you should separate her until she recovers. Hopefully there is no injury to the bones and the tissues will heal. Good luck.

 

[clhbubba]

I'm mainly just giving you a bump. I would give her something more nutrituous like layer crumbles, scrambled eggs and maybe some yogurt, they tend to like that, I think some people even offer cooked oatmeal. Cracked corn has minimal nutritional value. Also maybe some electrolytes in her water. Maybe isolate her in a smaller warm cage so she doesn't have to move around as much. If it's a sprain/torn muscle that might help it heal.

 

[Terri O]

She will probably be OK...I had one that got caught like that once snd as long as she is eating and drinking she should recover. Hugs! Terri O

 

[Farmer Manda]

Thanks for the tips peeps!

I'll cook up some scrambled eggs for her and some oatmeal. Don't have any other treats you mentioned right now, so hope that's a good start! I'll post again with an update when she's doing better. I'm going to cook for her right now so ta-ta folks!

 

[EweSheep]

I got one Wellie girl that got herself in a pinch by her toenail and first knuckle. It swelled up turned red and finally it went down, thus a permanent broken or crooked toe. Other than that, she is fine today.

 

[Farmer Manda]

We went into the barn today and she's just sitting there, not moving around, so we decided to bring her in until she heals. She's set up in our four season porch right now with water, hard boiled egg, and apple. Her foot is SO swollen and a tiny bloody. Suppose it very well could be broken. I hope that she will feel OK to rest in her new temporary home away from home until she gains her awesomeness back

Thanks for all the comments - really do appreciate it!

 

[halo]

I had EXACTLY the same thing happen...I went in one morning to open the coop, and there she was hanging upside down with her foot caught in the space between the perch and the side. She was really miserable and couldnt move for a whole day. I had pretty much decided by the end of the day to put her down, but I first put her by water and feed to see what she would do. She gobbled down some feed and drank some water. So I decided to put her in a dog kennel at night so she could sleep comfortably and put her with her girlfriends during the day to keep her from getting depressed. It took a good week before she started putting her leg down and using it to just hobble. Its been a good month or so, and she only has a slight limp now, which I really think will be gone eventually.

I didnt do anything special for her other than make sure she had food and water, and a place to sleep.

 

[Tala]

My grandma had a rooster fly at the fence (made of welded wire covered in chicken wire) and got his feet/spurs stuck so badly that she had to cut him out! She said he was haning upside down basically by his toes/spurs!
She said he was sore for a week, but recovered to live out his life with only a limp.
I'm sure your bird will recover too. Please get a more complete feed for her though. Layer pellets or something, because a diet of only cracked corn is nurtiontally lacking.

 

[Farmer Manda]

Thank you for all who posted! And it's sad that this happened to some of your own chickens, but helpful to me and hopeful that she will get better. I gave her a butt bath today as she can't move away from her poop much - sorry it's icky.... Then tried to blow dry her a bit before putting her back in the 4 season porch.

Her foot looks infected and I sprayed neosporen (sp?) on it today to help her. I will go and get better food for her soon and try to put electrolytes in her water. I'm also going to bring in another hen so she's not lonely (a small brown hen we call Matilda).

Please comment on the injury again and let me know your thoughts. These pics are from this morning.

Thanks everyone!!!!!!!!!!!