We have a small flock of 4 hens (started out as six but that's another sad story) and last Saturday night one hurt her leg. I watched the four of them go up the ramp into the coop like any other night. Sunday morning when they came out, one was limping badly. She could barely walk. We realized we had a problem and kept our eye on her for the day. She did go back up the ramp and into the egg box, then came out later and back down the ramp into the run. It is a very large run - 2500 square feet. She was limping very badly by now so we decided to isolate her from the rest of the birds. We put her in a cage and brought her into my shop where it's cool and safe. Next day I took her out into the front yard and set her down. She could not walk or stand up. We made an appointment with our vet and brought her in. He examined her and didn't find any outward appearance of problems - no dislocations or breaks in the legs or feet or anything like that. He told me it is either a soft tissue injury which she would recover from, or it was a ligament injury from which she would not recover. He gave her a shot of rimadyl (sp?) and sent me home with some more in tablet form to give her each day. I crush up one-third of a tablet and give it to her on a piece of tomato. That was Tuesday. Here we are about a week after the incident and she's still not standing or walking but she's eating, pooping and generally in fairly decent spirits - she's alert and making the little noises that chickens make. But she isn't able to stand up on her own. I fear the worst. The vet told me to give her 10 days - that's the amount of the medicine he gave me. I want to give her every benefit of the doubt but it isn't looking good. I was told that chickens can recover from injuries almost overnight - one day they look lame and next day they are walking around. I sure hope so because I really don't want to put her down. I guess my question for you all is this: Has anyone ever experienced anything like this and if so, did the bird recover and how long did it take?
The other thing I worry about is that if she does recover, will the other three hens remember her and accept her back into the flock?
Thanks in advance for any insight you may be able to provide.
The other thing I worry about is that if she does recover, will the other three hens remember her and accept her back into the flock?
Thanks in advance for any insight you may be able to provide.
