Hen with injured leg

[marcyray]

I have a Welsummer hen with an injured leg. She's not very big - about 6 months or so (got her from another flock recently). Today she got caught in the fence (not sure how long she had been caught there, but probably more than 30-40 minutes) and after we freed her we noticed that she was limping. She can put weight on her right leg, and the foot is not curled, but it's noticeably crooked and she can only take 3-4 steps before she sits down on it. I've picked her up and felt it - the knee joint on the right feels a bit larger than the left, and there's definitely more play in the joint. (I can move her right foot side-to-side more degrees from the center than I can with her left foot.) I don't think anything is broken, and there are no obvious injuries like torn skin or a clear break. Could it be a dislocation? A slipped tendon? A torn ligament? What can I do for her? Splint it? Wrap it? Should I separate her from the other birds? (We have 1 other Welsummer and 2 buff orpingtons who are our original pair and are still a bit assertive with the Welsummers.) The other birds seem to be curious about her but not overtly aggressive.

Help!

 

[Judy]

If vet care is not an option, I would splint it to rest whatever is injured; sounds like there is something going on like a sprain or torn ligament, if not a fracture. Simple vet wrap should work as a splint, just wrap it around a few times and check often to be sure it's not too tight (foot swelling or turning blue.) Keep her isolated in a quiet place to rest the leg. No guarantee this will solve the problem, but there's a fair chance it will, I would think. Good luck.

 

[marcyray]

Thank you - we have wrapped it and that actually seems to be keeping her off it - she can't bend it as well as she could before, so she's mostly been sitting in the nesting box all day. We'll continue to keep an eye on her and maybe separate her from the rest of the flock, although they generally seem to be leaving her alone.

 

[marcyray]

An update - after a day of rest she seems to be much better! We took the bandage off - her foot looked a wee bit puffy - and she is nearly back to her old self! She's walking with a slight limp but she doesn't have to stop to rest the leg, and she seems perky and even horned her way to the front of the line for scratch this morning as usual. We'll continue to keep an eye on her, but I think the rest did her a world of good! (Since she couldn't walk well with the bandage on, she spent most of the day tucked up in the nesting box.) Thank you for the advice!