loohoo
Songster
Hi all!
I've got a 2 year old hen who injured her leg this morning. My husband saw her jump off the water bucket and immediately begin flapping/flopping around, unable to walk.
I brought her in and after laying for a bit on her side with her one leg curled up, she got up and began walking around normally. When she was just standing, she would lift the back of that foot up, indicating she shifted her weight to the other, good leg. But then would continue walking as usual.
She's not my friendliest hen, she hates being picked up, and when I went to take her back outside, she began flapping, hopped down and wound up aggravating/making it worse. She hasn't put weight on it since, nor tried standing.
I've put her in a crate with food, and water. She's in the house in a darker, quiet area and she's no longer panting, seemingly resting comfortably. She has eaten some scrambled egg, and treats. Not really interested in drinking much.
I genuinely don't know how to tell if her leg is broken, or just strained/sprained? It appears to look mostly the same as the other leg. She lays a bit to her side with the injured leg out just a bit, as you can kind of see in the picture below, her stance.
I assume she wouldn't have walked on it at all, if it was broken, right? I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be looking for. I felt her leg and didn't feel anything obvious but again, I really don't know what to feel for.
Should I just keep her inside, and confined where she's forced to stay off it for now? Anything else I could do?
I've got a 2 year old hen who injured her leg this morning. My husband saw her jump off the water bucket and immediately begin flapping/flopping around, unable to walk.
I brought her in and after laying for a bit on her side with her one leg curled up, she got up and began walking around normally. When she was just standing, she would lift the back of that foot up, indicating she shifted her weight to the other, good leg. But then would continue walking as usual.
She's not my friendliest hen, she hates being picked up, and when I went to take her back outside, she began flapping, hopped down and wound up aggravating/making it worse. She hasn't put weight on it since, nor tried standing.
I've put her in a crate with food, and water. She's in the house in a darker, quiet area and she's no longer panting, seemingly resting comfortably. She has eaten some scrambled egg, and treats. Not really interested in drinking much.
I genuinely don't know how to tell if her leg is broken, or just strained/sprained? It appears to look mostly the same as the other leg. She lays a bit to her side with the injured leg out just a bit, as you can kind of see in the picture below, her stance.
I assume she wouldn't have walked on it at all, if it was broken, right? I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be looking for. I felt her leg and didn't feel anything obvious but again, I really don't know what to feel for.
Should I just keep her inside, and confined where she's forced to stay off it for now? Anything else I could do?
We're home all year practically and then someone goes and injures themselves right before we're actually leaving.
