Injured chicken leg

[monicabendele]

I have a white hen/amberlink 9 months old, my sweetest chicken and a great layer.

Today, my rambunctious Golden was chasing something else and ran right over Lemon, she was flipped over, squaked, lost a few feathers, righted herself and then was pretty immediately limping. I brought her in, examined her legs and they both seem the same. I do not note a broken area through sight of swelling or redness, but she will rarely put weight on this leg. She is contained alone, inside a glass shower enclosure with food, water, and towels, but does not seem interested in eating. She did not lay today, and this happened in the AM. Should I just keep her inside for a day, build some sort of sling for her, and/or use a crate and put her back in the coop? She stands on one leg and holds the other against her chest. She's been doing this for half a day. TIA for any help.

 

[azygous]

A photo would help. Chicken leg injuries are not red. They are green. But this only shows up on white or yellow legs, not slate or black.

You can treat her with 81 grain aspirin, twice a day.

I hate to throw a wet blanket on this, but recently I had a three-month old with the same sort of leg injury. I could not see the source of the injury. It got steadily worse until she couldn't even raise her head up and I had to euthanize her.

If I could have done anything differently, I would have crated her to immobilize her, limiting as much as possible her range of movement. Provide food and water, but keep her confined until she's well on the way to recovering.

 

[monicabendele]

A photo would help. Chicken leg injuries are not red. They are green. But this only shows up on white or yellow legs, not slate or black.

You can treat her with 81 grain aspirin, twice a day.

I hate to throw a wet blanket on this, but recently I had a three-month old with the same sort of leg injury. I could not see the source of the injury. It got steadily worse until she couldn't even raise her head up and I had to euthanize her.

If I could have done anything differently, I would have crated her to immobilize her, limiting as much as possible her range of movement. Provide food and water, but keep her confined until she's well on the way to recovering.

I'll post a photo today. And I was planning to immobilize her if she wasn't showing improvement by this am. Thanks for the info

 

[guntha45]

I have a white hen/amberlink 9 months old, my sweetest chicken and a great layer.

Today, my rambunctious Golden was chasing something else and ran right over Lemon, she was flipped over, squaked, lost a few feathers, righted herself and then was pretty immediately limping. I brought her in, examined her legs and they both seem the same. I do not note a broken area through sight of swelling or redness, but she will rarely put weight on this leg. She is contained alone, inside a glass shower enclosure with food, water, and towels, but does not seem interested in eating. She did not lay today, and this happened in the AM. Should I just keep her inside for a day, build some sort of sling for her, and/or use a crate and put her back in the coop? She stands on one leg and holds the other against her chest. She's been doing this for half a day. TIA for any help.

You are doing it right. One of my Barred Rock hens got her leg caught under my chicken tractor when I was moving it(I felt horrible). I isolated her in her own little place in my big coop, made sure she had food and water. She healed up but it took weeks, not days. She's fine now but does walk funny, but what chicken doesn't, lol. You're doing the right thing, it will just take time. She probably won't lay for awhile and may not eat much, that's normal.

 

[monicabendele]

I think the injury is in the "palm" portion of the foot. It seems more swollen than the other side.

 

[azygous]

I can't determine the color of her legs from the photos. Not enough light to bring out the color. But if her legs are light, you may be able to see slight green bruising where you believe the injury is.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Our hen Gisela arrived with a leg injury and she only stood on one leg or hopped for three weeks before she would put the injured leg down. I never found any bruising, lumps or swelling and she never showed any distress at having it moved around if you picked her up. She arrived late July and she still limps now but can run and jump and manages fine in the flock, but we kept her separate for a long time.

We started with her with a separate house and run within the run of the rest of the flock so that she could see them all (except at bed time) and made sure she didn't need to move around for food and water. I would try enticing her with something tasty, like scrambled egg. Gisela is actually one of our healthiest hens overall and our best layer now (she didn't lay at all when using only one leg) so don't lose hope but it may just be a long road to recovery. I think Gisela is probably going to limp for the rest of her life but we shall see. Sending good wishes to Lemon!