Weeg
Enabler
Hey guys!
My hen Sunshine got in quite the situation the other day. Her and two other SLW hens live with my ducks so they don't have to deal with being over mated by our rooster. I do let them all free range together though.
I put the ducks back in while we went for a horse ride, as I feel their more venerable to predators/can't escape as easily. Anyway, I put the two SLW's in as well, but Sunny was having a good time, so I left her out. We came back and ate dinner, and I totally forgot I had left her outside. I suspected I would find her nesting next to the duck coop since she couldn't get in, so when she wasn't there was I was confused.
I then heard a few wing flaps, and a, "baaawk, baaawk". Our duck coop is wire, so theres about 2 inches of perch sticking out to the side of the coop that she usually roosts on. She must have tried to jump to the 2 inches sticking out, missed and fell, because when I found her, she was hanging upside down by one foot in the wire below the roost. I immediately lifted her body to get the weight off her foot, and un tangled her ankle and spur. I brought her to the house and checked her over, but since it was dark I wasn't going to set her up inside. I decided to put her in a nesting box to sleep and check on her in the morning.
The next morning she had a slight limp on the foot she hung from. Not bad, but it was definitly hurting her. There is no swelling, or discoloration, but the ankle she hung from is much warmer then her uninjured ankle. Its definitely warm to the touch. I applied Volterin to it, the variety they have for sprains. I used it on my accident prone mare when her leg swelled up after she tripped in the gravel, and it worked really well. I've been applying that once a day, and restoring her activity.
I have her in a crate at night to preen and a sling for her to sit in made out of a rubbermaid container.
Point is, she hates the sling. She gets kinda panicky in it, and struggles a bunch. The container has a small edge on the inside that she will put her foot on and ue as leverage. Then, grab the edge with her beak and pull her self forward. It ends in her escape from the sling, and that causes stress to her ankle.
I would just keep her in the kennel, but she stands in there and I really want her to keep the weight off her leg. Is there any way to make the sling more comfortable? Am I doing it wrong? She's currently inside with me while I right this lol! I have her inside so I can keep her in the sling, and shh actually seems pretty content for now. I'll keep you posted, thanks guys!
My hen Sunshine got in quite the situation the other day. Her and two other SLW hens live with my ducks so they don't have to deal with being over mated by our rooster. I do let them all free range together though.
I put the ducks back in while we went for a horse ride, as I feel their more venerable to predators/can't escape as easily. Anyway, I put the two SLW's in as well, but Sunny was having a good time, so I left her out. We came back and ate dinner, and I totally forgot I had left her outside. I suspected I would find her nesting next to the duck coop since she couldn't get in, so when she wasn't there was I was confused.
I then heard a few wing flaps, and a, "baaawk, baaawk". Our duck coop is wire, so theres about 2 inches of perch sticking out to the side of the coop that she usually roosts on. She must have tried to jump to the 2 inches sticking out, missed and fell, because when I found her, she was hanging upside down by one foot in the wire below the roost. I immediately lifted her body to get the weight off her foot, and un tangled her ankle and spur. I brought her to the house and checked her over, but since it was dark I wasn't going to set her up inside. I decided to put her in a nesting box to sleep and check on her in the morning.
The next morning she had a slight limp on the foot she hung from. Not bad, but it was definitly hurting her. There is no swelling, or discoloration, but the ankle she hung from is much warmer then her uninjured ankle. Its definitely warm to the touch. I applied Volterin to it, the variety they have for sprains. I used it on my accident prone mare when her leg swelled up after she tripped in the gravel, and it worked really well. I've been applying that once a day, and restoring her activity.
I have her in a crate at night to preen and a sling for her to sit in made out of a rubbermaid container.
Point is, she hates the sling. She gets kinda panicky in it, and struggles a bunch. The container has a small edge on the inside that she will put her foot on and ue as leverage. Then, grab the edge with her beak and pull her self forward. It ends in her escape from the sling, and that causes stress to her ankle.
I would just keep her in the kennel, but she stands in there and I really want her to keep the weight off her leg. Is there any way to make the sling more comfortable? Am I doing it wrong? She's currently inside with me while I right this lol! I have her inside so I can keep her in the sling, and shh actually seems pretty content for now. I'll keep you posted, thanks guys!
