Leg Injury - How to handle?

[Mtn Laurel]

Good Morning -

Last night, as I was locking up the girls, one of them got spooked and went bonkers, flying about, crashing and banging into everything and everyone. When the dust settled I noticed one of my 9 month old barred rocks limping. She was apparently a victim of all the crashing and banging.

She is favoring one leg and has a definite limp. I've compared her legs and don't see any visible injury. She will put minimal weight on it but is mostly staying in one spot and not doing a lot of moving around. I didn't hear any "squawk" of pain when this occurred. She's not acting like it's painful. She isn't sitting with eyes closed, isn't making any noise, isn't fluffed up. She's eating, drinking, and pooping just fine.

I have her in a dog cage in the house to limit her movement. Whatever is injured must be further up the leg and I'm not sure what to look for or feel for. I'm not seeing anything obvious.

Any advice on how I should proceed? What to feel for or how to handle this? Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[ten chicks]

Check her leg for any swelling. You can give her an epsom salt soak this is great for sprain/sore muscles/swelling. She probably has just sprained/twisted her leg,keep her quiet and limit mobility for a couple of days,make sure she is eating/drinking.

If leg doesn't appear to be healing in a couple of days,check for a slipped tendon. To check for slipped tendon,run your thumb down the back of leg starting from hock(leg joins body)to shank(scales start)if tendon has slipped it will feel like an elastic band and when pressing down you can actually feel it snap back into place.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Check her leg for any swelling. You can give her an epsom salt soak this is great for sprain/sore muscles/swelling. She probably has just sprained/twisted her leg,keep her quiet and limit mobility for a couple of days,make sure she is eating/drinking.

If leg doesn't appear to be healing in a couple of days,check for a slipped tendon. To check for slipped tendon,run your thumb down the back of leg starting from hock(leg joins body)to shank(scales start)if tendon has slipped it will feel like an elastic band and when pressing down you can actually feel it snap back into place.

THANKS SO MUCH for your help! I've been in watching her and I'm not seeing any visible swelling and she can flex her "toes". She sometimes holds that leg up but I've also seen her put full weight on that leg when she was picking something off her other foot. Her name is Shirley and she's always been a friendly gal and I'm almost afraid she's enjoying this solitary confinement. Brought her breakfast and she's eating like a pig since she doesn't have to compete with 7 other girls!

Will try epsom salt soak if things don't rapidly improve. Really appreciate the info on the slipped tendon. Will check for slipped tendon if I don't see improvement soon. Fingers crossed it's a sprain!

 

[ten chicks]

Shirley is going to love being spoiled,most of them do.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Day #2 of Shirley's confinement and she's still limping. We've examined her thoroughly - No swelling, no discoloration, no difference in feel when examining the tendon area from thigh to foot. When she stands, her leg is in the normal position. Her leg can be fully distended and she doesn't act as though it hurts her. I placed my finger solidly in the pad of her foot to see if she could grasp well and no problem with the left foot. However, the right foot - the leg that is injured - had a slowed response, as though that foot or the muscle controlling it is hurt in some way. She DID grasp my finger, just not as fast as the other foot did.

Still eating like a pig and pooping accordingly.

She's preening herself and talking when we come in the room. And - yes - she has even laid an egg while in confinement. Noticed a scrape on the side of her head. She must have really gotten tossed around in the melee the other night. Poor gal!

I'm going to try a low-dose aspirin in the hope that it will act as an anti-inflammatory. Will update here to let anyone interested know how it goes.

BTW, hearing the egg-song coming from our bathroom is AWESOME!

 

[Mtn Laurel]

UPDATE, DAY #4 OF CONFINEMENT:

The Good News: Her limp is much improved. She has been in a dog crate that allows her room to take a few steps, but not a lot more. It's taken until today for us to be able to say with certainty that she is improving.

Not sure how much aspirin I got in her. She wouldn't take it "straight up". Wouldn't take it cut in half, wouldn't take it covered in cheese [hey, works for my dogs!]. I ended up dissolving it in about a tablespoon of buttermilk then adding regular uncooked oatmeal to soak up the aspirin laced buttermilk. She ate that so she got some in her. However, at that time I didn't see a lot of improvement.

The Bad News: She's now not content to sit there. She's feeling better and wants OUT. She's overturned her water twice today, has thrown food everywhere, and is trying to peck at the bars. She's not quite well enough to go back with the gang so we upgraded her to a larger crate that will give her more room. Need to find something to ease her boredom.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

FINAL UPDATE:

She's healed - limp completely gone - and is back in the coop! Actually, she could have gone back about two days ago BUT we were in the midst of a snow storm. Didn't want to put her back in the coop and then be stuck in there during a storm. Was afraid she'd be shoved to bottom of the pecking order with being gone and would get picked on if cooped up with no escape outside. Figured it would be better to wait until the storm was done.

The other thing is that I was waiting for temps to come up a bit. I kept her in the coldest part of the house and turned off all heat to that area. Didn't want her to get used to being in 70 degrees and then put her back into 15 degrees. Even with turning off all the heat, that room probably never got below 55 degrees. Today it's warmed up to 39 degrees and the sun is shining so it seemed like a perfect day to reintroduce her to the coop and the outside.

She's digging around in the straw [that I put over snow so the gals would venture out] and is having a blast!!

Lesson learned: It can take a week - if not longer - for them to get over an injury. Guessing she had a sprain or soft-tissue injury as there weren't any broken bones or slipped tendons.