Hello everyone,
I have stalked your forums for a while and here over the last few days especially. I have been a long time chicken lover, we had over 300 when I was young and I spent every last minute of my day in the chicken pen, so I am no stranger to chickens. However, I have never quite had to deal with the issue I am dealing with now. And sorry I am so long winded but I like to include all details I think would be necessary so that I can get better answers
I have a little pekin bantam, named Pajamas, and as usual, I let my ladies out to roam the pasture every morning. This weekend I came out to the chicken yard to discover some cows had come in and drank all their water and ate all their food (I have taken measures to prevent this from happening in the future trust me!) and left a few cow pies here and there. No one else was in the chicken yard except for Pajamas, and one look at her I immediately knew something was wrong, she was separated from the rest of the flock and laying down all by herself. When I went to pick her up it was very apparent she had no use of one of her legs. I can only assume she was stepped on my one of the aforementioned cows. Further inspection revealed a dangly limb broken just below the hock. No broken skin, no blood, but I can clearly see where the bone is broken. She appears to either 1) have no control over the movement of her toes or 2) is in too much pain to move them because they only twitch.
I found an old finger tip splint that when opened made the perfect little leg splint for her. She seems to be much more "comfortable" "moving" now that the splint is on (I say that with quotes because she doesn't really move she just re-positions herself a little and I can assure you she is far from comfortable lol) I am assuming because her poor little leg isnt just dangling around under her anymore.
I said all that to pretty much get to my main question - she has SO MANY FEATHERS, she is so floofy! Her little legs are so feathery and so are her feet that I have one hell of a time examining her leg or doing anything to it. I tried to trim them a little last night and also around her vent because she was developing dingle berries (is there a legitimate scientific word for that?? lol!) but that task is much easier said than done. Should I attempt to trim her leg feathers so that I can see what I am doing a little better and get her little leg wrapped up properly? I know that if you cut them too short they will bleed and it was always my impression that this was not painful, however, I would like to prevent causing her any further pain in addition to what she is already experiencing. BTW, I thought about giving her aspirin but have heard good and bad about it. If I dissolved 1/2 aspirin in a cup of water is that too much??
What is the best way to go about doing this? My kitchen scissors? Or does anyone else have a better method? Or should I just leave it be and pray for the best? I have googled so many times but most of the results are not applicable to my situation which is why I am asking here.
Also, if ANYONE has ANY suggestions I am totally open to them. She has not been eating but I plan on trying to force her to if she doesnt start here soon. I have been offering her crushed boiled eggs/shells and I also bought some fowl electrolyte solution I have been mixing with the egg as well as some chick starter crumbles & laying pellets. I have another hen that was given to me over the weekend with a limp, very pale, and appears to have fowl pox (dry thank goodness) so I have been nursing these two the past few days.
I have Pajamas in my bunny's old cage which is wire with a plastic bottom, and I used some of the bunny's litter box material to make her a bed. It looks like shredded paper but is much much softer, since I did that and splinted her she appears more comfortable but she still does not seem to be eating or drinking even though I have placed food and water both within reach for her without needing to move. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance for any advice or answers you have for me. Hopefully this will be the first of many posts to this forum, I keep coming back to it time and time again.
I have stalked your forums for a while and here over the last few days especially. I have been a long time chicken lover, we had over 300 when I was young and I spent every last minute of my day in the chicken pen, so I am no stranger to chickens. However, I have never quite had to deal with the issue I am dealing with now. And sorry I am so long winded but I like to include all details I think would be necessary so that I can get better answers
I have a little pekin bantam, named Pajamas, and as usual, I let my ladies out to roam the pasture every morning. This weekend I came out to the chicken yard to discover some cows had come in and drank all their water and ate all their food (I have taken measures to prevent this from happening in the future trust me!) and left a few cow pies here and there. No one else was in the chicken yard except for Pajamas, and one look at her I immediately knew something was wrong, she was separated from the rest of the flock and laying down all by herself. When I went to pick her up it was very apparent she had no use of one of her legs. I can only assume she was stepped on my one of the aforementioned cows. Further inspection revealed a dangly limb broken just below the hock. No broken skin, no blood, but I can clearly see where the bone is broken. She appears to either 1) have no control over the movement of her toes or 2) is in too much pain to move them because they only twitch.
I found an old finger tip splint that when opened made the perfect little leg splint for her. She seems to be much more "comfortable" "moving" now that the splint is on (I say that with quotes because she doesn't really move she just re-positions herself a little and I can assure you she is far from comfortable lol) I am assuming because her poor little leg isnt just dangling around under her anymore.
I said all that to pretty much get to my main question - she has SO MANY FEATHERS, she is so floofy! Her little legs are so feathery and so are her feet that I have one hell of a time examining her leg or doing anything to it. I tried to trim them a little last night and also around her vent because she was developing dingle berries (is there a legitimate scientific word for that?? lol!) but that task is much easier said than done. Should I attempt to trim her leg feathers so that I can see what I am doing a little better and get her little leg wrapped up properly? I know that if you cut them too short they will bleed and it was always my impression that this was not painful, however, I would like to prevent causing her any further pain in addition to what she is already experiencing. BTW, I thought about giving her aspirin but have heard good and bad about it. If I dissolved 1/2 aspirin in a cup of water is that too much??
What is the best way to go about doing this? My kitchen scissors? Or does anyone else have a better method? Or should I just leave it be and pray for the best? I have googled so many times but most of the results are not applicable to my situation which is why I am asking here.
Also, if ANYONE has ANY suggestions I am totally open to them. She has not been eating but I plan on trying to force her to if she doesnt start here soon. I have been offering her crushed boiled eggs/shells and I also bought some fowl electrolyte solution I have been mixing with the egg as well as some chick starter crumbles & laying pellets. I have another hen that was given to me over the weekend with a limp, very pale, and appears to have fowl pox (dry thank goodness) so I have been nursing these two the past few days.
I have Pajamas in my bunny's old cage which is wire with a plastic bottom, and I used some of the bunny's litter box material to make her a bed. It looks like shredded paper but is much much softer, since I did that and splinted her she appears more comfortable but she still does not seem to be eating or drinking even though I have placed food and water both within reach for her without needing to move. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance for any advice or answers you have for me. Hopefully this will be the first of many posts to this forum, I keep coming back to it time and time again.