My Buff Orpington is INJURED BADLY from a Dog

[christmaschicken]

I had a guest at my home on Saturday, and there little Terriour decided he could smell something and took a run for my back yard ran all the way out to the back 2 Acres went into the bushes where my Chickens like to hang out when they are running about.

Anyway long story short, it got ahold of one of my hens feathers were flying everywhere, when I got her to where I could take a look at her she was limping very badly could not get her to come to me for some time, he pulled out all her tail feathers and I did not find any puncture marks on her but he must have bitten down hard enough to cause some internal damage to her leg, her leg now is backward almost. She seems fine I have confinded her to a small cage so she can rest the leg this week, What on earth should I do I do not want her to suffer and I am not sure if it is worth a vet bill could be rather costly?

She can not walk without a limp now I do not believe they show signs of pain ??? Chickens that is? do they? When I pull on it to get it strait she tends to fuss a bit so obviously that hurts.

What to do?

 

[gumpsgirl]

It sounds to me like the leg might be broke. As to what to do for that, I don't know for certain. It sounds like you are doing what you can, keeping her confined and all. Speckledhen has been dealing with her injured cockerel Zane for several months now. Maybe she could give you some advice as to what to do for her.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Here's two different aspirin therapy you can give her for pain:
The usual dosage recommended on BYC is 5 regular (325 mg) aspirin (NO SUBSTITUTES) crushed and mixed with ONE GALLON of water.

Baby aspirin that is truly just aspirin is fine. Just make sure it's not any kind of aspirin substitute. A baby aspirin is 81mg and crushed in a cup of water is about the same strength as five 325 mg regular aspirins in a gallon of water. Gave the smaller batch equivalent since it's one bird and gallon batches are more than what's needed. As you are already doing, wait till the bleeding problem subsides.........
JJthink

I would keep her confined so she rests her leg. Not sure what else to do for her leg.

Is the leg twisted at the hip joint or somewhere else?

 

[christmaschicken]

We think it twisted at the Hip Joint my husband and I extended her leg and you can feel it way up there at the hip so I would say almost 90% yes to it being at the hip joint. Poor thing!

 

[speckledhen]

Poor girl! Terriers are the worst sometimes for hassling and killing chickens because they are very stubborn and just wont quit. It may be dislocated at the hip, hard to say. She probably needs to be up off the leg so it's unbent. You could make a sling like I did from a bowling ball sling and hang that with her in it from a broom handle. If you look at the pics of the sling, it looks like a kid's tank top cut short with the waist area sewn shut. You may be able to fashion a sling that way if you cant find one for a bowling ball. And do what Kitty said, give her aspirin for inflammation and pain. Other than that, I'm not sure what else to do. She could get an infection in the soft tissues, which happened to Zane, even though there are no punctures. You may want her to go on antibiotics to fight that, but give her plain, active culture yogurt when you do to combat digestive upset. Look for a thead called something like "Henhaven is a Genius". She's the one who sent me the sling to retrofit.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Will the guest pay for the damages to your bird? It was THEIR dog...
If she's panting, then she's in pain. Baby aspirin in the water will help that. Keep her warm and quiet.
You could try and put the hip back into the socket...