My chicken has a broken or dislocated leg... Help? :(

[freshbrowneggs]

One of my year old hens "broke" her leg last week. I put her in a seperate cage for a couple days and fed her scrambled eggs and fresh water. I put her back with her flock at night and at firt she sat in the nesting box but now she roosts with them. They havent seemed to bother her all, no pecking or chasing, so for now I will just wait and see.
I am so glad to have read all these stories. As I look at her now she is laying out in the sunshine in the front yard

 

[freshbrowneggs]

she is back with her flock, a little slower than them but using her leg and enjoying the yard

 

[Graneerach]

I can't tell if her leg is broken. She hobbles on it and sits with it under her not out to the side. I have felt it and I don't feel any obvious break. Could it just be a pulled muscle or strain?

 

[Eggcessive]

I can't tell if her leg is broken. She hobbles on it and sits with it under her not out to the side. I have felt it and I don't feel any obvious break. Could it just be a pulled muscle or strain?

Welcome to BYC. How old is your chicken, and how long has she been having these symptoms? Can you determine if her foot or leg is paralyzed (can she move her toes or her leg if you touch it?) Was she vaccinated for Mareks disease? Mareks symptoms can include lameness or paralysis in one or both legs, wings, or the neck. Sprains and broken bones can be common in chickens. They can take up to several weeks to heal. Broken bones need to be splinted, but both need to be rested by penning up the bird. Here is some info about Mareks disease:
https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

 

[Sparkling]

I have a little Cream Legbar that has just had one problem after another in her short life. She is only about 5 or 6 months old right now. She had a broken toe in November. We brought her in the house for a couple of weeks to recover. When she was able to walk again we put her out in the coop with the rest of the flock. Then in December our dog attacked her (the rooster defended her and got attacked pretty bad too but he is fully recovered now). Her wing was completely exposed and I was worried the others would peck her to death so I kept her in the house longer. After just a few days she started struggling to walk. It quickly digressed to being fully crippled. Now she can't walk at all, she just kicks and flops around and sleeps on her side. She is fully alert though, and she talks to us when we come in the bathroom. We have had the coldest weather I've ever experienced since we moved here to Idaho, and we've had snow on the ground for going on 4 weeks now. I've thought about trying to rehabilitate her with little outings in the greenhouse, but she really can't use her legs. Her right leg especially seems to have something severely wrong with it. It splays out to the side, while her left leg is straight. She doesn't really stand on either one of her legs though. And I realized last week she wasn't eating as much because she couldn't reach the food dish. If we hold her wrapped in a towel she will eat enthusiastically from a bowl in front of her. So I feel awful that she has probably been starving because she can't get to food. I'm trying so hard to save this little pullet but I don't know what to do. How can I tell if her leg is dislocated? I can't afford a $300 vet bill for her right now - my husband would be quick to point out we could buy a lot more chickens for that much money. But she is a life, and I love her, and I want to help her if I can. Does anyone know how I might be able to tell if her leg is dislocated and how to fix it? Would a video help to show what I'm talking about?

(For the record, the dog is no longer allowed free run of the yard.)

 

[Eggcessive]

I have a little Cream Legbar that has just had one problem after another in her short life. She is only about 5 or 6 months old right now. She had a broken toe in November. We brought her in the house for a couple of weeks to recover. When she was able to walk again we put her out in the coop with the rest of the flock. Then in December our dog attacked her (the rooster defended her and got attacked pretty bad too but he is fully recovered now). Her wing was completely exposed and I was worried the others would peck her to death so I kept her in the house longer. After just a few days she started struggling to walk. It quickly digressed to being fully crippled. Now she can't walk at all, she just kicks and flops around and sleeps on her side. She is fully alert though, and she talks to us when we come in the bathroom. We have had the coldest weather I've ever experienced since we moved here to Idaho, and we've had snow on the ground for going on 4 weeks now. I've thought about trying to rehabilitate her with little outings in the greenhouse, but she really can't use her legs. Her right leg especially seems to have something severely wrong with it. It splays out to the side, while her left leg is straight. She doesn't really stand on either one of her legs though. And I realized last week she wasn't eating as much because she couldn't reach the food dish. If we hold her wrapped in a towel she will eat enthusiastically from a bowl in front of her. So I feel awful that she has probably been starving because she can't get to food. I'm trying so hard to save this little pullet but I don't know what to do. How can I tell if her leg is dislocated? I can't afford a $300 vet bill for her right now - my husband would be quick to point out we could buy a lot more chickens for that much money. But she is a life, and I love her, and I want to help her if I can. Does anyone know how I might be able to tell if her leg is dislocated and how to fix it? Would a video help to show what I'm talking about?

(For the record, the dog is no longer allowed free run of the yard.)

Videos are welcome. It would be best to start a thread all your own for more looks and so that we all don't get confused who we are helping. Just copy and then paste your paragraph above and post it with a title, such as "pullet can't use leg" here in a new thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/threads/add/forumId/10

 

[quackshack74]

Hi, i have a week old chick the Tractor Supply store gave me because she wasn't walking.
She is a Rhode Island Red, 1 week old. Her left leg moves & she can kind of walk/hop with it. When i got her she was a day or 2 old & the foot was curled up. I taped the foot a couple times & that seemed to help. I can all tell it is still painful. I have her in a 10 gallon fish tank set up for a brooder. she's eating & drinking like a champ. ♡
I dint think anything is broken, & it moves so I'm thinking tendon problem.
Any other ideas?
Thanks

 

[The Golden Egg5]

Y

Hi, i have a week old chick the Tractor Supply store gave me because she wasn't walking.
She is a Rhode Island Red, 1 week old. Her left leg moves & she can kind of walk/hop with it. When i got her she was a day or 2 old & the foot was curled up. I taped the foot a couple times & that seemed to help. I can all tell it is still painful. I have her in a 10 gallon fish tank set up for a brooder. she's eating & drinking like a champ. ♡
I dint think anything is broken, & it moves so I'm thinking tendon problem.
Any other ideas?
Thanks

ou might want to create your own thread, but to me it sounds like spraddle leg. If you just type it into the search bar things will come up for you to read.

 

[quackshack74]

Sorry thank you

 

[johnkneegeez]

I thought I should update this, since I got a reply on it.

I didn't have the heart to put down this chicken, Henrietta, she is one of my favorite hens, definitely a pet and well I have become way too attached to her, I know.

So I tried putting her legs back in and stuff but really I just think it was broken and I really dont think I ended up doing anything helpful for her aside from seperating her from the others who would've pecked her to death.

I put her in an extra large dog crate, and gave her fresh food and water every day. Dragged the giant cage into the fresh, shady air in the daytime and back into the barn every night (which was too hot during the day, she would pant). Luckily it was summertime and I didn't have to keep her in my house. I used hay for bedding so she always had a soft place to lay and she basically didn't move much for the entire summer. About halfway through, she had started limping around her cage a little bit. By about July/August we let her out into the yard a little bit for short supervised periods, (cuz she couldn't get away from dogs, other chickens etc). By October I tried putting her in the coop. I have to admit I was scared to do it. I refused to put her in the coop with the rooster who I think broke her leg in the first place.. just with a few older docile hens and two young ones.

I made her a nesting box with a very short roost on the floor which she used for a short time, but before long she was on the lowest roost and now she's up on the top with all of her friends in a tight warm little row.

Aside from not being able to run, and having a noticeable limp, she is very well recovered and comes to meet me when I pull into the driveway. I open my car door, and there is my little Henrietta, clucking up at me. I'm glad to have her. I know she's old and her time will come, but I'm really glad it wasn't last April because of a stupid accident.

I am in a very similar position. I am a chicken newbie and one of my chicks sounds like she has the same injury on her right leg. It has been one week since I found her in the nesting box plucked over, beat down and covered in her droppings. I separated her into my old brooder tote. She is able to rest on her shins and hobble gingerly and drunken-looking at best now but that is way better than when I first found her and she was unable to get up. I bath her regularly and have tried splinting the leg but she is not having it. I am just hoping that she heals enough to get on her feet again and back with the other hens in the coop and run.