One-legged chicken? Update: she's doing great!!!

[Tala]

This is the little girl:

She seems so happy, despite her injury

That's not blood on her leg btw, I put some iodine on it tonight.

She doesn't seem to be in pain unless you mess with it, though I'm sure she hurt pretty badly when it broke ---- the worst seems to be over with so I don't think it's necessary to put her down (unless we come to further complications)

Question though. The bone is sticking out right above her "hock" and she has minimal use of the rest of the leg. I'm afraid the bone sticking out could cause infection. What do I need to do to help her?
Should it be amputated below the break and patched back up? Poked back inside her skin??? Or left to heal on it's own??? What is the best course of action here?????
Should I put her on a general antibiotic to help ward off infections, and if so what do you suggest?? I have a TSC and an older style feed store, both have some medicines available.

 

[wfiles]

Tom T. Hall has a song about a 1 legged chicken and I have seen many animals get along fine with one leg. Give her a shot!

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Do a search and I bet you'll come up with a ton of info. I've seen several threads recently about one legged or one footed birds and many of them seem to do just fine!

 

[Tala]

updates/pix added to first post

most of the search results were for scaly leg mites and splayed legs.....still trying to find info on this

 

[Tala]

Nobody has anything??

 

[foxflower]

I've been doing searches on leg issues for another reason. I believe people have been recommending splints for broken legs, but I don't have the link. I've read of people using q tips, bandaids, or padding and vet wrap (probably your best bet.) I'm no expert, but I had to treat an injury on my horse's leg with vet wrap, so I have some idea of how to apply it. Put some medication such as neosporin (help pervent the pad from sticking to the injury/leg) on a sterile pad of some sort to, I'm sure you'll have to cut it down to size. Wrap the vet wrap around the pad-covered injury snugly and secure it to itself, but leave some of the pad sticking out above and below so the vet wrap doesn't constrict and cut off circulation. Try to wrap it far enough down (remember ot still leave some padding sticking out) that it doesn't just slide down off the injury. One good substance you can use to help prevent infection and promote healing is Vetrycin.....same thing pretty much as chlorox brand Anywhere cleaner, which is easy to find in the cleaner area of the grocery store. It will destroy fungus, bacteria, and viruses without harming the good cells and it doesn't hurt to apply. Just spray it on the injury. Try it on yourself if you're not sure...we use it, and they have a separate brand name for the same stuff sold to apply on humans, but I don't remember it right now. And by all means, research Vetrycin and occulus technology for yourself. I don't know if you should try to set the break.....someone else should take a shot at the one. I think I would try if it was me and I wanted to save the bird. Someone said you can give chicks aspirin, but I don't know the dose. Hope this mish mash of information helps. Good luck.

 

[cashdl]

I had a guinnee (sp) that was ran over by a car. His leg broke and the bone was sticking out of his skin. My brother in law managed to put the bone back in ( it was awful and I am glad he could do it.) I was worried about exposed bones and infection. When the bone was back in the leg we took plastic crazy straws cause they are stiff, cut them to length taped them to both sides of leg then wrapped the leg in bandages and tape. I fed the bird aspirin I crushed up in water, made sure he had food and figured he would live or die. 3 weeks later we took off the splints and his leg was healed. He couldn't ever bend it after that but he could fly and hop along where ever he wanted. I was told aspirin is an anti inflamitory so I would crush up 1 in about a qt of water and let him drink what he wanted. I figured he was going to die but I had to try.

Lanae

 

[edselpdx]

Quote:
An open fracture with the bone exposed WILL end up infected. I would cull. Antibiotics will likely only prolong the inevitable infection.

 

[Tala]

Update: I doubt she'll ever walk on it, but her leg is healing up and she is using it for non-weight-bearing things like scratching her chin. She is sitll in the hospital crate, but it's a wire dog crate without the floor tray, so I move her to fresh grass every day. She's not good enough on her one leg to be in with her broodermates, but otherwise she's doing fine.
DH calls her Hopper

 

[dawg53]

Hopper will more than likely make it. However my experience has been that if you put her back with the others, they will incessantly pick on her. I currently have a crippled hen that hobbles on one leg and I keep her seperated from the others. I let her free range in the front yard by herself away from the others and she does just fine. She lays an egg each morning by 8am in her hospital cage before I let her out in the yard, she's a real champ.