One of my Hens got steped on, now favoring one leg?

[Joe.G]

Hi, My dog's were outside horsing around and one of them stepped on my 20 Week old EE Hen, My dog stepped on her pretty hard and he weights about 90 LBS, She hops around on one Leg but has been laying around most of the time, I can pick her up and move the leg around and she doesn't flinch and the leg feels and looks the same as the other, She just won't put pressure on it. Any Ideas?

 

[duckinnut]

I ran into the same type of problem with one of mine as I was trying to catch her and ended grabbing her by the leg and put her back in the run and she wouldn't even get up.Then the others started picking on her almost immediately. As far as what injury occurred I am not sure but she wouldn't walk and then would hop on one leg. Was worried would have to put her down but she was one of my best layers and I owed her a chance at least. So I put her in a dog box in the shed to keep her contained with room to move around but not much more with food and water. Kept her in for about a week and then let her have a little free time by herself in the yard for a few minutes each day increasing a little bit at a time. Slowly she used her more and more,put more weight on it and eventually started scratching with it. So she was getting about pretty good and tried to put her back in with the rest and they immediately attacked her. So now she lives in my dearly departed dog's run and house that got converted into her own condo. She limps a little until you come out with a treat then she runs. But giving a her a chance paid off as she continues to be my best layer as she is 2+ years old and has laid 7 eggs in row this week. Normally get 5 and sometimes 4 but she is still kicking. And spoiled to no end as she get free range of the place and acts like a dog to get out in the morning.
My wife suggested to get her company

so I adopted 2 Black Australorps pullets that a friend had that were 3 months old.

But between you,me and the chicken poop they were actually mine that he was raising for me until they were almost laying.

Hope this helps and assure that she doesn't need to be culled without giving her a chance to get better. I also up her protein ration to repair any muscle damage she may have had. Her leg felt like it may have been dislocated and i even did a little PT with her leg early on so it wouldn't freeze up on her.

 

[TeamChaos]

My jersey giant got stepped on by a horse! I couldn't feel anything broken, but she wouldn't walk on it and it was hot and swollen. I brought her in, put her in a dog crate and made "nest" out of a towel to support her body w/out putting weight on her leg. I gave her some aspirin in water (dosages from this site) for pain relief and to help w/ the swelling. I'd take her out several times a day to see if she was interested in walking or standing and it took quite a while before she'd try it. I gently massaged both her legs and tried to maintain her range of motion as best I could w/out stressing her. Given time and a low stress environment, she made a complete recovery. Good luck!

 

[Joe.G]

She can move but she doesn't chose to move much, I can move the leg and touch it where ever and it doesn't seem to hurt her and it feels like the good leg.

 

[Baxter-Shamo]

Hi,
This is just a suggestion, And a strange one at that-
Something similar happened to one of my cousins chickens, He got a ice lolly stick and put it up against the chickens leg for support and apparently it worked.

 

[duckinnut]

She can move but she doesn't chose to move much, I can move the leg and touch it where ever and it doesn't seem to hurt her and it feels like the good leg.

I would try doing what I did. Keep her isolated but not immobile. Let her get exercise a little at a time and force move the leg to keep it from getting frozen joint. Increase movement a little by little, while she may never get back to where she was pre-injury she might get back enough to get around.Good luck.

 

[laurantranch]

Here is my experience if it's bad. My hen was trying to eat the pellets falling out of my horses mouth and my filly stomped on her and broke her foot. I sprayed Vetericyn Hydrogel spray on it three times a day and left her alone, except for the first week in which I immobilized the leg and foot with a metal finger splint but left it open to breathe. It was a slow, long and probably painful (at first) healing process, but it never got infected and three toes died off, dried out and fell off. Now she is now a one toed hen with a deformed foot but she is healthy, active and fully healed. I had talked to my vet about amputating the foot early on, but he said as long as she was mobile, eating and drinking and there was no infection, we would try the Vetericyn Hydrogel (miracle spray) and see how it went. I always try to use the least invasive and most natural treatment and this worked for us. I have 50 free range laying hens and meat chickens and have never lost one to illness or disease. I use food grade DE (Diatemaceous Earth) in the hen house and nest boxes, I put it in their food as well, and have an area where they can dust in it. I also dust them occasionally with the DE. I also put apple cider vinegar in their waterers.