Please Help with a broken foot / leg.

[Kirk332]

Five days ago our Wyandotte got her foot or leg caught in a vertically closing sliding door as it was being closed and it appears to have broken her left leg, maybe just above her ankle. She is unable to put any weight on it and it is now starting to swell and show signs of bruising. I have been told by someone who has owned chickens before that there is nothing that can be done with this, but the swelling and bruising that is starting to appear Is worring me and I am concerned that it may get worse. She is eating well and apart from her hopping around on one foot and constantly sitting, she doesn't appear to be in any pain. Is there any thing that I should be doing?

 

[Kirk332]

Bump

 

[Suzie]

I would suggest sending a pm to chickenzoo - she has a diagram of a chair which may be of some help.. sorry I did not see your post sooner...

Good luck

Suzie

 

[Lady Badlands]

My hen, Tosey, broke her leg last summer at the spot that would be a "knee". It was just dangling there. I used VetWrap to set it back in place. She even flew back up to her roost that night with the wrap on her leg. As she squatted down and bent the "knee" it moved out of place. She did this every night and there was no way I could continue to re-wrap it every day, so I just left it the way it had readjusted itself to accommodate her roosting. It healing in a couple of weeks and now she has a limp, but is perfectly healthy and happy.

Tosey didn't seem to be in any pain either.

 

[mychickenbrood]

I realize this is an old post, but want to comment on it. I think the reason our chickens often don't show pain is because of their natural instinct to not look weak and injured, so they don't look like easy prey. A broken leg has to hurt.

I don't know if it is possible for a lay person to "set" a leg. I would be interested in knowing that though. What do others do?

 

[Kirk332]

Thanks for your thoughts! Just thought I'd let you know that Mable appears to be getting better now as she is able to put almost all of her weight on the broken leg. It was really weird but the other five chickens, two of which are roosters, almost seemed to look after her by allowing her to eat first and they also seemed to surround her to keep her protected. However when the meal worms came out it was a free for all!

 

[mychickenbrood]

How interesting that the other chickens favored the injured one. What breed are they?

Really glad she is doing okay. Wow. I never would have thought one would recover from a broken leg without a vet. I have too many chickens to be able to afford vet care every time one gets hurt. I probably would euthanize one who bbroke its leg, but your story is interesting to me. Guess you just never know which way they will go.

 

[Kirk332]

Hi mychickenbrood,

Sorry for the delay in reply to your question and thanks for your thoughts. The two breeds that we have are three Wyandotte's and and three Orpington's. They were all borne on the same day together and apart from being separated from their many other siblings, they have shared close quarters with each other for the last three months. Anyway apart from what appears to be a permanent lump just above the ankle joint, Mable is getting around without a care in the world, however when she runs for the worms, she has this funny little skip and hop that's really quite cute.

Cheers
Kirk