Possible Broken Leg

[edie]

Hi, I just registered on this form and I need help - I do not keep chickens, but I live with my parents in a house on farm property and we have many chickens in our neighborhood. My mom found a chicken today in our hay barn with what I believe is a broken leg, she was apparently being attacked by a rooster but I was not there so I do not know what happened or how the injury was caused. I had to go to class right when she found her so the chicken has been alone for 3 hours now, I just got home a couple minuets ago.

I need to take a closer look at the chicken still, since I only saw it for a moment and had to leave. If the leg is broken what should I do? I have been reading online and some people say to splint it and others say to leave the bird alone. I only have limited knowledge of birds from keeping them while I was younger, but I know nothing about bird injuries.

After I take a closer look at the bird I'll post what I find, is there anything I should be looking for in particular? If the leg is broken it should be colder than the other due to circulation issues right?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[edie]

I took some pictures, still haven't gone in to check things out myself.

I think the leg she has extended out is the injured one, so I took a picture since she was in this position when I went out to see her

I don't really want to stress her out by picking her up and examining her until I know what to look for, any help is appreciated!

Another thing I wanted to ask is should I be keeping her inside? Does she need any extra heat? I live in AZ and its not cold outside right now, but at night it will be.

 

[edie]

Still waiting to see what I should be looking for with her leg.

I have some Metacam left over from when one of my gliders got neutered, and have read that birds have been prescribed it before - would this be helpful for pain management? I really do not know what else to do, if I don't get any replies I won't use the Metacam and I'll just try to splint the leg when my mother gets here with the vet wrap.

 

[edie]

nothing?

 

[edie]

Sorry for all the posts - I just really need some help and I know this post has been seen.

I put some oats in front of her and she ate them, she was in a different position when I went out to give her the oats, the leg looks terrible since she moved - should I give the Metacam? Looking at it now it doesn't look like something I can splint, it looks like its twisted all the way up at her body, I don't know what to do - Please just give me something to go on, thanks

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I hope someone can give you some advice. Good luck.

 

[Wynette]

Oh, goodness...it appears to possibly be dislocated all the way up toward her body! Poor thing! I really think you need to try and pick her up to see if she can bear any weight, although I can't imagine she'll be able to...the pics are very helpful! Can you take her water, too? She'll need to stay hydrated.

 

[puckbunny87]

oooouch.


Without seeing her and moving her around, the leg looks either broken or dislocated from the joint. If it's broken high up like that, I don't know if you can splint it.

Can she not stand? Does the leg hang loosely when you pick her up, kinda rag-doll like?

Poor girl

 

[edie]

Thank you so much for the replies, I was starting to lose hope!

My mother just came home so I had her hold the bird while I gave her some of the Metacam and checked her leg - I do think the leg is dislocated and not broken - the exposed (scaley part of the leg, I don't know what its called) is not broken, and I couldn't feel a break up by the feathered part of the leg, and the leg was warm.

puckbunny87 the leg does hang loose when we picked her up, it just hung down and her other leg was curled up in a normal position.

Wynette I do not think she can put any weight on the leg, my mother said when she went to grab the chicken she was hopping around on her good leg dragging the other behind her. She took the Metacam from a syringe, I dropped it on the side of her beak and she swallowed it. I thought I would do the same thing with water later - is it okay to give her water from a syringe like that? She is eating a lot, we put some scratch grain down after she ate the oats and she ate those too.

What should I do about this now? Just keep her comfortable?

 

[puckbunny87]

If it's loose hanging, my bet would be dislocation.

Now as to how to fix dislocation? I have no clue

I would keep her as comfortable as possible, which it sounds like you're doing, and hopefully someone here has experience w/ dislocation! We recently had a tom turkey that broke his leg high-up in the thigh region, and there wasn't really anything we could do.


Anyone know how to pop a chicken's leg back in?