Wot The Flock
Chirping
I have a 9yo hen, who has been limping for a number of days now (just over a week?). I inspected her feet for bumblefoot (even treating for bumblefoot), but the pads seem normal, equal in size, no black spots, and to me, does not seem like bumblefoot or even the beginnings of it.
When changing the bandage today, I looked and compared the feet, and there seems to be very slight swelling in the area where the toes join, barely noticeable and the difference only seen when comparing the two feet together. I attach a generic image with the area circled.
She is a bit of a flyer, always going over the 1.8m/6ft fence, and it is likely she has done a hard/wrong landing on her foot. The ground is hard at the moment.
She can walk on it, so I do not think broken. She can move her toes from what I can tell. She is occasionally walking here and there, but sitting resting most of the time (a good thing). When I re-bandaged her today, I focused more on the joint, just a little pressure over the area, and hope that it will help with the swelling and immobilisation of the area, and to remind her she has injured foot and should rest.
How long for a sprain injury to heal?
Should I give her some meloxicam? (which I don't think I have any more on hand, it is a prescription-only drug in Australia) The only other things I have on hand are aspirin, and some other NSAIDs, for people. She is an old bird, a fairly light bird. Not really sure how well birds deal with aspirin.
As she is coping fairly well, happy enough, and staying off it most of the time, I do not want to isolate her in a cage unless absolutely necessary. I have new pullets to integrate into the flock soon, and the 9yo is the alpha, and I don't want her to lose the ranking. She was still feisty enough to have a go at the alpha pullet through the fence the other day, which I doubt she would have done if foot bones were broken.
When changing the bandage today, I looked and compared the feet, and there seems to be very slight swelling in the area where the toes join, barely noticeable and the difference only seen when comparing the two feet together. I attach a generic image with the area circled.
She is a bit of a flyer, always going over the 1.8m/6ft fence, and it is likely she has done a hard/wrong landing on her foot. The ground is hard at the moment.
She can walk on it, so I do not think broken. She can move her toes from what I can tell. She is occasionally walking here and there, but sitting resting most of the time (a good thing). When I re-bandaged her today, I focused more on the joint, just a little pressure over the area, and hope that it will help with the swelling and immobilisation of the area, and to remind her she has injured foot and should rest.
How long for a sprain injury to heal?
Should I give her some meloxicam? (which I don't think I have any more on hand, it is a prescription-only drug in Australia) The only other things I have on hand are aspirin, and some other NSAIDs, for people. She is an old bird, a fairly light bird. Not really sure how well birds deal with aspirin.
As she is coping fairly well, happy enough, and staying off it most of the time, I do not want to isolate her in a cage unless absolutely necessary. I have new pullets to integrate into the flock soon, and the 9yo is the alpha, and I don't want her to lose the ranking. She was still feisty enough to have a go at the alpha pullet through the fence the other day, which I doubt she would have done if foot bones were broken.