puchicken not weight bearing.... ????

[hereachick]

My mille fleur hen has been limping around for the last 3 wks. We have checked to see if she has a broken bone or swelling and have found nothing out of the ordinary except that one of her 4th toe feathers has broken off.We think she either slipped in the pen off the roost with all the rain or one of the big roo's hurt her.
She is still eating and hopping around the pen altho we have seperated her from the others because they step on her and we're afraid they'll kill her. She seems not to want to put any weight on this foot.Her eyes are bright she's alert, poop is normal,appetite fine,just the weight bearing thing and her comb being rather pale.Any suggestions ,Ideas on what this could be? Should we splint it anyways? leave it be? or is it just because of the missing toe feathers?

 

[Judy]

My guess is that it is a pelvic or hip injury, possibly a fracture. There really is no treatment short of surgery. No point in a splint if you can't see any sign of a fracture.

One possibility is a hairline fracture of the pelvis. For this, several weeks of rest and limited mobility will allow it to heal on its own (more than 3 weeks, certainly; takes people about 2 months; rest is the treatment for people, too.) You would probably be able to see some sort of deformity if the hip was broken or displaced.

Of course, an xray would be helpful, but I'm guessing vet care is not an option or you'd have gone already. I'd suggest you give her a few more weeks of rest. You don't have to try to prevent her from standing or moving at all. However, she should have limited space to move around, maybe in a small shed with a small yard, or the like, and no roost or anything to jump up onto or down from. With a little luck, maybe she will heal on her own. You might crush a Tums and add to her water for a little extra calcium.

I wish you well!

 

[hereachick]

Thank you I'll try that