Pullet with a broken leg? Limping

[munchkin123]

sHi Everyone!

This morning as I let the chickens out of their coop, I saw that one of the pullets was limping. Her left leg seems broken and is offering her very little support. She is about 6 months old and we think she is a mixed breed.

She is a huge bird though, and already thicker and slightly larger than our RIRs that are several years old. I think that because of her size, when she jumped off the roosts, she may have broken it but I'm not for sure. She seems to be in very little pain and the only reason I think it is broken is because where the two bones meet in her leg, it seems swollen.

I can't post any pictures because its hard to see anything wrong with her- you have to feel her leg. I did post a chicken skeleton though and circled the break. I'm not sure if it will help, but it can't hurt!

Any help would be great! We are in a rural area with no avian doctors so anything we might have to do for her, we will have to do by ourselves. If you have any ideas, please let me know. The strange thing is, she seems not to be in any pain, although I do know chickens have a high pain tolerance. Poor baby!

 

[azygous]

Can you see any discoloration on the leg? Bruising appears as grey to greenish spots on the scales.

Chickens do experience pain. It's not that they have an especially high threshold, but that they instinctively conceal their discomfort out of survival instinct, as dogs and cats do. You may administer one baby aspirin morning and at night, and it will reduce the pain and help with the inflammation of tissue.

If the leg is merely fractured rather than a clean break or compound fracture, you might be able to treat it by confining the pullet to keep her off the leg, and reducing her weight by reducing her feed consumption. This is how folks with meat birds cope with tendency toward leg bones fracturing.