Racoon Attack, VERY injured leg

[BoomChickieBoom]

Hi Folks,

My family just moved out to the country this weekend and I guess we were not as well prepared for predators as we should have been. One of my silkies went broody, so I separated her as I usually do. I guess a raccoon got in to the run and attacked her through the cage she was in. There were feathers everywhere this morning and her leg is bloody and totally limp. She is not very people friendly, but I was able to catch her to take a look at it before work. The leg doesn't move at all, it just hangs down. She can't put any weight on it and keeps falling over. I tried to make her a little nest in the coop so she could rest all day, but as soon as I put her in the box she started screaming and jumped out. Of course she fell over ( who could land on one foot), and she really can't get around too well. She is obviously scared and in pain. I did get her to eat some yogurt and drink some water.

Is this one of those instances where it is better just to let her go or can you just leave the gimpy leg to heal and she will learn to use her one good leg? If we should put her out of her misery, what is the best way to handle that? We haven't had any cause to cull before, we are pretty new chicken keepers.

Thank you for your help!

 

[joe810]

If the leg is in pretty bad condition then I would consider culling her. I've never seen a chicken recover from the condition you described. I've had a couple over the years.

 

[TeamChaos]

Beyond the leg injury, I have to warn you- it's maggot season! I had a guinea hurt her leg pretty bad last week and within a few hours it was crawling with maggots! I had washed her off and put her in a crate in the house so I could finish chores and then take a good look at her wound and by the time I got to it, it was thick with the buggers. If possible, while you're deciding what to do with your bird, you need to get something on that wound to keep the maggots out otherwise saving her won't be an option.

 

[teach1rusl]

If it happened here, I'd bring the bird indoors (in a crate or something) so that I could better assess the damage. If I decided to treat, I'd keep her indoors so that she was easy to treat, would stay off the leg, and so I could monitor whether she's eating/drinking or not. If I thought it was too bad for me to treat, I'd put her down. I'd probably give it a go at treating it for a week or two though...

Most folks don't keep silkies for eggs...having use of one leg (if the injured one is not treatable) should not affect her broodiness down the road, if that's what you used her for.

I would NOT just leave her to survive or not - animals we're supposed to be caring for deserve better than that, IMO. Either attempt to treat her or put her down. Chopping the head off is the quickest way to put a bird down.

 

[BoomChickieBoom]

Thanks for your responses, everyone. I helped a lot to have your advice. We ended up putting her down...it was definitley not fun, but I guess it comes with the territory.