Silkie-serama cross, 2 months old, has a hurt leg

[sarathea]

My little house pet silkie-serama has had some issues with balance her whole life, and seemed to get along fairly well. but about 5-6 days ago she started limping badly. her right leg does NOT stick straight out to the side, as i read happens with a slipped achilles tendon...she holds it straight out to the front and tends to reach and tap with it, just like a horse trained to tap out stuff with his hoof...she squawks when she puts all her weight on it when i am fussing with her but when on her own, she limps around. she is happy and healthy and eating and pooping fine otherwise...i believe she is in pain though, all the time. i don't know if she slipped when she flew down from a highish spot and landed on bare floor (not something i expected!). she has also tended to look a bit splay-legged when running before, kinda dumb and clumsy and cute...

i have the feeling that her feathers are not very flight-worthy because of the silkie half, but she can fly up onto low things or fly along the ground for a foot or three now, instead of running, to save her foot...though i carry her mostly now.

i know silkies (purebreds) can have some coordination problems. her skull seems pretty small/normal, like a seramas...though i don't really know (no vaulted silkie skull).

will this heal itself? i cannot find a break that's obvious. i fear it is her hip. when i put her on her back, the foot turns out just a little bit, compared to the other leg which is fine. she tends to peck at the base area of the toes sometimes, looking at it quizzically, so maybe it hurts there.

i started her on chick electrolyte/vitamins a couple days ago, mixed in her water.

would it be smart to do a spraddle-leg brace? she is pretty old for this, used to being very mobile, i'd guess.

any suggestions would be appreciated. i don't want to have to put her down, but don't want her to be in pain forever either. she does not seem sick at all and there have been no other symptoms or increase of symptoms.

Thanks!

 

[Gargoyle]

I had good luck treating a splay-legged hen by wrapping the upper leg with vet wrap. We wrapped her leg for about two days each week for three or four weeks, and now she's doing great. That leg is still weak and spread to the side, but she runs around happy, hops up on the perch, lays eggs...

Just don't wrap too tight, don't get feathers or dirt under the wrap or it won't stick. She'll try to chew it off for a couple minutes until she gets used to it.

 

[sarathea]

Thanks for your idea, Gargoyle...but please forgive me for being green...her leg does not splay to the side much, it goes mostly to the front...is this also a symptom of spraddle-leg? and why did it start to do this and hurt a lot, all of a sudden? wouldn't this have always been a problem? she is my only chicken and is with me a lot, so i can observe her alot of the time.(i have raised many chickens in the past but not for a year or more now, and never as a real pet.)

also, when you tape the leg, do you tape it to the other leg? to make a hobble type thing, like i saw in some stuff i read for new hatched chicks with this issue? or did you just tape the leg like we wrap a sore ankle with athletic tape, only looser? i guess i don't understand how you did your taping. sorry for being obtuse.

 

[Gargoyle]

I didn't tape it to the other leg; its more like how an athlete wraps their wrists or thigh to support the muscle. It gives some added support, eases the stress and lets the muscles/tendons heal.

Perhaps she could have fallen or landed badly when jumping down from the perch and sprained a leg, just like happens with people. If so, a few days rest (which the wrap could provide) may just do the job. Chickens tend to heal up pretty quickly.