Sprained/Broken leg?

[Zinnia-Hen]

Not too long ago, I was out taking care of my [unfortunately balding] Polish frizzle hen. Being a crazy spaz of a bird she crawled up my head in a mortified daze as I tried to deal with her lack of a crest and crazy long claws, but not before taking a plunge to the ground. I knew she was more delicate of a bird, and she made that quite clear when she reached the dirt. She was laying on her side, so I hurried over to her to make sure she was okay. Unfortunately, when steadied, she began to hobble on one leg. I put her back in with her two friends, not wanting to stress her out anymore (she was breathing heavily). She's comfortable inside her coop at the moment, laying around and occasionally hopping into place, but my problem is that I've never dealt with leg injuries. She holds her bad leg up normally; the thing isn't twisted or noticeably wounded save for the fact she's having to hold it up to her body constantly and re-balance herself with her wing.

That being said, how should I be handling this? Should I let her heal by herself? Or should I be bandaging her leg up in a mini-ICU ward? That, and if there are no visual clues to a breakage on her bad leg, what should I do to diagnose her injuries?

Thanks.

 

[Zinnia-Hen]

Anything? She's drinking/eating normally, and hopping around her run a little. I'm just concerned...

 

[Keggen]

Im sorry I don't have any good advice but wanted to let you know something similar happened to one of my hens this winter. I am not sure what happened and when I would go into the coop she seemed normal. The only strange thing was at night she was not on the roost with the others but was down amongst the nesting boxes. I feel terrible about it now but I had no idea she was injured so I would carefully pick her up and set her nicely on the roost. I did this 2 or 3 times before I realized something was wrong with her leg!! I can only imagine how it must have hurt her to get down from the roost in the mornings.

Anyway, I observed her for a few days and she seemed totally fine except for favoring the one leg. I couldn't see anything wrong with her leg but she was eating and drinking and moving around the coop a little, so I left her to heal. I dont know if this is a good idea but I was either going to let her heal on her own or cull her because I have limited funds for vet visits and only for certain situations. Since she was otherwise ok we let her be.

When we bring treats to the coop we make sure to help her so she gets some because she is just now started to show improvement and speed again. So I would guess it was a little over 2 months with obvious disability for this hen but other than her not laying until recently she showed no adverse problems. And the laying could have been actually because of her age and not related to the injury. I also let her sleep in the nesting boxes to avoid hurting her leg more.

So there is hope but if she had been showing signs of worse problems we would have culled her. Good luck with your hen! I hope she is better soon!

 

[kittychook]

How did she get on zinnia-hen ? One of my girls is the same - for about a week now. I've separated her from the others as I was worried she might get further injured but I've put the cat carrier inside the coop so she can still see her friends ! She can stand and hop about and her sore leg seems to tremble at times.

 

[kittychook]

Well I am pleased to say that after a week in the cat carrier and a further week in a fenced off area in the coop - Dolly is back with the other hens almost good as new - I think her leg is still a tiny bit weak but she's made a great recovery as I wasn't sure she'd pull through at one point !! Just shows a bit of TLC and patience pays off

 

[kittychook]

But now it turns out that dolly might be a boy !!! After all that love and attention !! Oh dear !! I can't bear to part with him/her so just going to wait it out until we get crowing or some other rooster type behaviour !!

 

[Keggen]

Isn't it a bummer when that happens? Lol Glad s/he is recovering though!

I'm bummed because my injured hen was re-injured by a rooster trying to mate her. She's back in quarantine in my garage trying to heal again. How can I stop roosters from trying to climb on her? Would a chicken saddle be effective?

 

[kittychook]

I am sorry I have no idea about that but I think you should try anything that comes to mind- a physical barrier should surely work ?