Sprained leg... should I be doing something for her?

[Taunya]

Hey all,

I had to evacuate my chickens from the site of the Woolsey fire in California and I think Rosy the Rescue sprained her foot up at the knee.

She's limping but seems to have full use of her toes. No open wounds or swelling that I can detect. Should I wrap it or leave it to heal on it's own or... something else?

 

[townchicks]

Sorry to hear you had to leave your home. Hopefully it is ok. Are you home now? I think a chicken sling, to take the weight off her leg, will be the best thing. Epsom salt soak can also help reduce swelling.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hey all,

I had to evacuate my chickens from the site of the Woolsey fire in California and I think Rosy the Rescue sprained her foot up at the knee.

She's limping but seems to have full use of her toes. No open wounds or swelling that I can detect. Should I wrap it or leave it to heal on it's own or... something else?

I'm sorry to hear about your situation!

Can you take a video of Rosy, post it to youtube, then provide us a link?

If it's just a sprain and you see no wounds or swelling, then I would just restrict her activity for several days to see how she does. A large dog kennel with a generous amount of bedding along with her food/water will work just fine.

Can you tell us more about Rosy? She's a rescue? How long have you had her, how old is she and what breed?

Keep in mind that she may have injured or sprained the leg during evacuation, but these events are also stressful to chickens, so there's always a possibility that the leg issues could be due to a disease like Marek's.

Look forward to your information and photos/video.

 

[Taunya]

Okay, I tried to take a video but she would only take one step. They are still evacuated so living in a small temporary space. Not a lot of room for walking.

Rosy is the game hen. I found her about 10 months ago as an approximately 10 week old young hen wandering the busy streets of Los Angeles.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Rosy is pretty!
Thank you for the video
Her left foot? Is one of the toes splayed out or it could be the angle of the video.

By any chance do you have another cage where you can separate her out for observation?
I'm going to lean toward her injuring the leg since you had to evacuate and she may have gotten jostled with those bigger gals in there.

 

[Taunya]

I've purchased a buildable chicken coop (sadly without instructions included so we'll see how that goes). Once I have the others in that I can put Rosy in the dog kennel and separate her for observation. It is the left foot, but the toes all seem to splay the same as the other foot. I'll watch more closely today.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I've purchased a buildable chicken coop (sadly without instructions included so we'll see how that goes). Once I have the others in that I can put Rosy in the dog kennel and separate her for observation. It is the left foot, but the toes all seem to splay the same as the other foot. I'll watch more closely today.

Sounds good!
I'm hoping it's just a sprain and she caught it in the cage during the move.
I know you have to make the best of what you have right now and you are doing good.
I hope everything works out for you, please keep us posted.