Therapy for hens recovering broken leg

[luvmigrls]

This is related to my hens broken leg as of a month ago. We just took the splint off about 4 days ago. Her upper leg section where the splint was is puffy/swollen but is a good color. The whole time she has been getting around on the one foot and holding the broken close to her side and tucked in. What I am wondering is: Should I give it more time to see if she will start using it or is there some kind of assisted stretching/therapy I should be doing? Any ideas/experience with this would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Mei&Popcorn]

This is related to my hens broken leg as of a month ago. We just took the splint off about 4 days ago. Her upper leg section where the splint was is puffy/swollen but is a good color. The whole time she has been getting around on the one foot and holding the broken close to her side and tucked in. What I am wondering is: Should I give it more time to see if she will start using it or is there some kind of assisted stretching/therapy I should be doing? Any ideas/experience with this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Is it completely healed? Try to get the swelling down... I posted about chicken therapy here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/841404/chicken-physical-therapy

 

[luvmigrls]

Not sure how to tell if it is completely healed. A DR. friend said to leave it on until Thanksgiving. What would one do to get swelling down?I had looked for the link you gave to another post but just saw post on people receiving therapy from chickens. I will look again. Thanks.

 

[aggiemae]

I splint for about 6 weeks. If it's a small splint and not bothering her it can stay on indefinably.

I make splints out of 2 Qtips with one tip clipped off and some coban (don't buy the purple or red the other hens will peck it). Coban is the self sticking bandages and you can find it in the drug store cheaper than at a vet supply store.

Cut to the about 1/2" shorter that the length of the hens leg bone and about 3"- 4" long (cut two so you don't have to let go of the hen if the first one tangles. Put a bit of gauze between the first wrap and the leg with coban will stick to it's self not the the hens leg, then it 3-4 times. Sung but not tight. If it's right she will be able to walk on it right away. As for how to tell if the leg is fully healed if it isn't she will (eventually) start to curl her toes under and walk on the tops if it isn't fully healed.

If the leg is swollen you will have to remove the bandage every 48 hours or so until the swelling goes down if it's not swollen it can stay on for the duration but check to make sure the tip tip isn't rubbing. Putting the side with the tip still on it on the side closer to the body helps prevent chafing.

If you happen to have one handy you can practice this this on a squirmy toddler's finger before you do it on the hens. No toddler? A pen or pencil will also work.

I realize that this advice might not help in this case but it might help someone who is researching later!

 

[luvmigrls]

So I did get to the right Lucy site. I skimmed through it, cute book/story. But did she actually put her in a home made chicken wheel chair? Or was it a matter of holding her weight up and getting her to walk on the bad leg? I tried that with Red but when she barely puts weight on it she pulls it back up. It does however, look like she is trying to stretch it out, kind of like when you get cramp. We had originally tried the cradle swing idea: putting holes in a towel for her legs and poop hole and secured it to the crate so she could used the leg if she felt like it. It was not more than 15 minutes and she flapped her wings and got half way off of it, getting her splinted leg hung up on the swing. Not good, not good. I was thinking more along the lines of gently stretching her leg out but am not sure if I would do more damage than good?

 

[luvmigrls]

I splint for about 6 weeks. If it's a small splint and not bothering her it can stay on indefinably.

I make splints out of 2 Qtips with one tip clipped off and some coban (don't buy the purple or red the other hens will peck it). Coban is the self sticking bandages and you can find it in the drug store cheaper than at a vet supply store.

Cut to the about 1/2" shorter that the length of the hens leg bone and about 3"- 4" long (cut two so you don't have to let go of the hen if the first one tangles. Put a bit of gauze between the first wrap and the leg with coban will stick to it's self not the the hens leg, then it 3-4 times. Sung but not tight. If it's right she will be able to walk on it right away. As for how to tell if the leg is fully healed if it isn't she will (eventually) start to curl her toes under and walk on the tops if it isn't fully healed.

If the leg is swollen you will have to remove the bandage every 48 hours or so until the swelling goes down if it's not swollen it can stay on for the duration but check to make sure the tip tip isn't rubbing. Putting the side with the tip still on it on the side closer to the body helps prevent chafing.

If you happen to have one handy you can practice this this on a squirmy toddler's finger before you do it on the hens. No toddler? A pen or pencil will also work.

I realize that this advice might not help in this case but it might help someone who is researching later!




I tried to copy&paste your post to reply. So if the looks funny, that's why. So because the Q tip thing is less invasive she should be able to stand on it if it is healed, right?

 

[luvmigrls]

Aggiemae-Looks like my past job didn't work right.

 

[aggiemae]

A Qtip is stiff but slightly flexible and it is also light weight. If it's a simple fracture, she would be able to stand on it as soon as it's splinted. If its a break she might favor it but should still be willing to walk on it after a while, unless the bone separated than it wall take a very long time for a callus(new bone on the outside) to form. Sometimes, because their brain is the size of 1/2 a walnut, once a chicken starts walking on one leg it will take her a long time to start using the injured one again. I have a friend with "show chickens" and she advises hobbleling the good leg to force her using the injured one. I don't have a clue how to do that and in any case I would NOT recommend this since your hens has swelling.

BTW you can give chickens Aspirin for pain and swelling due to sprains, strains and breaks- free feed 1 tablet dissolved in a quart of water to separated injured ADULT bird NOT to be used for chicks or BLEEDING injuries!!!! If you can't separate her the withhold water from the whole flock all night and till about 9-10 am. They should be very thirsty by then. Return the water giving her water in a separate container-remove the medicated when she is done drinking or you are out of time to keep watch.

 

[luvmigrls]

I have read up on hobbling but it has been referenced to chicks and not broken legs. I will try to get some aspirin in her for any pain. But I don't know what to use for swelling. I found one site that the hen got a warm bath and her limp went away. But it was probably a mussel issue. Then maybe I could entertain the idea of hobbling her. No doubt she has developed the habit ( after 30 days in rehab) of favoring the one leg. I don't plan on putting her out in freezing temps with the flock until she can walk and get away from predators. This happened at a bad time of he year. Do you know of any anti inflammatory meds or something I can do to get the swelling down?

 

[Eggcessive]

Aspirin is an antiinflammatory drug. Be careful giving chickens too many different meds--some such as Tylenol, ibuprofen, and Alleve can be fatal to many animals. Maybe the swelling will go down gradually now that you have removed the splint. The splinting could have caused the swelling if it was a little tight.