Update- rooster being put down monday, unable to walk & green poo

[ReiMiraa]

The rooster weighs about 14 pounds..... maybe a little less from not eating much for a few days.

I think i will take the baby asprin and cut it into quarters and give him 2/4 to see if this might take the edge off.
Dad has some coated tablets here.

 

[windyridgefarm]

I had a similar experience when a gate fell on top of a young rooster. It totally dislocated and broke his leg up high on the hip, and he could only move by dragging his chest on the ground. I remembered how my mother used to fix the legs of chickens and sheep back in Europe, with 100% success. The bones of birds, sheep, and goats heal very easily and fast. The bones of pigs are difficult to to fix and heal. First cut any feathers that may be on the way and expose the site of injury. Then you mix egg yolk with all purpose flour to make a paste and apply it on the site of injury after adjusting the leg to be in good alingment (this will harden like ciment and acts like a cast. It will crumble naturally about 2 weeks later.) Then put a few small strips of cut cardboard along the leg to maintain that good alignment (this acts like an immobilizer.) Then, wrap a bandage or gauze around the hole thing to keep it together. Then, I taped a towel over an open box with 3 holes cut on it - one side by side for each leg, and one for the poop to fall down. The towel has to be at the right hight so the feet are suspended in the air without touching the bottom of the box. Put the rooster on the the towel (this will be like a sling) with the legs through the holes without touching the ground. He stayed immobilized and in this position for 7 days. I fed him in the morning and at night and 7 days later he was already able to put his legs on the ground and walk with a limp. About another week later or when his limpping is disappearing, remove the bandage and the cardboard strips (be careful doing this because the strips are stuck to the harddened egg paste, and if you force it, you may dislocate his leg again). While he is in the sling, take him out every day to inspect the leg - make sure the leg is warm indicating good blood circulation. If it feels constantly cold, the bandage may be too tight. If the injury is on the lower leg, the process is much easier, even if the bone is totally broken and exposed - they heal very easily. If the injury is higher up on the hip like it was on my case, wrap the bandage over the back onto the other hip and around to hold the hips in good alignment while healing. If he struggles while he is on the sling, cover him. My rooster had a full recovery - he only had a limp for about 2 months. I still have a few pictures to give you the idea, but I can't figure out how to post them here. You can e-mail me if you want to see them. ncmduarte at msn dot com. Good luck. Duarte

 

[windyridgefarm]

I might have figured out how to post the pictures. The dumbest process I ever came across.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks windyridgefarm for sharing with us all for the future if we ever need to

 

[ReiMiraa]

This morning when i went to check on him he had turned around in the kennel during the night and was facing away from the food and water. the water wasn't touched.

i brought him out and tried moving his leg some, it didn't feel as swollen but i couldn't move it as well as yesterday. He was able to put some weight but soon sat down.
his poo is liquid green.

i decided after checking this site to crush up 325mg and mix in a little feed. couldn't get him to eat hardly any of it. it felt like he had ~1/4 cup already in his crop.

so i added more straw and fresh water (dog bowls) and placed him facing them back in. he tried to hop away when my dad came in, but then hopped into the kennel and had to turn him around. after he settled in he started drinking water like crazy. 10 minutes later i refilled the dog bowl because he drank it half down and he nibbled on some chicken feed. i dumped the crushed asprin on top of the feed closest to him. i will redose him 325mg again tonight. i think it helps to have him have a view of the large chicks i have in the pen across from him. their youthful energy i think is contagious.

on a dimmer note i guess from not having access to food and water a few days and not being able to roost under the heat lamp. this morning i noticed half his crest is black, it is warm feeling so there is circulation going on, but i think he got frostbitten, it didn't look that way last night.

he didn't get that while in the kennel last night because the kennel is in a cabin that is kept at 80F.

He seems to have better energy today and hopefully the painkiller will help and the fact he is drinking tons of water will have him bounce back. I need to find someone who can try and put the leg back in the joint, if it hasn't already healed too much dislocated. I tried pushing it back in firmer and tried rotating his leg and moving it some to circulate blood flow. and when i placed him back in i made sure to have his leg tucked under him with his weight pushing on it, instead of him having it stick out sideways. I am hoping his weight might encourage slow pressure on having it pop back in, but when i moved his leg trying for full movement hoping it might pop back in like some sites said i didn't get the effect.


This is a good link someone provided for me. It gives a good guide on how to dose and adminster pain killer. it also has other facts about correcting leg issues. Most of the corrections are for chicks.
https://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/leg-braces

 

[janinepeters]

Frost bite to the comb, and an untreated dislocated or broken leg for days...Chickens cannot cry like people, but I would guess this bird is in an awful lot of pain, probably agony. Aspirin is a nice gesture, but it is a mild pain killer.

 

[ivan3]

janinepeters wrote: Aspirin is a nice gesture, but it is a mild pain killer.

It is an outstanding anti inflammatory agent.

windyridgefarm wrote: I might have figured out how to post the pictures. The dumbest process I ever came across.

Well, it only has to be `learned' once

And, thank you for doing so (excellent shots). Here is another thread with more `slings' that might be useful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=364681&p=1​

 

[ReiMiraa]

he seems to be doing better when i checked on him tonight. just about finished his water. gave him another dose of the painkiller.

when i took him out of the kennel to stretch his legs and let blood flow i set him standing on both feet under him, took him a moment to find his balance, then gave him a tablespoon of scratch laced with the painkiller. he ate it. i think it is helping alot. he still hops/ drags leg when walking but he could 'walk' farther and when he stood still he was able to bring his leg under him an place weight on it. had him doing this 5-10 minutes to get him some exercise. the dog kennel is rated for ~15pound dog, but he takes up the whole thing so he cant really move, which is a good thing.

Tomorrow night going to give him a bath probably with dog lice killing stuff. i am sure he has lice and just sitting there with a poopy butt and unable to dust bathe is miserable. I also read on a site that it is actually alright to use Sevin on chickens. That will be stronger that the average chicken dust and since we are farmers dad already has a good supply of it. Just need to look up the lifecycle of lice to know how many times this spring the chicken coop needs to be nuked. (in college for agriculture and understands pesticides better than most ppl, just my area is in tree fruits, chickens are less documented about...)
in the morning i am going to call 2 vets to see if they can straighten his leg or see if it is too late. Maybe if i am lucky they will give me that metacam painkiller for him.

if it comes down to it and its not too late to fix it myself i will go and buy a non frozen chicken, dislocate a drumstick and see if it feels similar to the roosters joint and then attempt to reinsert the joint on the chicken for practice, granted this would be easy using an already butchered bird, but i figure its better than nothing and he has too much spirit to kill. I think having his kennel facing the chicks gives him some energy, and if it gets tired of watching them he just turns around and faces the back.

I will know he is better when he tries to peck or fight to get away from me.... then gain maybe during all this he might learn to be nicer and appreciate me.

It was actually cute after he got tired of me 'exercising him' (the standing) he hobbled back into the kennel, though i had to drag him out and have him face the food to make sure he ate and drank. He won't drink outside the kennel, i think he is still a tough rooster and has some pride/dignity left. just before he was injured he became the top rooster only a few weeks ago. So he is no wimp. Yesterday i would of been sure he could die from the shock, but today he is no longer shocky and seems to be recovering, just want to see if his leg is fixable. Another option is to then put him in a sling to make sure the leg atleast heals in the right position if it remains dislocated. wouldn't want it to calcify the joint in the wrong position. but compared to yesterday he has a bright spark in his eyes. honestly i have been given a hen that i was certain would die once. its breast and neck were torn out by a dog, i was new to chickens. it was one of my first chickens, took me a while to notice it was sick. it had turned all green colors and i put on neosporin and a few weeks of standing and doing nothing and suddenly it was laying the largest chicken eggs ever, it lives about a year then like a few chickens i had gotten had died mysteriously. but after seeing that i am becoming convinced this guy will live. i saw someone this spring that amputated a chicks leg and the hen does fine one legged, course the rooster weights too much for that as an option.

well see what i can do tomorrow, the one drawback about living in the country is most vets are large or small but hardly any exotic vets. I figured a bird vet is a bird vet and most birds work the same way. granted he is no parrot....

Night. btw it is 5F out right now, clear sky. (he is kept in a warm cabin)

 

[clairabean]

Yikes.

Frost bite to the comb, and an untreated dislocated or broken leg for days...Chickens cannot cry like people, but I would guess this bird is in an awful lot of pain, probably agony. Aspirin is a nice gesture, but it is a mild pain killer

I have to agree. How long are you going to keep him like this?

Realistically if you do find a vet who can help him, the roo will have chronic pain. And if YOU decide to pop it back in, you can hurt him more. IF that is even the problem of being out of joint.​

 

[ReiMiraa]

going to try to get him into a vet today and see what they say.

then we'll see what happens.