What does a broken neck look like?

[talkinboutmygirls]

I have doctored my dog-injured chickens for a week according to all the wonderful info I got here. Yesterday I put my RIR back in with the others and she has fared very well - foot is holding weight again and back wound healed with new feathers growing. She is pecking her way back to her place in line - doen't seem to be getting pecked.

But I still have "Lucky", barred Rock, in the bathtub. She was more seriously injured - she was taken out of the dog's mouth - feathers were everywhere!

When I bathed her (now THAT was an experience!), I didn't find any wounds at all - just lots of bare places where feathers had been torn out. I don't really know what everything is supposed to feel like so I'm not sure if there's anything out of line or abnormal or not. I've been treating the bared spots with Neosporin. She is holding her head sort of under her wing and almost upside down - she looks really weird. She does hold it up some of the time so I know that she can - just not sure what is with her. Thinking maybe her neck is broken? but if it were would she still be able to eat, drink and hold it up normally at all?

I found Rescue Remedy but she doesn't want anything to do with the dropper. I finally drizzled it alongside her beak. I'm not sure she actually got any of it tho. She is losing weight bigtime. She's eating some chick starter and she will eat watermelon - hasn't touched any of the egg that I have fixed for her, tho (scrambled, hard boiled and mashed) - she'd been drinking a little of the V&E water til yesterday - I went to crushed aspirin in her water instead.

I took her outside for a few minutes yesterday while I cleaned out the box I have her in in the tub. She walked tentatively - both with her head up normally and with it down and twisted around - and she ate some grass and a little scratch I tried to tempt her with. She seemed to have what I will call 'projectile poop' that was yellowish-brown but she has no feathers around her rear to aim it anywhere except straight out and she hasn't eaten normally for a week...would the yellow V&E or the watermelon color her poop and/or make it so liquid?

I'm not sure what else I should be doing for her, she sometimes pips at me when I go in to check on her. I still have her in the dark, quiet and the heater turned on for her - just wondering how long this normally takes. I'm ok with continuing the care but don't want to be prolonging her suffering if that is what I'm doing. She doesn't make a lot of noise and I believe I read that that means she's in pain?
I would appreciate any comments/help I can get.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Oh geez! I don't really know what would be the right thing to tell you hear. I suppose her neck could be cracked or sprained (if that's possible), but I can't imagine that it could be totally broken or I would think she'd be dead. That's how you cull chickens or butcher them, so I would think she wouldn't be living if it was totally broke. As for the projectile poo, it could be from the watermelon. Mine all seem to have horribly runny poo after they've eaten watermelon, so I quit feeding that to them so often. Have you tried some yogurt with her? I also cooked my girls a warm bowl of oatmeal every morning when they were sick and they really enjoyed it. She might also enjoy pecking at a ear of corn. As for you doing the right thing in trying to nurse her back to health, I don't know. I probably would be doing the same thing you are to try and save her. I would keep up the asprin in the water and the visits to the outdoors. That will keep her spirits up. Good luck and be sure to give updates so we will know how's she's doing.

 

[KellyHM]

She's probably just sore from all the muscle bruising. A lot of birds will hide their heads under their wings when they're hurt. As long as she's still eating, drinking, etc. I would try to just let her heal. Good luck!

 

[talkinboutmygirls]

Well I thot I could figure out how to get some pics of my chicken - don't know how to get them from my uploads on to this page. I'd like for you to see how she is holding her head.

Anybody help me with this??