What's wrong with Betty-Jo?

[GLadies]

A couple of days ago, just as roosting hour was happening, I found my girl about 10 feet outside the run huddled up sleeping. I'm thinking a young owl picked her up but couldn't carry her and dropped her. I know for sure that she has a broken leg and I'm building her a wheelchair but I think she also might have suffered head trauma as she can't see. I've had to hand feed and water her but she wants to do it on her own but can't find the dishes.
Does anyone have any insight into what else I can do? Am I just prolonging her pain? If she does have brain swelling, will it go down? Any insight would help

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Was the broken leg set? Is she thin? How old?

 

[GLadies]

Was the broken leg set? Is she thin? How old?

Leg is set. Not thin and just a year old

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I was wondering if it could be something like Mareks, that can cause leg problems and blindness, but if the leg was broken than that's not it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Did you set the leg or a vet? You felt the break in her leg?
She likely doesn't need a wheelchair, just a sling to periodically get her upright and supported. Once the leg heals, she needs to be moving, imho.

You mention that she wants to eat on her own but misses the bowls? Any dilatation of the eyes?
Try holding the bowl of food or water up to her and she if she can eat.
I'd get some vitamins that contain E, B2 (Riboflavin) and B1(Thiamine) into her. She may be in a lot of pain, if you saw the vet, see if they will give you some pain meds for a few days. If not, then you can give her 1/2 baby aspirin twice a day for 3 days.

Any puncture wounds at all? If you thing an Owl picked her up, then likely she's got some puncture wounds.

 

[GLadies]

Did you set the leg or a vet? You felt the break in her leg?
She likely doesn't need a wheelchair, just a sling to periodically get her upright and supported. Once the leg heals, she needs to be moving, imho.

You mention that she wants to eat on her own but misses the bowls? Any dilatation of the eyes?
Try holding the bowl of food or water up to her and she if she can eat.
I'd get some vitamins that contain E, B2 (Riboflavin) and B1(Thiamine) into her. She may be in a lot of pain, if you saw the vet, see if they will give you some pain meds for a few days. If not, then you can give her 1/2 baby aspirin twice a day for 3 days.

Any puncture wounds at all? If you thing an Owl picked her up, then likely she's got some puncture wounds.

I didn't feel the break but she's unable to walk so I gave the leg support so doesn't injure it further trying to move.
No dilation in either of her eyes which is why I thought some swelling in her little head. When she tries to eat, she's pecking the air. When she goes for water, she dives too deep and takes in water through her nostrils.
Where we live, we have eagles, hawks and owls in abundance. It could have been any of them. I thought owl because of the time of day it happened (around 8pm) but there were no puncture wounds.
She slept nuzzled up to me last night. I'm calling the vet today but the closest livestock vet is 4 hrs away.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I didn't feel the break but she's unable to walk so I gave the leg support so doesn't injure it further trying to move.
No dilation in either of her eyes which is why I thought some swelling in her little head. When she tries to eat, she's pecking the air. When she goes for water, she dives too deep and takes in water through her nostrils.
Where we live, we have eagles, hawks and owls in abundance. It could have been any of them. I thought owl because of the time of day it happened (around 8pm) but there were no puncture wounds.
She slept nuzzled up to me last night. I'm calling the vet today but the closest livestock vet is 4 hrs away.

OK, so you didn't feel a break at all. There's no lump or swelling of the leg to indicate it really is broken.
The symptoms you see is she's unable to walk, aim is off and she's pecking the air.

These symptoms sound neurological and likely Marek's disease instead of some type of predator attack. It would be hard to know unless you lose her and have a necropsy/confirmation of disease.

If you see the vet, hopefully they can rule out a break, but I'd treat with vitamin therapy to see if it makes any difference.

Give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/2 tablet B-Complex daily along with some egg to help with the uptake of E. See that she's eating fresh nutritionally balanced poultry feed and staying hydrated.