Young hen broken leg above hock

[kateseidel]

Little Ahab injured her leg two weeks ago, at 3 weeks. Not sure if it was broken or dislocated, but the injury was above the hock, the area where the leg joins the body. I brought her inside (with a friend) and she did very well; after a week the toes uncurled and she began hopping about.

Two weeks later, she has grown significantly, and is now unable to stand on the leg. I assume her weight is too much for the leg to support, and it splays out to the side. She still gets around surprisingly well using her wings, but I am at a cross roads. I am willing to keep her in a separate coop to live her life, but am struggling with whether the right thing to do is euthanize her (my chickens are pets, really - all 22 of them).

And if I keep her, should I make her a foam hobble to keep the leg more upright? At this point, if the bone was broken it has healed, and I suspect the real damage is in the tendon.

Ugh....so sorry for this sweet girl.

 

[Judy]

I have one who lives with the flock who limps badly and flaps her wings hard when walking, I assume to help keep weight off the injured leg. She lived by herself, in a chicken wire room in the coop, for the first couple of months, but obviously wanted to be with the flock, so I finally let her out. For some time after that, they pecked her badly enough that she had little bald spots on her head. She would just move away when they pecked her -- which is difficult for her. I changed my management of her a number of times, being torn between her safety and comfort, and her wanting to be with the flock. Now, about two years after her injury, she has no bald spots, she is rarely pecked by the others, and she seems content -- and lays every other day, although she is probably 4 years old. She sleeps and lays in her chosen spot near the flock (she can't get on the roost, of course) and flaps her way outdoors each day, to spend her day cuddled up near a tall shady bush.

Just my experience.