Hi, All --
BYC has been a great source of info for me (Thank y'all!!), but it took a trauma to get me to post.
Here goes:
A week ago, some sort of predator took a swipe at my chickens thru the chainlink fence. They had chosen to roose atop their re-purposed doghouse "coop" (ala Snoopy) despite the stormy weather. My best guess is that the alpha-hen, Helga, got hit and then slid down the roof onto the sand floor of the run. The other two hens are fine.
Helga has been recuperating inside, in a dog crate, ever since. A bird vet costs $60 just to walk in the door, so I've been reluctant. I cleaned her up (which included snipping off a dangling bit of skin), sprayed with hydrogen peroxide, applied neosporin, then got Vetericyn spray at the feed store (it is supposed to kill germs and improve blood flow to accelerate healing). The wound oozed a bit the first day or so, but hasn't since.
I gave her metacam (the dog had leftovers) days 2-5, but then stopped because I thought it might be making her lethargic. But then she stopped eating. (She's been eating mostly scratch and sugar water, which may show how well she has trained me.) She even turned away from scratch, Cheerios, shelled sunflower seeds, etc! So I restarted the metacam, and she is eating again. However, she pretty much eats only when I hand feed her. She just ate a grasshopper I killed for her, and is now purring at me.
I had started worrying about diarreah -- but perhaps chicken poop is always watery, and you just can't tell when you are not capturing it all on gym towels? It was grainy with all the scratch, green after she ate a dandelion. So she's processing food, but not eating much and the consistency seems irregular. She does not like PolyVySol, or yogurt.
My big worry now is what to do about her leg. Maybe I messed up by not taking her to the vet right away, but I keep hoping nature will heal her. However, she can't stand, and I can't imagine what kind of life she can have if that continues.
At first, I wasn't sure if the problem was her leg alone or her wing. It has since become apparent it is just the leg. I can't tell if it is broken or dislocated or just lacerated and bruised. The knee much larger than the healthy leg. The area is covered with what looks like yellowish cartilage. Not sure if this is bruised new skin, or actual cartilage. There is a black area that could be a scab or could be matted downy feathers. I tried wrapping it in a wet warm towel to see if it would loosen up, but after poking at it for quite awhile decided I'd better let the poor thing alone.
I think can post a photo, but will try that in a separate post.
I thought it might help if she could stretch her legs instead of sitting on top of them all the time, so rigged up a sort of sling with 2 strips of cloth stretched across a wine box. It worked, till she decided to move around, and ended up tipping the box over. I re-engineered it, and next time she slipped down into the box with her hurt leg stuck up in the cloth. I'll try again when I can sit with her the whole time she's "in traction." However, I don't know if I might be harming her, since it may not be ergonomically correct.
My next idea is to try to make up a splint using some bamboo garden stakes and first-aid wrap. However, I have no idea what I'm doing, so again I worry about doing more harm.
Helga is about six months old (I got her in October; she laid her first egg 3 weeks ago). She's an olive-egger (Marans/Easter Egger cross) who lays dark brown eggs with speckles. She laid an egg the day after the injury and another the following day -- which was pretty darned impressive. Nothing since, which is fine with me.
I got some comfrey salve yesterday, and some aranica. Tried both, but she gave me a harsh look with the aranica, and I wonder if it would be better to stick with the Vetericyn alone rather than goop up her leg with the comfrey salve (can't find just comfrey leaves, as some forum-er had suggested to another poster).
Sorry for all the extraneous info -- just want to answer anticipated questions!
Thanks in advance!
Connie in Folsom
BYC has been a great source of info for me (Thank y'all!!), but it took a trauma to get me to post.
Here goes:
A week ago, some sort of predator took a swipe at my chickens thru the chainlink fence. They had chosen to roose atop their re-purposed doghouse "coop" (ala Snoopy) despite the stormy weather. My best guess is that the alpha-hen, Helga, got hit and then slid down the roof onto the sand floor of the run. The other two hens are fine.
Helga has been recuperating inside, in a dog crate, ever since. A bird vet costs $60 just to walk in the door, so I've been reluctant. I cleaned her up (which included snipping off a dangling bit of skin), sprayed with hydrogen peroxide, applied neosporin, then got Vetericyn spray at the feed store (it is supposed to kill germs and improve blood flow to accelerate healing). The wound oozed a bit the first day or so, but hasn't since.
I gave her metacam (the dog had leftovers) days 2-5, but then stopped because I thought it might be making her lethargic. But then she stopped eating. (She's been eating mostly scratch and sugar water, which may show how well she has trained me.) She even turned away from scratch, Cheerios, shelled sunflower seeds, etc! So I restarted the metacam, and she is eating again. However, she pretty much eats only when I hand feed her. She just ate a grasshopper I killed for her, and is now purring at me.
I had started worrying about diarreah -- but perhaps chicken poop is always watery, and you just can't tell when you are not capturing it all on gym towels? It was grainy with all the scratch, green after she ate a dandelion. So she's processing food, but not eating much and the consistency seems irregular. She does not like PolyVySol, or yogurt.
My big worry now is what to do about her leg. Maybe I messed up by not taking her to the vet right away, but I keep hoping nature will heal her. However, she can't stand, and I can't imagine what kind of life she can have if that continues.
At first, I wasn't sure if the problem was her leg alone or her wing. It has since become apparent it is just the leg. I can't tell if it is broken or dislocated or just lacerated and bruised. The knee much larger than the healthy leg. The area is covered with what looks like yellowish cartilage. Not sure if this is bruised new skin, or actual cartilage. There is a black area that could be a scab or could be matted downy feathers. I tried wrapping it in a wet warm towel to see if it would loosen up, but after poking at it for quite awhile decided I'd better let the poor thing alone.
I think can post a photo, but will try that in a separate post.
I thought it might help if she could stretch her legs instead of sitting on top of them all the time, so rigged up a sort of sling with 2 strips of cloth stretched across a wine box. It worked, till she decided to move around, and ended up tipping the box over. I re-engineered it, and next time she slipped down into the box with her hurt leg stuck up in the cloth. I'll try again when I can sit with her the whole time she's "in traction." However, I don't know if I might be harming her, since it may not be ergonomically correct.
My next idea is to try to make up a splint using some bamboo garden stakes and first-aid wrap. However, I have no idea what I'm doing, so again I worry about doing more harm.
Helga is about six months old (I got her in October; she laid her first egg 3 weeks ago). She's an olive-egger (Marans/Easter Egger cross) who lays dark brown eggs with speckles. She laid an egg the day after the injury and another the following day -- which was pretty darned impressive. Nothing since, which is fine with me.
I got some comfrey salve yesterday, and some aranica. Tried both, but she gave me a harsh look with the aranica, and I wonder if it would be better to stick with the Vetericyn alone rather than goop up her leg with the comfrey salve (can't find just comfrey leaves, as some forum-er had suggested to another poster).
Sorry for all the extraneous info -- just want to answer anticipated questions!
Thanks in advance!
Connie in Folsom
