49TCV Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 Hi One of our lovely chickens has a broken leg. She seems fine in herself but cant walk, hops around and the leg is all floppy. She doesnt seem to be in any pain but clearly this is far from well. Does anyone have any advice. with many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 Sorry to hear this I am new to chicken keeping but if she was mine I would contact a local vet (most good vets have an out of hours contact) and get her looked at first thing in the morning. All the best and let us know how she gets on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
49TCV Posted September 13, 2008 Author Share Posted September 13, 2008 I will take her over in the morning. The break is above the knee and the foot is claw like and there is no resistance if you tickle her toes. I am hand feeding her and using a syringe to keep her watered. with thanks neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 Poor thing. Take her first thing. Keep her warm and apart from her friends till she has been treated. Best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKH Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Poor Chickie how did it happen? is she an ex-batt ? keep us posted GKH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Any news? Did you find a vet to see her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
49TCV Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 Thank you all for your interest. The update, I spoke to the very helpful vet, sun on the phone, There are options, one is terminate, one is see how it goes and one is around £100 and involves screws plates and an operation. We ruled out no 1 as she is not in pain , and I decided to go with option 2 so having local poultry expert around to check she wasnt suffering. We orally syringed in a dose of aspirin, we gently cut back the worst of the feathers cleaned the area with antiseptic cream ,bandaged and splinted the leg with slithers of fibreglass tent pole and then bandaged it again. She seems well, is still eating well and produced a lovely egg today [although she sat on it and broke it later]. The vet wanted to check the leg is warm [therefore has blood supply] so has suggested it will heal in time usually 3 weeks although the leg will be more of a prop as there probably is some nerve damage. Tonight she is enjoying spaghetti and eating grass on the lawn and we are bringing here in at night to keep warm and to keep here well watered and so she doesnt get picked on by the pepperpot. As to how she did it , she caught her foot in a low branch and I saw her flapping wildly so went to see if I could help and as I walked over she freed herself with a big effort but twisted her body against the direction she should have gone and the rest is history thanks for the support we have received However any other advice welcome. regards Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Your vet sounds lovely . I hope she recovers quickly - keep us posted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisa33 Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Hope she gets better quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Fingers crossed that things go well. A bit of extra calcium in her diet might be a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKH Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 I have an ex-batt girl who came to me with a badly broken leg and was told that nothing could be done. She gets about okay drags her bad leg behind her. She falls over sometimes but uses her wing as a prop. She still lays, enjoys lying in the sun and having a cuddle. Was her quality of life is relatively good. Fingers crossed for your girl that her leg heals though. Watch out for the lip on the eglu run, mine catches her bad leg in there sometimes and has to wait til someone rescues her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphabill Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Hi, My chicken Dilys broke her leg in July and with much tlc and attention from the vet has made a wonderful recovery. She was splitted given Baytril and metacam. Her break went through her leg and jutted out under her scales bless her. She was a complete hit with the vet who was very pleased that I choose to treat her. She will never have a straight leg but gets around really well. They seem to adapt well to the injury and get about, using the wing for balance. I would definitely use extra calcuim as she will use her calcium stores to make new bone. Good luck with it, hope all goes well. Catherine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paola Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Sorry to hear about your girl Neil Sounds like you are doing a fantastic job How is she today? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
49TCV Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 Hello again , and again thank you for the added comments. Gladys is doing well and seems to be coping and adapting well . The break is knitting and we are giving extra calcium and she continues to produce lovely eggs so she is getting on well. She still loves spaghetti and can can hoble at quite a speed if I give a treat in the afternoon. She is using the wing as a bit of a prop but her balance is good on one leg and I have seen her put the 'dead' foot to the ground today so the damage may be not quite so bad , so we will have to wait and see. We went to the newbury show at the weekend and aquired another ginger nut , so we are going through the intro bit at the moment which is a little tense even gladys doesnt seem happy with her new brethren hopefully piece will be sorted soon. The other small thing we saw at the show was the new super glug which is designed for the cube BUT you can retro fit the demand valves to the glug from the eglu I ordered them on monday from omlet and they were only 50 p each.This will stop pepperpot [miss] standing in the drinking water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clur Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Someone I know with chickens close by had to have her chook's leg amputated due to a bad break, but the chicken copes brilliantly. Hope all goes well for yours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo1962 Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Hi We had an old girl who got stood on by a shood horse! ooch! We splited and kepted her quiet, helping her on and off the perch at night. She is now fine and potters around quite happily, she does have a very odd gait however! All will be well! Sara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyhas3chucks Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 ah so glad she is putting it down, my girl is getting about quite well no but should rest it more. try telling her that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reikiranf Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Sorry to hear about your girl, our Yum Yum hurt her leg a few months ago and although it didn't seem to be broken she did develop a lump on the chicken equivalent of a shin so she may have fractured it, my vet also gave us 3 choices, one involved sedating her for an X-Ray which would have cost £150, one was putting her to sleep which neither the vet nor myself wanted to contemplate as she's such a lovely girl and didn't seem to be suffering, the option we went for was to give her anti-inflammatories and antibiotics for a month. While she was unable to walk properly we didn't let the girls out to freerange as much as usual as we didn't want her to try and compete with the others and aggravate her injury. The result is that although it took a while for her to fully weight bear on the leg and it still has a lump on it she's absolutely fine and is easily the fastest of our girls especially when she's just pinched a slug off one of the others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyhas3chucks Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 thanks Reikiranf, I am in the same situation so that was helpful.It is difficult to balance doing with doing too much isn't it!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
