Poorly chicken

[MissPug+Chooks]

Hello,

 

My gingernut ranger Pickle got attacked in October and had quite a severe injury at the top of her leg rendering her very lame (to the point where she wouldn't attempt to stand at all). After trips to the vets it was initially established that she hadn't broken anything and that it was a soft tissue injury. She was on 'dog cage rest' for a few weeks with a pale comb and stopping eating, laying etc. She came right and starting standing on one leg, balancing and eating...her comb returned to deep red again and she began laying. I introduced her back to her friend with no problems at all and she starting living outside again.

 

It is now December and she is still hopping around...if she wants to get over to see us quickly (when we have corn/treats) she hops/flaps her way over. She seems absolutely fine - happy in her self, pecking around, eating, laying, drinking, alert..all healthy except for her leg.

 

Now on inspection of the leg, there is movement back and forth, but as soon as you try to pull the leg down towards to floor..there is no movement at all - almost as though it has fused? So....now I am thinking that it was broken initially (as the lower leg hasn't moved since the injury) - OR could it be that the tendon may have snapped/torn and now due to lack of use, it repaired and remained in a tense state?

 

My vet was useless - apart from a load of antibiotic jabs (no painkillers at all!); he was pretty sure he wanted to put her down. So I stopped taking her to the vet (there was no infection to speak of/see) and decided to keep an eye on her. I am now looking for a decent poultry vet in the Gloucester area (just in case of next time!) and to see if anyone else has had an experience like this with their chickens? Should I leave her be if she is happy....or try and prise the leg down in a physiotherapy style? THE only thing I have noticed is that random feathers of hers are going particularly light and she looks almost dotty - is this moulting? Her best buddy hasn't got any lightening of her feathers!

 

I would appreciate any advice on vets/legs/feather at all and I thank you for reading; I look forward to hearing from you

 

Jadine

[Plum]

I definately wouldn't try without an Xray. Bit of gentle massage may not do any harm but after a couple of months I would think changes in the muscles would have caused permanent spasticity

If she is really coping and has a good quality of life I would leave her be and let her enjoy what time she has. There is bound to be additional wear and tear on her other joints through overuse, so I'd keep an eye out for any signs of inflamation in other joints.

Plucky girl and lucky to have you to nurse her so well

[chelsea]

I would either leave her be or if you really want to seek a second opinion (and can afford to) maybe visit a specialised vet who deals with poultry.

 

We had a hen with torn ligaments. Vet made a splint for her to wear, she wore it for several weeks. Saw some improvement but she always had a limp. She managed to carry on with normal chicken life quite perfectly so we left her to it. She eventually had to be PTS with another ailment.

 

Keep an eye on her as you are doing.

[Chucky Mama]

I would be surprised if much can be done to improve the mobility to be honest. If it was broken the callus that has formed to heal the bone may be restricting movement. Equally the healing process to repair any ligament damage may have done the same. To force movement will be both painful and may well completely destabilise the joint. The tissue will almost certainly reform in order to stabilise the joint. Is the joint thickened? I think her long term prospects depend on how well she is coping. 4 legged animals cope well when unable to use one but 2 legged animals can really struggle. I had a 100% lame chicken a few weeks ago and whilst she was quite canny and used low flying to get around I didn't feel that her quality of life was good enough for her to live like that for ever(thankfully after 10 days of metacam she was back to pretty much normal) This was of course an entirely personal feeling and I wouldn't judge you should you feel that you are happy for you girl to continue like this

[WitchHazel]

After being damaged, bird bones fuse together really quickly. I would be tempted to leave well alone now.

 

Ages ago, one of our little girls got injured in a scuffle. We took her to our chicken-specialist vet, who advised against splinting or anything, because the bones would fuse together. He suggested that we give her a chance to heal, taking things one step at a time. We kept her alone for a day or two, then put one of her flockmates with her. Eventually she was able to walk again, although she continued to hop around for months (earning her the name Pogo).

 

Fortunately we had an Eglu available as a hospital wing.

 

The next step was to see if she could cope with the ladder into her coop. We moved her and her friend back to the allotment, and moved the remaining girls from her flock into the Eglu. We gave her a week to learn how to get up the ladder etc, and then we reintroduced the rest of the girls.

 

It wasn't pretty, but she was OK. Now, you wouldn't know that she had been injured.

 

Withyour gitl, it sounds like things have fused a bit, but if she's managing OK I would let her get on with it. Of course if she isn't managing, or seems to be suffering, that's a different matter,

[MissPug+Chooks]

Thanks for your feedback guys! Very much appreciated.

 

I'll probs leave her to it; don't want to cause any more damage/pain especially as she seems to have accepted her fate as a one legged chicken!

 

She still pecks around and tries to keep up with her friend and seems to be coping well with the roosting bars etc she is a happy little chicken I think (especially as she gets her own pile of corn in the afternoons brought to her specially)!

 

As soon as I think she is suffering further/deteriorating I shall take her to the vets and put her to sleep....hopefully it will be a while off yet

 

Thanks again

 

xx

[sandyhas3chucks]

there are a fair few one legged ex bats coping and living happy retirements

[Dolly]

Hi Jadine

So sorry to hear about poor Pickle, I don't have any experience of her particular problem but I can recommend a vet in Cheltenham (if that's not too far for you). We take our girls to Woodlands Vets, Salisbury Avenue, Warden Hill, Cheltenham, GL51 3GA, tel: 01242 255133 - you need to see Greg Simpson, he's the avian expert there. He was absolutely brilliant when Roxy badly injured and lost the top of her beak, and as a result she's still happily running about, albeit as our 'special needs girl' now!

Good luck.