please help!

[wolfy-hound]

Is it the thigh one broken? If it is, you may not be able to properly splint it. The lower leg bone can be splinted with tape and wood. The thigh generally cannot be splinted so it will be immobile. Without immobilizing the bone pieces, the ends may continue to tear tissue internally.
You might try bandaging the leg up to the body, but if the chicken cannot walk around it may not recover either.
Remember, bird bones are hollow and delicate. The chicken might not have a chance, and if so, you might think about euthanasia.
Good luck.

[edie]

Is it the thigh one broken? If it is, you may not be able to properly splint it. The lower leg bone can be splinted with tape and wood. The thigh generally cannot be splinted so it will be immobile. Without immobilizing the bone pieces, the ends may continue to tear tissue internally.
You might try bandaging the leg up to the body, but if the chicken cannot walk around it may not recover either.
Remember, bird bones are hollow and delicate. The chicken might not have a chance, and if so, you might think about euthanasia.
Good luck.

I was able to give the bird some Metacam when my mom got home, and we gave her oats and scratch grains which she ate. I think the leg is dislocated, I'm not sure what to do about a dislocation like that. The people on the chicken forum are starting to talk to me now, I'm going to see what they have to say about it now that I was able to get a better look at her.
If she is going to die, which probably will happen, it will happen naturally, I'm not letting anyone cull the bird unless they are a vet.

[wolfy-hound]

Dislocated, you may be able to re-locate the leg by pulling slowly and twisting it back into place. If it's broken... ehhh... maybe-no.
Dying naturally of infection or wasting away would not be a nice death, so I wish the best for it.

[edie]

Dislocated, you may be able to re-locate the leg by pulling slowly and twisting it back into place. If it's broken... ehhh... maybe-no.
Dying naturally of infection or wasting away would not be a nice death, so I wish the best for it.

If we wouldn't have found it then it would have died alone in the hay barn on its own, now that its with us I'm at least giving it pain medication. I have no experience with killing chickens, therefore, I will not do it. No one else in my family has the experience either, letting it die a natural death in my opinion (with the help of some pain medication) would be far better than someone in this household awkwardly trying to break the poor things neck - if you don't know what you're doing you can cause the animal to suffer a horrible death, even if it is short.

I had read that if there was a break it would effect the circulation of blood getting to the limb, and the limb would most likely be cold. The chickens injured leg is warm and I can't see any visible break so I do think that it probably is a dislocation - when my mom held the chicken the limb hung down. I wouldn't know the first thing about getting a dislocated limb back in place, I feel like I would just cause it more pain and end up doing more damage.

[ChicaPiton519]

i would call a local wildlife shelter or rescue, im sure they would know what to do in a situation like that...

[edie]

i would call a local wildlife shelter or rescue, im sure they would know what to do in a situation like that...

Thanks, I think if the chicken is still doing well tomorrow I'm going to try to call some local bird rescues, I don't think they ever really deal with chickens but the same principles apply so maybe someone would take the bird on, or maybe they would know someone who would.

[edie]

We have some possibly good news. My step-dad felt bad for me and my mom since we are trying to save this chicken so he said he would pay for the bird to see the vet. The only vet would could find that would see a chicken cannot see the bird until Friday morning so we are hoping that the chicken will last that long - at this point the bird is still eating, drinking, and the poop looks normal.

I have e-mailed 3 bird rehabilitators and my exotics vet, so if they can get to me sooner than Friday I will see if any of them can help.

[scoobyark]

Any updates?

[edie]

Any updates?

We got the chicken into the exotics vet I normally see last Thursday, they took two x-rays and couldn't find anything so they were not sure what was wrong with the bird. The chicken is still eating and drinking and she is on Metacam, she can only slightly move the left leg and the right leg started to get weird over the weekend and she is having trouble getting around.

Other than mobility problems she seems like a normal chicken, we are just going to keep her clean and keep her fed and see if she progresses or worsens, thats what the vet and everyone on the chicken forum said to do.

[Jay_Bunny]

I know this is an old thread, but any updates on the chicken? As I was reading, I couldn't help but remember when I had my bearded dragon and he lived with my mom. My mom was supposed to dust his crickets but she didn't and he had a calcium deficiency. Coupled with an impaction, he couldn't move his back legs. I know that chickens are bred to produce large amounts of eggs over a small period of time and you have to provide them with calcium suppliments or feed the eggs back to the hens to keep their calcium levels up. If the vet can find no breaks or dislocations, could it be that the chicken simply doesn't have strong enough bones to support it's weight?