Poor Lucy! :(

I feel for you--I had a full-grown New Hampshire hen, Maggie, who had a bad leg--she had the toes of one foot curled up. The toes worked, because she moved them when she walked, but she could not unfurl them.

Then one day Maggie turned up not walking at all, something was wrong with her already-bad leg. We also couldn't afford a vet visit, and couldn't see anything wrong. We surmised a fracture in her thigh. She didn't want to stand or put weight on it. Possibly she hurt herself jumping down from the roosts. We decided to bring her indoors and placed her on a towel in a corner of the kitchen, with food and water within reach. We couldn't splint Maggie's leg, either because of where the injury was--nothing to splint to. I didn't want her to have to compete with the other hens or be bothered by aggressive hens or roos in love. :)

Well, Maggie slowly improved over a few weeks, and eventually she was almost ready to be out in the yard again--then she suffered a setback, I think my young daughter startled her and she tried to run. She was back to square one, not standing again.

It took Maggie a total of 5 months in the house to heal up enough to go outside, where she would spend her days in a private hen pen my husband built, then would be brought in at night. We weren't taking chances on getting this far and having her get reinjured AGAIN. Consider that a human broken leg takes about 6 weeks to heal--but we have casts, crutches and the reason to stay off it, which chickens don't have.

Today Maggie is back with the flock, and although the leg is a bit twisted and she has a limp, she runs for food just fine.

So for what it's worth, that's my experience and it worked for Maggie. But it was imperative that she be kept quiet and undisturbed so that healing could take place, and we had to make sure she didn't jump up on anything--like she wanted to do at dusk, when it was time to roost. Her instinct told her to 'go up'.

Good luck to you, wish I had more constructive advice for you! I'd bring her in at night if the temps are low, I think she'd heal faster if not further stressed by cold. In the absence of other chickens, you will become her flock. Chickens are very social, so you may have to keep her company for a bit when she eats, or stand next to her, talk to her and eat a little something with her. I noticed that Maggie ate better and more readily if she had company.

Velvet ~:>

Thank you so much, Velvet. I think I was getting impatient--I had no idea it would take that long to heal.
I took your advice and brought her back in the house. I think as it gets colder I will bring the dog cage indoors--for now I can put her out in the cage during the day when it is warm enough. Yes, she does seem to like my companionship.. I had given her some canned corn in a dish and she ate only part of it. But when I held her she ate about a cup of it out of my hand!
So right now she's about 3 ft away--not exactly a happy camper but safe and warm!
I'm so glad Maggie came through--she gives me hope that this could turn out ok!

Generally, with most injuries the list is:
1. start the breathing
2. stop the bleeding
3. make them lie down

Many times if you give them enough time they will generally fix themselves. This works for man or beast.

Considering the cost of vet bills versus the replacement cost of a chicken, the other option in this case is chicken soup and a couple of new chicks.

Not quite the same thing, I know, but my geese turn up limping now and again. Quite common with geese as they have fragile legs compared to chickens and they are top-heavy. It usually turns out to be the ankle joint. I don't know if it becomes dislocated or not, but Brian has become quite skilled at manipulating the joint so that they heal faster. He presses gently from the sides just above the ankle and then works his way down. I don't know exactly what happens, but the geese take only three or four days to recover compared to a couple of weeks -- and there is a considerable immediate improvement.

I don't know if any of this will help Lucy, but I thought I would offer it just in case. Keeping her quiet and calm are the most important things. Most leg injuries, even fractures, heal in time... if not perfectly, at least enough so they can get around and have a normal life. Hope that Lucy makes a fast and complete recovery!

Hey Hotzcatz ------- unfortunately too many people think nothing is that simple. I do, however. We had several chickens with hurt legs and they healed all by themselves. They didn't have health insurance so they had no other alternative but to just count on their little chicken bodies.

We have lived our (now) geriatric lives without health insurance and simply don't get sick because we depend on our healthy bodies to take care of us. Take a chicken to the vet????????????

Maggie, it sounds like Brian was putting a slipped tendon back into place, do you think that's what it was, rather than a fracture?

Hey, carmen--when I have a 4 year old daughter who has a pet WCB Polish hen that plays tag with her, that suddenly turns up deathly ill...guess what I do when my child turns big eyes on me and asks, "Is Poof going to DIE?!" Yup, we go to the vet.

$45.00 and a round of antibiotics, it's now three years later and Poof is not only still with us, but is a mother several times over, still laying and in great health (my vet rocks!). It was a good investment to save my daughter's best friend. :) Ya gotta choose your battles, you know? And I don't have health insurance, either... :(

I have to upload the Chicken Tag video I took back then to YouTube, otherwise no one will EVER believe that a chicken played tag... :)

Velvet ~:>

Velvet, I asked Brian about it, and he says that is exactly what he was doing. It's remarkable how much slighter the limp is afterwards and they are back to normal in just a few days. I hate it when my geese get hurt and they are such klutzes sometimes... I have seen Ben, the gander, trip and fall flat, bumping his bill on the dirt. The girls - Willow and Elsie - are not so heavy or so clumsy.

Thank you to all of you responded about Lucy. She is improving!. IÂve had her in a nice roomy cage in the house since I last posted and now that the weather is warm again, sheÂs in a cage outside. I hold her and feed her handfuls of canned corn every day. We just cut off the vet wrap (I was afraid it might irritate her skin but it didnÂt). Maggie I tried the technique you said Brian usesÂdonÂt know if it helped but it canÂt hurt. After a week of no laying, Lucy is laying again. SheÂs putting some weight on the leg though her toes are curled up. I think this weekend I will have her do a short test walkÂI just donÂt want her to take off and hurt herself again.
Re the decision to take her to a vet: I was very happy to find a vet who would treat her but it happened to be a small animal hospital in town and cost $103. ($34 of that for ½ ounce of Metacam and $13. for ½ day of boarding). I felt it was the right thing to-do to try to treat her: First, I thought the joint could be dislocated and it could be put in place. Then I worried that she might have some paralysis and that she might have an illness that was contagious. And then, of course, I thought I could not watch her struggle in that condition (she would still fly to the roost and the jumping down had to be hard on her).
I am looking for a comprehensive book on home poultry veterinary careÂsomething like Veterinary Medicine for Dummies! And information on how to get commonly prescribed medications for birds. Does anyone know of such a thing?
AgainÂthank you to all of you!

Dianne

MSU kind of has a page that might help on common poultry solutions, here:

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/solutions.html

What you might try looking for in used book stores is a veterinary PDR (Physician's Desk Reference). Be warned, though, it's going to be in medical terms. I don't know if anyone publishes a laymans' PDR.

Velvet ~:>

There is a lot of information online. This one is pretty technical too, but has lots of good information.

Hope she's continuing to improve. If her foot stays curled, you might have to try an ortheopedic (sp?) shoe for her, like people use to correct toe problems in chicks. No idea if this would work on an older bird. (Don't tell Lucy that I called her an "older bird" when she is still a spring chicken!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Mercks Vet Manual

Lucy is somewhat better than she was at first but still does not want to put weight on her left leg--she has her foot raised--kind of walks on her toes if you can picture it. Maggie--where would I find out about the orthopaedic shoe idea?
I did put her back with the others a couple of days ago and she is doing ok--spends most of the day in a shelter where I keep food and water for her. She is really getting about as much rest as when she was in the cage--she was getting pretty frantic in the cage. Weather is nice and the other chickens have been good to her (except when she first returned and she got a round of pecking from some other hens).
The Merck site is terrific. It might at least let me eliminate some things for a beginning diagnosis. Thank you!

Hmmm... I can't remember where I read about it. Might have been on backyardchickens.com or it might have been here. It was a long time ago and I think it was for chicks so it may not help... but at the time I thought it worth mentioning.

I think the main idea was to put the foot in the proper position. As I recall, the foot was taped to a piece of stiff cardboard to keep the toes from curling up. I'll see if I can find anything about it... but I would not try it based on just this unless it gets to the "kill or cure" point. Chances are all she needs is more time.

Okay, I went over to BYC and ran a couple of searches. These seem to be on topic, more or less, but I didn't have time to read everything in them. There are also links within these threads that I did not check out. Hope you find something helpful here.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12746

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9494

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9167

Thanks, Maggie. I checked those sites. I could straighten her foot but but I don't think that will take care of the problem. I think the problemis the leg joint and the foot looks curled because she is favoring that leg. When I used to have pain in my knee I would favor that leg by kind of putting weight on my toes. That was before two knee replacements!
Lucy is still keeping activity minimal--is the last one out of the coop, goes to her shelter, roosts on the lowest roost at night. I hold her and give her treats (canned corn) and she is laying. In a way I'm back at my original question--would there be any advantage to splinting it at this point? My guess is that if there was a fracture it has started to heal "as is" so the splint might not make it better.

Well, if it has started to heal... and that seems likely after this amount of time... it may be best just to leave well enough alone. Even if the bone is not aligned 100% correctly, she should still be able to get around. Keep us updated on her progress.

You might want to find a healthier treat for her than canned corn. Corn is high in energy, but not very high in nutrients. And canned corn is usually salted. Maybe scrambled egg? Good source of protein and iron. And the shell has calcium, which has to be helpful while she mends.

Good point about the corn, Maggie--I hadn't thought of the salt. I do give all of them scrambled eggs at least every other day--just try to save some so LUcy gets her share. But today I noticed that Lucy joined the others when I put out treats and was moving faster. Good sign! I'll keep you posted. I will try to attach a photo here.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:46596}}

She is beyond the splinting stage at this point. She probably hasn't completely healed though and she should probably have a quiet place to stay until she gets up and leaves on her own accord. When she's healthy, she will run with the rest of the flock. When she's hurt, she will want to quietly sit somewhere. Give her food and water, let her sit quietly and she will repair herself.

I have to tell you a little story. My 15 yo granddaughter had a summer farm job. The farm raises their animals for food, chickens for the eggs, goats for meat and so on. That's how I ended up with 3 male goats!! This very young chicken ended up breaking a leg so the help took it and dropped it out in the field for the hawks and foxes, which they have done many times in the past, the only difference was my granddaughter now worked there! After it had been out there for the night she rescued it from the field and brought it home to her apartment (mom wasn't too happy). She nursed that thing, taped it's leg, which didn't help at all, for about 8 weeks, the leg stuck out like a sore thumb and it looked and walked like someone with a peg leg. The bone has fused so the hen can steady herself and scoots around with this straigt legs help. Anyway she is very happy, very active and living back at the farm She gets no special treatment unless my granddaughter is there.

I have a small rescue and having a vet is a life saver, I have 3 vets one for the goats one for the birds and one for the dogs, cats and reptiles. If you take the responsibilty to raise them you should take the responsibility to keep the healthy. My husband and I work full time and sometimes I think its just for the animals. We are very careful not to take on more than we can afford or manage ourselfs. Sorry thats just how I feel.

Clara, It sounds like you're doing all the right stuff especially the love stuff, I'll bet she will be fine.

Thank you for the lovely story! It is so good to hear about an animal that adapts and survives to lead a good life. Lucy is doing much better--definitely favors her left leg but ranges around the pen more and takes care of herself just fine.I appreciate all the help I've gotten here!

Great to hear that Lucy is doing so much better. Attagirl, Lucy!!!

Glad to hear Lucy is improving! :) I see she has a suitor...what a handsome little fella!

Velvet ~:>