Not Horsey - Chicken with a broken leg - what to do!

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Lollii

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Sorry not horsey at all, except for my horse has stood on one of my chickens and broken it's leg!

This happened about 2 weeks ago, so we put a lollipop stick splint on it, vet wrapped it and we have kept her on her own, she is eating and drinking ok, but now her claw has gone black and hard and won't move.

What should I do, as she can't walk,
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Would you - put her to sleep (gonna have to find someone to do it - I can't do the pulling of the neck thing!!)

Or.. leave her as she is - in her straw bed, sitting down and maybe she will be able to hop aroud one day?

Poor little thing!
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TBH, if she looks fine and isn't upset by the whole thing, I would leave her a bit longer. Don't know if chickens do this, but pigeons peck off their own feet if they get damaged/frostbitten - which is why you'll see lots of pigeons with a manky foot. Again, not sure if the same can happen in chickens, but might be worth giving her a bit longer?

Failing that, get the oven on
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(that was a joke btw, I am actually veggie.......)
 
Is the whole foot black or just the claw?? (assume you mean whole thing).... if so I think it would be kinder to pts as it may spread back up the leg .... gangereen (sp) style and cause untold problems
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What did the vet say in the first place???
 
She is a bit of a pet, she was found in the village wondering around on her own, she is very friendly and settled in well with our other chucks a couple of years ago.

Not sure I could eat her, or watch her peck her leg off - yuck!

I just can't seem to make a decision about her
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We didn't take her to the vet - maybe I should have done, I feel really bad now.

It is her claw that is black and it has gone rock hard and curled up - I think it is dead.

I did wonder about the rest of the leg going bad, she still has the splint on at the moment, she is not smelly or anything, it doesn't hurt her either, she just can't walk.
 
Oh no, I'd ask the vet tbh what they think, and have it put out of its misery if they think its only going to get worse. We had a duck that got trodden on once and we thought it had broken its leg but high up (think 9 year old brother running not looking where he was going and a duck, and crossed paths!), we kept it in a hutch for a few weeks and it was right as rain after a whle...went on to win some class at some national duck show (mums really into her call ducks!!).
 
If its just the claw, I wouldn't worry too much, loads of my mums chooks have had class that are black and they all seem fine. Can you get a photo?
 
I wonder if the vetwrap was on a bit tight then and that has killed the foot
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Probably would be best to let her go.... if she cant walk then she cant be comfortable or much use to herself
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Its always a gamble to treat something yourself rather than get the vet to do it..... My ex bandaged his cats leg rather than pay the vet to re dress it and the cat lost its toes from the vet wrap being too tight
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If its just the claw, I wouldn't worry too much, loads of my mums chooks have had class that are black and they all seem fine. Can you get a photo?

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It is just the claw I think, I will take the splint off and get a pic.
 
Maybe give her a couple of days to see if she's managing, if not if you can't face the hands on approach hold her up by the legs and smack her hard on the neck with a biggish stick or spanner.
 
That is definately not going to improve
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I would say that leg is dead.

She will not be able to adapt to one leg, chickens are too heavy.... I think there is only one sensible outcome for this poor chook
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When you said claw, I really hoped you just meant the nail.... but the whole foot and probably the leg as well has had it.
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Poor chuckin
 
i had a one legged chicken living in my stable at cricklands, it was fat and seamed happy enough although i dont know anything about chickens. i would leave it keep it warm and feed it pleanty and see what happens. i think i would take the vet wrap off though that does look like a dead foot. let it heal naturaly for a bit. as long as it is fed and warm and not stressed it should heal to some degree then you can reasses the situation.
 
dont take this the wrong way but i think you ought to do the kindest thing, at least youve tried

i own a few chickens and i adore them but had to cull one a while back
 
Maybe now would be a good time to ask a vet what to do..... It hardly seems fair.... If it was a horse or a dog with a dead leg then it would warrent a vet appointment
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It would also have caused an uproar on here if it were a horse.

Just coz its a chicken doesnt mean it wont be in pain
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Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh..... but since when did a chicken not feel the pain of a dead leg
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Oh no its the whole foot, when you said claw I thought like one claw bit/nail....I would take it to the vet, they can inject birds, and at least you dont end up feeling like a bird murderer (like me!).

To be honest, with breaks you dont know whats actually gone on inside, I know you have put a splint on it but if the bone is shattered that wont do anything. I rescued a dove (from the cat again) once and i opened it wing out to see the damage and a piece of bone about an inch long actually popped out of its wing...I took that to the vet and they injected it (that was much before I got brave enough to murder it myself!!).

My mum often gives her chickens a day or two when they hurt themselves/are ill, if that doesn't work then they get dispatched...don't feel bad for leaving it, sometimes they pick up and sometimes they dont.
 
I don't quite understand why you haven't had a vet look at this
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Surely you can't just strap up a broken leg and hope for the best...what about the pain? Has it had any painkillers?
 
[ QUOTE ]
i had a one legged chicken living in my stable at cricklands, it was fat and seamed happy enough although i dont know anything about chickens. i would leave it keep it warm and feed it pleanty and see what happens. i think i would take the vet wrap off though that does look like a dead foot. let it heal naturaly for a bit. as long as it is fed and warm and not stressed it should heal to some degree then you can reasses the situation.

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Thanks, I have kept her warm and fed/watered, she seems happy enough in her self - she is not in pain, if you touch the leg, she doesn't flinch or move away, the leg wasn't like this until a couple of days ago, I thought she was going to get better - I have looked after her, but it has got worse the last coupleof days.

Quote:Maybe give her a couple of days to see if she's managing, if not if you can't face the hands on approach hold her up by the legs and smack her hard on the neck with a biggish stick or spanner:

Oooo I can't do that!!! I will take her to the vets tomorrow and see what they say, if she has the injection it will be a better way to go
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Hun, she needs to be pts asap. That whole leg is grotesquely swollen and far beyond saving. I can't believe she's not dead already tbh, from gas gangrene. Even if you wanted to try her as a one-legged bird, that would mean having the leg removed under anaesthetic by a vet. Not only would that be prohibitively expensive, but I don't honestly see how you can keep a chicken with a newly amputated stump from getting a raging infection, which would kill her anyway. That's if the surgery didn't. And anyway, her quality of life would be too low. She must be in terrible pain and would have been right from the original break/crush - put her out of pain NOW x
 
Instead of p**S**g around with splints and taking it off to take photo's etc do the responsible thing and take it to the vets and put it out of its misery. We have taken on four ex bats on Saturday from the BHWT, already we have consulted the rehoming chap about a bleeding claw and my other half's brother (who has bantams) about one of the hens eyes. We are continually assessing the situation and the hen will be immediately taken to the vet if the situation doesn't improve with the eyes, the claw is fine now on the other. When we took these birds on we also took on the possibility of vets bills, and the responsibilities that come with looking after these lovely girls.

You cannot leave a chicken with a lollipop stick on its leg if its foot is going hard and black, tbh it sounds like gangrene and if you don't take it to the vet and have it put down now the poor bird will die a dreadful death. It must be in pain now. It is a specialised and experienced person ie. a vet that takes xrays to see how the bones are sitting with a break, in that way it is possible to see if a splint is the right thing to do. Sometimes (as with humans) bones need pulling and tweaking to get the bones over the breaks to line up to assist with the healing process before you put a splint on. You have not the experience to do this. Please take your girl to a vet asap and don't leave it any longer.
 
HHHmmmmmm!
I had already said I was taking her to the vets.
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Things happen and you do what you think is best at the time.

I came on here for advice - thanks to everyone who gave it to me, the vet said this morning the leg would never have been ok, it was not infected, the nerves & blood vessels to the foot were dead, she was not in pain, and I did the right thing by trying. she is asleep now.
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I'm sorry I didn't mean to shout at you. I know you probably meant well. I am glad you have done the right thing. Poor girl at least she is at peace now. Sorry
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I think some of the posts have been out of order

It's a chicken - it doesn't make economic sense to have a £30 vet bill for a £3 animal (unless it had a serious personality!).

I would have tried to fix the leg myself too, as you have to try and some times it does pay off. It didn't work out, but at least you tried!
 
Some posts were a bit harsh maybe..... but since when did a chicken not deserve the attention any other animal would get???

I too would not have paid through the nose to mend it.... but I would also not have left it to suffer.

The leg may now be dead and have no feeling, but how many days or weeks would it have taken to die off
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Not meant to be unkind OP....... but if this was any other animal, the forum would have been in an uproar...
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Well done though, she is now sleeping .... RIP chooky
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Economical sense...why does that come into it!!

My dog cost me nothing...does that mean I shouldn't take him to a vet if he broke his leg?
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Its an animal with a broken leg...it deserves a vet visit or PTS humanely.

I can't believe its ok to have left this animal in pain for days before its leg went numb and it was pts anyway
 
I hate to say this everyone, but from personal experience, very few vets have any idea what to do with a chicken!! Again from personal experience, most will say either take it home and give it a chance, maybe a supply of baytrill thrown in for good measure, or just put it down. Also from personal experience, we have had many a chicken we have decided to give a few days and see what happens, and they have pulled through, so we have been very glad we did give it a chance. In this case I really do think that had she taken it to the vet in the first place, they would have told her to take it home and see what happens.

Chickens are not cats or dogs that you can really intervene with, and a hell of a lot of people that we know that keep poultry and waterfowl will quite often DIY it with them I'm afraid.

Rightly or wrongly in the views of HHO'ers....Hermangerman took it to the vet who said it was not in pain, I really dont think there is any more need for the lectures.
 
I have quite a few Chooks & i cannot dispatch one myself just can't.

Im glad you've done the right thing by your Hen though, from the pic's ive just seen that leg was well & truely dead.

Im lucky that my Vets charge me farm rates for PTS cost me £7.50 last time but i would pay £30 if i had to.
I did lose a Hen to one of my dogs last week, accidents & problems happen with chickens but not ALL Poultry owners dispatch themselves. I do DIY for everything though & keep a good stock of Baytril i very rarely do Vets for the Chickens & normally its only for PTS.
 
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