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HELP! my chicken has a broken Ankle!
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Author:  chicken No 5 [ Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:06 am ]
Post subject:  HELP! my chicken has a broken Ankle!

Can someone please help me.

My son stood on his favorite pet chicken & it appears to now have a broken foot.

She seems quite alert & can stand up but she is not using that sore foot at all & it drags behind her. She is eating & drinking well but just can't move around very well. I have checked her leg & all seems good, just like the other one. Her foot is really swollen but dosn't seem to be sore to touch. If I put the foot in the right place under her she will try & hobble around but if she lays down & try's to get back up herself the foot ends up dragging behind her. My son is so upset that he was the won to stand on her & is begging me to fix her up.

Please help. I have read about strapping the leg & foot but with no pictures it is hard to know the correct way to do it. I don't want to hurt her anymore.

Thank you

Author:  OakA [ Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: HELP! my chicken has a broken Ankle!

No doubt others may have a different opinion but I'll offer mine up first.
I have never heard or seen a fowl with it's leg plastered if it is broken.
If you have examined it and can find no break, maybe it is just a soft tissue injury and severe bruising to be so swollen.
If she is eating and drinking she is well in herself.
I would isolate her away from other fowls so they do not torment her, keep her quiet and allow the injury to begin healing.
After a few days allow her access to exercise so she does not lose muscle and further complicate things.
She will rest and recover now and will begin to move around when she feels more able.
Mother Nature is a wonderful healer and she may recover with no ill effects.
If your son feels so bad encourage him to be the one to nurse her and attend to her needs of feed water and cleaning her coop, it could be a life changing experience to become close and attached and to take responsibility for her injuries, when you have animals and pets of any kind these things happen.
Good luck , hope all turns out well

Author:  parvo [ Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HELP! my chicken has a broken Ankle!

In addition to Oaklands' excellent advice, if you do find a fracture then you have to decide whether the bird is salvagable or not, and whether you are going to take her to a vet.

These days I don't think it is acceptable to leave a bird with a broken leg to suffer. Pain relief is available to help during recovery and of course broken bones can be fixed but then it may become a cost issue.

Author:  samanthahobbs [ Tue Nov 01, 2011 6:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HELP! my chicken has a broken Ankle!

Any animal that is injured with a possible break must be taken to the vet for an assessment. From there you can make an informed decision about where to from there. Animals have a high threshold with pain, so if your chicken is lame she is in pain and suffering which is not acceptable. Get her to the vet asap. Let us know how you get on.

Author:  cockorhen [ Thu Nov 10, 2011 8:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: HELP! my chicken has a broken Ankle!

one of our chooks was trampeled by our goat & its leg was broken we then got advice from a vet friend online who told us to emobolise her, so we straped its leg using a paddle pop stick as a splint to emobolise the hole leg, she was then spoilt rotten for 3 weeks in a cat carrier, after that we removed the paddle pop stick & placed her back outside with the others,she hobbled around on it for a couple of days but was able to put some waight on it , then after a week we couldnt tell it was even broken.
the only thing i whould do difrently is to wrap gause around the paddle pop stick & leg before tapeing it as itis hard to get the tape of there scales on there leg when removing the splint . apart from that it worked well

i hope this helps!!

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