Chickens leg is dangling, broken or out of socket? Help please!

[Angela Anderson]

My daughter an I went to ck on/feed our babies an noticed one couldn't walk. She was laying there an when we entered she got up hoping on only 1 leg. My daughter went into a panic, they are her babies an therapeutic animals. I cked her foot, no reaction, her leg, same. Feeling all the way to her hip where u could feel an obvious dislocation of bone from body(an a crunching feeling) an her leg just swings or dangles, however u want to view it. She makes lil sounds of discomfort only when holding the joint area and moving it front to bk. She's not putting weight on it but will put it down when standing, she holds it up an hops on 1 foot to move an flaps her wings to gain balance. We separated her, offered her food & water, she is eating an drinking, didn't seem to mind when my daughter was holding her, otherwise in great health. Don't know what to do or if there's anything we can do? Unsure about a splint becuz it's so high up, hip area. But I did my best to immobilize her leg. I put her in a lg dog crate for the night to keep her safe, unsure of how this happened. Vets in my area don't do much with chickens, was advised to put her down. If anyone has any advice I'd love some, I don't know what to do an my daughter is very upset.
Please & ty

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry to hear about your chicken. From what I have read and heard from others here, injuries up high in the thigh or hip are very hard to treat, since a splint needs to be anchored below and above the injury. How old is your hen? Do you have a regular dog or cat vet, or a large animal vet who might have some chicken experience? Some people use a chicken sling or chair to get them upright and in front of food and water. Here is a link with pictures and a video:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a splinting manual, and look on pages 16 and 17 for some information about hip and femur injuries:
https://theiwrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Duerr_Splinting_Manual_2010.pdf

I hope that others with experience in these injuries will chime in, such as @dawg53 , @casportpony , @azygous, ?

 

[Angela Anderson]

She's just a yr last month or so, an vet's in my area don't do much with chickens(the ones I've contacted). Ive heard of a sling but I will ck out the sites. I wrapped it the best I could trying to get in as natural a position as possible.

 

[dawg53]

It looks like you've done a pretty good job wrapping her leg, good support. It's tough to tell exactly what is going on with your hen. However I've dealt with birds that have strained or pulled ligaments or tendons. I can tell you that it takes a very long time to heal, sometimes months and sometimes they reinjure it and doesnt heal at all.
All you can do is provide comfort care for her until she heals.
There may come a time that you'll have to consider her quality of life especially if there hasnt been any improvement in several weeks. It might come down to a tough decision for you whether or not to cull her.

 

[Angela Anderson]

How long an what type of improvements should I look for? Is there any type of therapy I should be doing or just rest an getting weight off it? She's also on a very low doses of tramadol to help with the pain.

 

[dawg53]

You might want her to keep weight off the leg. Eggcessive provided a link to a video regarding a chicken sling. i suggest that you check it out. You can add vitamin B complex to her feed, it MIGHT help speed up the healing process but dont take that to the bank. Crush a few tablets into powder and sprinkle it on her feed to eat. Repeat again in 10 days, then stop.

 

[Angela Anderson]

Im going to try an make a sling for her, ty