Chick with broken leg at knee Please Help!

[ahwhite]

6 week old chick. My boyfriend was working on the coop with the chick's in the run, and tripped and accidentally hit the chick with his cast iron tool in the leg. (He is feeling really bad, so I'm trying not to be too irate at him for working near the chicks like that). I can see a shallow laceration on knee joint. I can't necessarily tell that the bone is broken, like I can't feel it move in a strange way, but the best way I could describe it is that the joint feels loose. And the chick is not moving her toes at all. She does move the leg from the hip joint.

I did my best to splint the entire leg, which I found difficult. I don't have a ton of hope for the chick, as from what I've read joint damage can be hard to come back from. I did read the tips on broken legs on this forum, but I'm wondering how long, with a chicken this age, should I wait to see if she needs to be euthanized? She isn't crying, just kind of laying there. I put a cloth under her leg so she doesn't have to hold it up. She is drinking and eating. How do I know if she is in pain?

Also I will attach a picture, maybe you can let me know if it looks like I could splint it differently or something. I tried to kind of match the angle to how she was holding her other leg while I had her on her back but...I really have no idea.


Thank you...

 

[ahwhite]

Oh by the way I did contacts vets. My regular (dog) vet got back to me, and said that she could splint it, but since it is a saturday it would be expensive, and she has never splinted a chicken leg before nor is she an avian vet. Xrays would be really really expensive, and there would be no guarantee that they would help at all.

I left a message on the farm vet's emergency phone, but haven't hear back and it has been a while.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's always the way when emergencies happen on a Saturday and worse yet, on a holiday weekend.
I think you did the right thing. Chickens heal quickly. It could be soft tissue damage to a joint.
I'd give it a couple days and if it doesn't try to use the leg, you may want to cull it.
Chickens can live with one leg but I don't consider that quality of life.

 

[Whittni]

Splint with Popsicle sticks. Half a baby aspirin to take the edge off.


Edit: also, please let your boyfriend know that it happens more oft e than you think! Even with free range chickens put in with goats and horses. A broken leg isn't the worst thing...

 

[ahwhite]

OK thanks. I am a little worried that the splint is resting perpendicular to her body like that, but she does still seem to have motion in her hip so I guess it's ok?

 

[ahwhite]

Thanks Whittni,
We did use Popsicle sticks. Will half a baby aspirin be a small enough dose for a 6 week old? She is still really small...

 

[wali]

Help me too please

 

[wali]

My 2 week chicken was unable to stand sometimes and now he was walk on knees but he eat and drink all things he was from Aseel breed

 

[wali]

Help me plz

 

[ahwhite]

Update: looking for more info:

So she is more or less the same this morning, OK to just lay there and eat her food. I re-did the splint so I could get a look, I don't think it was too tight but her toes do seem cold, and she is still not moving them. She doesn't seem to be moving at the hip anymore either. I do see some bruising/swelling around the laceration on the knee joint. She does still seem to have some pain if I move the leg in the wrong way. She has been getting tiny doses of baby aspirin.

We tried a sling, but she wouldn't stay in it.

I feel like her leg is going to be completely dead, and that we should probably kill her. Perhaps she would be able to get around fine, and everything would be great, but I don't want her to have to go through healing for a week, then have the rest of the flock reject her. Since they are young, is there any chance they would just be OK with her? Should I give her 2,3,7 more days to see how she does?

I am not looking forward to culling her, but I guess that is part of getting chickens. What is the best way to kill a young chick with a broken leg? would the killing cone be ok? is that the most painless? We wont be eating her, just would want to put her out of her pain if she can't have a good life...