BROKEN FEMUR

[sandloaf]

Our yellow chicken Salt had jumped out of the coop from the top roost and broke her femur bone (10/22). We splinted it best we could being that it is super close to the hip.

Its been two days since. The foot on the broken leg is still warm which is awesome and we’ve been having to force her to drink water and food. Although, today she did take a couple pecks at the food. We’ve been giving her aspirin in the water to help cope with the pain. I feed her and wipe the poop off her butt everyday. But is it worth it?

Recently shes been panting a lot which I assume is from the pain. No eggs. But there is poop!! Which means her body is getting the food. It’s just sick poop, not the healthy lil mound you usually see. Its green and stinky.

Were aware she will never walk the same but is she going to get better?
It keeps me up at night knowing her life is practically been cut in half if we kill her. I feel horrible because I love my girl so much. What should we do?

Update: (10/24) Shes been slowing down with food and h20. But still pooping!! Which is great. Panting is her new big thing so I gave her some more meds to help with the pain. To get her to drink water since she gets mad when i try to open her beak, is I wait until she opens her beak then squirt a lil water in her mouth! Same with food. I wait until she opens her beak and stuff a little in there.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Be careful so she doesn't aspirate the water. Getting water in her lungs will be bad.

Can you put her in a cradle so she keeps weight off the leg while it heals?

 

[sandloaf]

Our yellow chicken Salt had jumped out of the coop from the top roost and broke her femur bone. We splinted it best we could being that it is super close to the hip.

Its been two days since. The foot on the broken leg is still warm which is awesome and we’ve been having to force her to drink water and food. Although, today she did take a couple pecks at the food. We’ve been giving her aspirin in the water to help cope with the pain. I feed her and wipe the poop off her butt everyday. But is it worth it?

Recently shes been panting a lot which I assume is from the pain. No eggs. But there is poop!! Which means her body is getting the food. It’s just sick poop, not the healthy lil mound you usually see. Its green and stinky.

Were aware she will never walk the same but is she going to get better?
It keeps me up at night knowing her life is practically been cut in half if we kill her. I feel horrible because I love my girl so much. What should we do?

Update: (10/24) Shes been slowing down with food and h20. But still pooping!! Which is great. Panting is her new big thing so I gave her some more meds to help with the pain. To get her to drink water since she gets mad when i try to open her beak, is I wait until she opens her beak then squirt a lil water in her mouth! Same with food. I wait until she opens her beak and stuff a little in there.

Be careful so she doesn't aspirate the water. Getting water in her lungs will be bad.

Can you put her in a cradle so she keeps weight off the leg while it heals?

I tried that but she just jumps out of flaps like crazy. This picture was from the day she broke her leg, it only lasted about 20 min. Her foots in the h20 because it was swollen. But its regular sized and warm now.

 

[coach723]

Femurs often need surgical pinning in order to heal properly, just depends on where the break is. If it's a through and through break, then healing time could be long, especially if the bones are not aligned well. I understand if an avian vet is not an option for you, without an xray, it's hard to say what kind of prognosis there is. I know you don't want to consider euthanizing, but if it doesn't heal or is in a place that it can't without surgical intervention, then it would be the kindest thing.
This may help, it's a splinting manual, but discusses all kinds of fractures:

 

[sandloaf]

I tried that but she just jumps out of flaps like crazy. This picture was from the day she broke her leg, it only lasted about 20 min. Her foots in the h20 because it was swollen. But its regular sized and warm now.

Femurs often need surgical pinning in order to heal properly, just depends on where the break is. If it's a through and through break, then healing time could be long, especially if the bones are not aligned well. I understand if an avian vet is not an option for you, without an xray, it's hard to say what kind of prognosis there is. I know you don't want to consider euthanizing, but if it doesn't heal or is in a place that it can't without surgical intervention, then it would be the kindest thing.
This may help, it's a splinting manual, but discusses all kinds of fractures:

Thank you. We’ll wait another couple of days before deciding. Today she did move the leg. Not at the toes or ankle/elbow but at her hip? Im trying to think of a way to explain it. But toes are still unresponsive. Ill keep you updated.

As of doctors. They want us to drive out four hours and pay up to 2k. Breaks my heart to not see more exotic vets. Or people who just don’t scoff after I mention its a chicken.

 

[Eggcessive]

Are you certain it is the femur that is fractured? The splint looks to be on the metatarsus bone. A femur would be hard to splint, and those injuries frequently do not heal. If the injury is lower, that may well heal with splinting. Have you tried a large animal farm vet or small animal vet who may be familiar with chickens? Some may surprise us and agree to help a chicken.

 

[glassdragonfly]

Poor girl. This summer my pullet broke her femur,never did splint it,just kept her in a small cage with lots of bedding.Tried to splint it a couple of times but she would freak out.Took a long time to heal.She is now fine and very spoiled.Have you tried offering other foods like scrambled egg,wet feed,or tuna? Something might get her interest.

 

[path.otto]

The Femur is a thick bone (think chicken thigh), not easily broken. What you have splinted in the picture is the metatarsal. You could splint that nicely I would think where there would be very little movement of the bone but it would require wrapping the tape, or vet wrap, completely around the metatarsal from top to bottom, like a cast. It looks like you did a nice job of cushioning, can you do that over the entire metatarsal? I didn't see much hope thinking it was the femur, but the metatarsal might be a different story. The difficulty will be getting the tension just right, not too tight but tight enough to limit movement of broken bone that is causing the pain.

Nice bone chart, eggcessive!

 

[Ebony Rose]

Aspirin tastes awful, so putting it in the water is likely one reason she's avoiding it. While tucking your bird into the elbow of your non-dominant arm and body, and while that non-dominant hand has their waddles gently yet firmly pinched between thumb and forefinger, gently pry her beak open with your dominant hand. Once her mouth pops open quickly wedge your pinky finger of your non-dominant hand between the upper and lower half of her beak. With your dominant hand, poke the aspirin into her mouth towards the back of her tongue. Release her waddles long enough for her to swallow, repeat until the correct dosage has been administered. She may resist this procedure, but it doesn't hurt her at all, and in the long run, will ease her pain. Dosing is as follows: 25mg per pound of bird. Baby aspirin is preferred as it's buffered and tastes good, it has 80mg of aspirin. One baby aspirin is good for a bird just over 3 pounds, two baby aspirin would be good for a 6 1/2 to 7 pound bird. Standard adult aspirin (not coated) is 325mg, this would be enough for a 13 pound bird so you're gonna need to break this to get the right dose, and extra strength is typically 500mg, enough for a 20 pound bird but could be a good option if you had a 10 pound bird (break the dose in half).

 

[sandloaf]

Are you certain it is the femur that is fractured? The splint looks to be on the metatarsus bone. A femur would be hard to splint, and those injuries frequently do not heal. If the injury is lower, that may well heal with splinting. Have you tried a large animal farm vet or small animal vet who may be familiar with chickens? Some may surprise us and agree to help a chicken.

View attachment 1942988

Its so hard to tell. Shes known for her big fluffy butt! So we had to dig through a million feathers. Underneath its bruised and when we trying to figure out if it was dislocated or broken it made a clicky noise.

Heres a picture I got off google of a little guy molting to show were it is.

The red circle in the general area of the break. Its all purple and blue. But im 98% sure its in the middle of the circle.