Can a chicken have a good quality of life with just one leg?

[lynn~z.]

Thanks "galanie" for your aspirin help. i did not think of that.
She layed another egg today and still eats and drinks. A friend and i tried to slpint and wrap it, but- yes the break does seem to be above the "ankle" in the drum-stick area - it was difficult. i probably should have wrapped it anyway with a sticky type guaze, but didn't think of that until i was off to work.
She is actually my sister's hen - i keep 5 of her browns for her along with 5 of my leghorns. She seemed to be the "head hen" and ruled the roost....so i really think her chances of survival are good. The leg does just seem to hang and she can move it from the "thigh" area. i thought it to still have some warmth to it also, but i think it was just from her laying on it?
My sister did decide to take her to her house today - though.........now she will be alone. Don't know if that is a good idea or not. She's trying to decide if she should keep her and let her try to work it out or "put her down".
i have seen the other forums about hens with one leg.....maybe she can work it out?

She's such a nice girl, i'd hate to see her go before her time!

ps....we do have her in a dog crate also

lynn~z.

 

[The Lady]

Hi, I have a hen that was hurt by a possum several months ago (maybe a year). Her drum leg (lower leg), both bones were broken. I splinted them with craft sticks on each side of the leg, wrapped it around her body until it had time to heal. at first, I kept her in a coop by herself to protect her from the other chickens. Then as she improved I would turn her loose with the others to free range. While it was wrapped, waiting to heal, she started hopping around, eating, drinking and following the other chickens out in the yard. She is an absolutely remarkable chicken with spunk and lots of fight. She is my hero, a real champ/fighter. I love to watch her hobble around the yard, she is an inspiration to me for what God can do for a simple chicken - just think what he can do for us. I think she has a very good quality of life and I have never regretted allowing her the time to heal enough to keep going and enjoying the free range life. Give her a chance and if you can splint her leg or just wrap it around her body with some elastic gauze and tape that may help until the bones knit back, but even if they don't she will still be able to hop about as mine does. Regards, The Lady
PS: as long as she has a good quality of life, let her enjoy it and try to adapt things to make it easy for her, like getting into the nest, etc.

 

[The Lady]

My first "almost one-legged chicken that I mentioned is doing well. About a week ago we bought some new chicks and somewhere along the line of transferring her from the cardboard box to the hardware cloth cage/coop, she injured her leg terribly. The thigh bone was broken just above the elbow, the skin was denuded from there to the mid lower leg. the whole lower leg was very blue and bruised and dark colored.
I cleaned it off with peroxide and put antibiotic ointment with a nice stretchy gauze which has held up well. after the week, the lower leg has withered/rotted, is foul smelling and cold. She is a champ, so brave and is eating and drinking well, growing too. Today, I decided it was time to amputate the lower leg. I used the suggestion someone made of using wire cutters to make the cut. It worked out very well, except I had one small bleeder. I cauterized this with a small welding rod like you use for melting lead for stained glass. It stopped the bleeding very nicely. It seems theat the operation was a complete success. I cleaned it with betadine, applied a sterile dressing with antibiotic dressing. Please pray for "Little Minnie" (I named her that since the older crippled chicken is named Minnie. After giving her a small amount of baby aspirin, she is resting, eating and drinking well If anyone has any more suggestions, let me know. All of these ideas came from your various inputs, for which I am grateful.

 

[rsmith42]

I have a hen that lost her foot to an infection. It took a while but it eventually fell off. I recently re introduced her to the flock and she seems to be doing well. there was initial bullying, but they got over it quickly. I hope they adjust

 

[MrsPbio]

My barred rock pullet "Blynken" has an atrophied foot. Two weeks ago she had a strange smallish puncture wound on her side that originally resulted in a punctured airsac. Vet treated it. That bit healed perfectly. But oddly enough she became lame . First she wouldn't put weight on that leg. Then she just limped. But then she couldn't close her toes and walked flatfooted. Now her foot is just "dead". I suspect she blew a tendon somehow.
But other than that she is fine. Good appetite, alert, interested in the goings- on in the coop and run and backyard. She run- hops around, but sits down in the shade a lot. Her two sisters Wynken and Nod hang out with her. She can't scratch with her feet, but she digs with her beak.

So unless there's a hidden infection in there somewhere that I haven't found, I think Blynken will be OK. The coop and run is quite predator-proof, her sisters don't bully her, and she is sweet and likes to cuddle. Where there's life, there's hope.

 

[MrsPbio]

Oops... She "fly-hops"... Not run- hops! My brain before coffee....

 

[BuggyBear]

How did things work out?

 

[ladybug29]

I know this post is old but I would like to add that my bantam roo Francis was born with a crippled leg and does fine with one. I would say it causes him problems but he is the fastest and hardest chicken to catch in the coop. Granted he is the only roo we kept and he was bullied by his brother until we found a home for the normal roo. He has a sister who was born blind in one eye and they are very bonded and look out for each other. If she gets separated he calls and calls until she finds him and if she sees he is any perceived danger (as in I’m trying to catch him to check on him or the dog gets to close to him) she calls and will even attack to defend him. Once she sees with the good eye that it’s only me she calms down again. They may be slightly crippled but get around the yard to free range happily. I am hopeful they will have good chicken lives and at almost 4 months so far seem happy. The Roo even uses his wings to get up the ramp to the coop. He is first to bed and calls for his hatchmate until she manages the ramp too.

 

[ladybug29]

I know this post is old but I would like to add that my bantam roo Francis was born with a crippled leg and does fine with one. I would say it causes him problems but he is the fastest and hardest chicken to catch in the coop. Granted he is the only roo we kept and he was bullied by his brother until we found a home for the normal roo. He has a sister who was born blind in one eye and they are very bonded and look out for each other. If she gets separated he calls and calls until she finds him and if she sees he is any perceived danger (as in I’m trying to catch him to check on him or the dog gets to close to him) she calls and will even attack to defend him. Once she sees with the good eye that it’s only me she calms down again. They may be slightly crippled but get around the yard to free range happily. I am hopeful they will have good chicken lives and at almost 4 months so far seem happy. The Roo even uses his wings to get up the ramp to the coop. He is first to bed and calls for his hatchmate until she manages the ramp too.

It also helps that the hen who hatched them is the dominate hen and she looks out for them occasionally still, not often but she still does it’s adorable. I’m not sure he would do as well if he wasn’t a Bantam the smaller size really helps

 

[Chicken Newbie07]

Hello chicken people! So I have a chick that hatched early July. He/she is now almost a full month. He/she hatched with a “bad leg”. I believe it was broken because there was no mobility of that leg. At first, I tried the treatment for splayed leg. I did the whole bandage thing. That just didn’t look right, so I took it off shortly after and made a cast for the leg I instead. I left it on for about 9 days. I noticed that the “foot part” was starting to look dead. So I took off the cast and I. Fact it was. It was stiff and hardened. At this point I didn’t know if I had done the right thing with the leg cast.

I left it alone for a day or two, and my husband kept telling me how the leg needed to amputated. The thought of cutting of the leg was horrible. But the more he explained it, the more I kind of thought it made sense.
So he did it! He sanitized sharp scissors, and cut right at the joint. Because the leg was “dead” , there was no bleeding. He applied hydrogen peroxide on the wound, and sealed it with a bandage. The chick didn’t seem to be in pain much, it continued to hop and eat and drink, it just looked tiered.

Fast forward to now, this little chick, whom I have name PATITA (Spanish for “little leg”) is doing ok . He/she is smaller than its siblings, but eats well and gets around.

What concerns me is the future. What quality of life will it have? Not being able to scratch or dust bathe... will it lay eggs? So much to think about. Any thoughts or advice?