First of all, do chickens have ankles?
Friday night when The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird was locking the chickens up in the coop, she noticed Java the Hut’s leg was caught in one of the nesting grates inside our coop. Not only she flopped over on her side but her leg swollen and sticking straight out and she was unable to stand. Her head was a little bloodied and swollen from being pecked at as well. POOR JAVA!!
{Chickens will peck at another bird that is in it’s way or hurt {kind of like kicking someone when they are down}, yes it’s cruel, but that’s what they do.}
So The Girl brought Java inside and cleaned her up the best she could with some warm water. Can you see her missing head feathers? 🙁
We placed some pine shavings in a bin and added some food and water in case she was hungry and then kept her overnight in our bathroom with the light on {it’s the warmest spot in the house, plus it made the HH totally crazy}. These pictures were taken on Saturday afternoon after Java had perked up quite a bit.
When The Girl first found her, her right leg was about twice the size as it is in the above photo. She could not straighten her leg nor stand and we didn’t think she was going to make it.
But yesterday, the swelling went down but she is still unable to walk yet.
I don’t think her leg is broken, just swollen and sprained.
Do you have chickens? Has this ever happened? How long does it take for a chicken’s leg to heal?
And most importantly, the Handsome Husband wants to know when the chicken will be able to move out of our bathroom.
Anyone know?
~Mavis
Candace says
Poor girl! Does she try to walk on it or does she just lay down and not move? I would give it a few days and watch her closely. I’m thinking if she doesn’t start feeling better and start moving around some with it, she might need to be put out of her misery. Our chicken hospital is a huge dog crate. I can totally see her getting better and flying all over your bathroom. I’m sure your HH would just LOVE that. 😀
Mavis Butterfield says
Oh yes, he would LOVE that! 😉 She is pretty much just sitting around for now. I hope she’ll be okay.
caroline says
My 5 and a half month old injured heself somehow, i jabe started epson sald soaks twice a day as well as antibiotics. We seperated her in a large crate inside the coop so she is still with the other 3, 48 hours in she is improving! She loves her soaks!
Leah S. says
CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!! we don’t know what happened but my chicken is always known for flying the coop (or getting out). For reasons we have netting up around the actual “home” coop. One day I saw her limping and she couldn’t even hop on her foot. This was about 2 weeks ago, and she still can’t walk on it. My dad (who grew up on a farm) says she ripped a muscle in her leg. (Because her muscle can’t pull her toes up anymore so she just walks with her toes bent all the way back). He is not letting me or my mom take her to the vet. What should I do! PLEASE HELP!!
Sherri says
Hi!
She will be okay… just give her a few days. We’ve had chickens recover from far far worse, it just takes them a little time. If the swelling is down and there are no obvious break (ie bone from the leg or totally hanging, off kilter legs) she just might be afraid to put her weight on it and it might still hurt a bit. Chickens are a little weird… when they hurt something, they think it’s forever. So it might take her a day or three to remember that she can actually use it. Thing is, she’ll probably get around just fine not using it! Silly birds.
If she will let you, you can flex and work the leg a little bit, like physical therapy. We’ve found too, that you can always sort of tuck the good leg up in your hand and make her try to use the hurt one a bit, while holding her up. The goal is just to get her to use it, even lightly. You can always put her box on the porch or in a garage if you really don’t want her in the bathroom. 🙂 Just be sure that when you reintroduce her to the flock, that you do it at night, when they are all roosting. We call it the Chicken Fairy… when they wake up, they will just act like she’s been there forever. When you introduce them during awake times, they may attack her as a newcomer. Hope that helps! Ask any questions you’d like, we’ve been through it all!!!! (g)
Love your blog… hope you’ll check mine out too! We went from an urban homesteading existence to a rural one a few years ago and now have sheep and goats and ponies and bunnies and hens and all that stuff!!! Crazy life for sure!
Sherri
Rose says
my rhode island red of 2 years started limping looks like she sprained her leg (not egg bound she laid and egg today and this happened yesterday,) no obvious signs no swelling thank G-d but it feels hot to the touch her leg and she is walking around with a weird limp like it looks like her foot can buckle under. Any advice would help! any thing i can give her naturally to speed up the healing and reduce pain etc thank you so much! also bumblefoot any advice for a diff hen. my chickens are free range with 2 roos
Elise says
Poor Java! I don’t have any advice, just compassion for her and you as you try to figure it out. Good luck with it. Hugs
Rochelle says
As you can already see, animals are quick recoverers by necessity. She’ll mend even faster if she has a safe place to amble about so that leg doesn’t get too stiff from confined quarters. It was a really good idea to confine her to a quiet spot at first; but if you are able to move her out during the day that would be best. Can you fashion a quiet spot for her out in your garden, or perhaps a junky playpen could be put to use? Good luck, and ((hugs)) for chicken sympathies.
Michele in Salem says
oh, poor girl! I had a chicken with bumble foot (a pretty big problem in the chicken foot world) and we had to lance it, drain it, apply antibiotic and bandage it for several weeks. When she got better we returned her to the coop and she hopped around on one leg for a very long time (probably about two months) but she eventually fully recovered. Your Java can too… it might be easier on her if you return her to the coop, at least for the nighttime hours, as soon as possible so she integrates back in to the flock well. A big hug to Java from all of her friends in The Salem Garden coop!
Lyndsey says
My first thought was also that it might be bumblefoot. There are online tutorials about how to deal with it if that’s what it turns out to be. Hope it’s something less serious and Java is well soon!
Renay says
My gal Ginger (named after the heroine in Chicken Run – love that movie!!!) hurt her leg. We took her in our cat box to the chicken vet. By the time we got there, she was walking fine and looking to get the heck out of there. Yes, just like people, nothing cures you like a trip to the doctor! haha
Lee Ann says
She could have a pulled or torn tendon and/or ligament that is stuck on her hip or knee bone. If you imagine how their bones look you can understand where that might happen. There is a grove in their bones where their tendons and ligaments are. That is what keeps them in place normally. She could have dislocated one of those. I would give her some time for the swelling to go down and her muscles to relax. She was most likely pulling a lot when trying to get herself free and most likely injured muscles and tissue instead of bone. Hopefully she will be able to stand and walk again on her own. But if she does not you could try to very gently and slowly manipulate her leg and see if the ligament will pop back into place. Kind of like a dislocated shoulder or hip. Gently massaging her leg at the joints will help also. It helps to relax the muscles and ligaments and give them a chance to go back to normal themselves. It also helps to prevent her leg from atrophy while she is not using it and it gets stiff. If she is stressed and in pain she will need some heat to help prevent shock and comfort her. I’ve helped a lot of chickens with injuries during my 35 years of having them and they are remarkable healers. She’ll most likely be fine but she may need a little help like you are doing for her. LOVE your website and blog, thank you for it. I’ll be sending healing thoughts your way.
Rose says
Hi cabernet, my Rhode island hen started limping yesterday now that i read your reply it could be a dislocated or torn tendon any advice how to massage it if its a torn tendon is it a problem if i massage it?
my rhode island red of 2 years started limping looks like she sprained her leg (not egg bound she laid and egg today and this happened yesterday,) no obvious signs no swelling thank G-d but it feels hot to the touch her leg and she is walking around with a weird limp like it looks like her foot can buckle under. Any advice would help! any thing i can give her naturally to speed up the healing and reduce pain etc thank you so much! also bumblefoot any advice for a diff hen. my chickens are free range with 2 roos
Ingrid says
I have a young chicken whom I am nursing through a rough patch like this. sh has lost the use of her leg. the vet put it in a splint. Suspected tendon damage. she was lying in her cage outside with a mum that adopted her as there was just the two of them. her mum stayed by her side for 5 days while I went out in the pouring rain and propped the little one up against the wall under the eves to feed it. It was very week and wouldn’t drink so i gave it sloppy bread and milk. I was sad because the its stepmother was helpless and she loved it. She had never had chicks before and this was her only chance at mother hood. I was Sad because I knew the mother would not accept another baby if this one died. Its a lonely sight to see only one hen in a garden. Two is our maximum for our little plot, anyway, the next day she looked wet and feverish there was no more cheeps to welcome me, I had to seperate them quickly, I took her into our garage joined onto the house and held her infront of the fan heater, and gave her som water in a droper with some human antibiotics just as a quick fix, and rang the vet. Now 4 days later she is well on the road to recovery I have been taking photos of her progress, as the vet said it will take 6 weeks to heal. And every day I take her out to graze with her mother and I sit on an upsid-down pot its hard as I have a back problem, but Id do anything for my feathered freands, they need my help cos I got them to rid my vege garden of all the pests and they have done such a good job. I told the vet that little penny black was going to reward me with golden eggs one day and he had a little tear in his eye I don’t know if it was because its such a touching story about this little chick comming from the farm with its grumpy aunty to the town or if he thought it was a rooster.
noreen says
We use a paste of turmeric powder mixed in mustard oil after heating it on fire and then apoly this warm mixture on the hurt part of the body ( humans and animals ) and then wrap the part where we apply it. it’s really helpful.
I have used it on my hen named Kishi Kishi who has injured her leg somehow and she has been limping and hoping around since then.