•3 min read•from chickens
My hen is recovering well from her frostbite and injuries from getting stuck in a fence!
Our take
Three weeks ago, I shared the heart-wrenching tale of my sweet hen who got stuck in a fence by the compost pile, leading to frostbite and a dislocated leg. I was worried she might not recover, but she’s proving to be a little warrior! Recently, she’s regained mobility and is holding her leg almost normally, bringing a wave of relief. I’m still cautious about sending her back to the flock, especially with the lingering cold. In an effort to boost her spirits, I introduced a dirt bath from my snake’s tank, and let me tell you, she’s loving life! Today, she hopped right in and is having the time of her life—dirt everywhere, but it’s worth it to see her happy and thriving again!
 | I posted about this situation 3 weeks ago, she was stuck in a fence by my compost pile for long enough to get frostbite and dislocated one of her legs! I was worried that we might have to kill her if she didn’t regain use of the leg, but she is a sweet girl and I wanted to give her a chance to heal! As she regained mobility she was still walking really crooked so I was worried tha she would be too weak to go back with the flock and I’d have to find her a new home! But this week she’s been doing so much better than I expected! She is holding the leg mostly normally now instead of having it angled in! And she’s got a lot of energy! You can see the injured leg in the first picture, it’s pealing because of th frostbite she got in that foot, so I’m going to wait a bit longer and hope that it heals a bit better before she goes back out! I’m worried that it’s still too cold and that the frostbite would get worse if I let her out in the snow! U noticed tha she was looking really disheveled and not grooming herself much so I got a bin and filled it with dirt from my snakes tank. I hoped that she would dirt bathe and that would trigger some more intense grooming behavior so she could get herself looking healthy again! The last couple days I’ve been giving her an opportunity to stretch her legs and access the dirt! Today she was eager to get out of her rehab cage, so I let her out and put the dirt bin down in the sun, and she hoped right in!!! She’s having the time of her fucking life right now! She’s been in it for like half an hour and is getting dirt all over my kitchen, but I’m just so glad that she’s feeling well enough to do normal chicken thighs again!!! [link] [comments] |
Read on the original site
Open the publisher's page for the full experience
Related Articles
- My hen survived a dog attack, laid 3 eggs, and took a supervised garden stroll like a Victorian lady in recovery 😭💪About a week ago, my sweet (and extremely dramatic) hen was attacked by our dog in what can only be described as one of the worst moments of my life. By the time I got to her, she had a pretty horrific neck injury and I truly didn’t know if she was going to make it. I brought her inside and set up a full basement ICU situation — crate, daily wound care, antibiotic ointment, constant emotional support (for me). Meanwhile, she’s been acting like this is a mild inconvenience at best. Fast forward to today: • It’s been one week • She has laid 3 eggs (because apparently near-death is not a valid excuse to miss work) • Her wound is closing up beautifully (still looks gnarly) • AND today she enjoyed a supervised yard stroll like a tiny Victorian woman convalescing after “a spell” Picture it: gentle pecking, slow dignified steps, pausing to observe the grounds… absolutely zero acknowledgment that she scared 10 years off my life. Pissed I'm about to bring her back to her kennel. She’s alert, curious, chatty as ever, and very much under the impression that she runs this household. I’m still taking reintroduction slow and keeping a close eye on her, but I am honestly blown away by her toughness. Chickens are way more metal than we give them credit for. Her name is Blackhat — which feels less like a name now and more like a warning. submitted by /u/fiddleleefe [link] [comments]
- Broken keel bone. Help needed.For 3 weeks, we thought she sprained her leg or dislocated something. But today I finally saw it, her sternum was crooked. I googled and found nothing more than the internet advice confirming that she will be in chronic pain, reluctant to move, decreased appetite. There were no advices on how to manage or help heal her injuries. So I've turned to reddit. I have a few pictures and videos that I think might help. She's a 19-20 week feral hen of junglefowl and some domestic breed. This is likely her maximum size, slightly less than 500g, or ~1 pound. No eggs so far, the chicks that appear are other rescues. All of them were picked up by landscapers. Their mothers were scared off by the chainsaws and what not, so they gave out the lost chicks. One morning, I went to feed them and found her worm crawling, flapping on the floor trying to get to the food. I thought it was her legs that sprained, dislocated or broke, but I never found any swelling, blood under the skin or odd bends that indicated any of those. I never thought to look at her sternum. So I poked two holes in a spare towel, put her legs through, and tied her wings to her body to stop her from breaking out. I then tied a string to the towel hammock and hung it up. She spent most of her time suspended. Other injuries: She escaped a few times, and managed to scrape some skin off when she struggled on the ground. Last week her hammock unraveled and trapped her poop with her. It gave her diaper rash, I think. Her skin was reddened for a few days. Now it's a little pink. Food: Initially, she was depressed, refused to eat or move. I managed to entice her to eat by offering mealworms. Her appetite is a little better now. She rejects larger food such as whole soybeans and peanuts. They mainly eat crushed corn, and various mixed seeds. I saw on the internet on chicken care that people were feeding them fermented meal by soaking them in water. I did the same, monitored the smell, and fed them to the chicks/chickens. Their protein and calcium demands were met by fish meal. Pet multivitamin crushed in their food. Commercial chicken grit freeflow. Bedding: Kitty litter. Large wood pellets. They have not shown any interest in eating the litter, despite some warnings on the internet. They scrape and kick the pellets for dropped seeds, so it looks like they are having enrichment and fun with it. Injury suspect: I think the other chickens jumped on her back. Ever since they were chicks, they preferred jumping on the back of another instead of the ground. They also bicker over the best perch even though I've given them plenty of perches the same height. Or she could have jumped down and landed wrong. Her leg splays out, in different directions and often straight. She often only moves around the moment before she has to poop, which results in her rolling or dragging herself in her poop whenever I hang her too low so I can set her to half squat instead of splaying straight. For the last few weeks, while she was incapacitated, I massaged her with Epsom salt bath(I though she had a sprain). Then dried her and gave her excersises, in a cycling motion, one leg, the other leg, than both together. She was so reluctant to move her legs that her muscles seemed to atrophy. Her legs got thinner, left limp and right stiff, then last week, left stiff and right limp. We began thinking that she forgot how to walk. Now, I changed her harness support. She lies on straight bars, to align her keel. Her legs dangle down. Some weight is taken off her belly with the same stringing of her harness. She can no longer spin in circles and her poop mostly collect in the same place. P.s The chicks aren't hers, they are other rescues. She's an unwitting foster mom and finds no joy in hanging around the chicks. The chicks are very dependant on her and will begin crying loudly if they don't see her. She ignores them. Do I have anything to change or be aware of? I'll appreciate any piece of advice anyone can give. submitted by /u/EpilepticMushrooms [link] [comments]
- Help with leg injury - video but not disturbing.I got this hen from a local woman who couldn’t care for her. I’d like to try my best to rehabilitate her. She said she came home and the hen appeared to have a broken leg it was all sprawled out. She had her for a week and a half injured before I got her. I believe she’d been laying on the ground for that time and could not stand even on her seemingly non-injured leg. In this video she has no wrap or splint and she keeps both her legs way up to her chest and when she is on the ground they stick out in front of her. She has open wounds on her elbow joints where she was laying like that. I now have her in this harness 24/7 to keep her off her legs and have makeshift splints to keep her legs stretched out. I’m wondering if anyone has had a chicken do this and what might have helped? I’m really hoping she can make it through and walk again she’s so stinking sweet. submitted by /u/CarefulLifeguard7647 [link] [comments]
- Issue with my naked-butt chickenAs you well know if you life in the northern part of the US, this last winter was rough. We had a large stretch where it was -20 degrees plus. During that time, things were tough. I confined by birds to the inner coop for their safety, and brought them out hot water ever couple of hours. During this time, while everyone was inside and stressed, two of my chickens somehow got a poop balls on the fluffy feathers on their butts. I couldn't get them what to bathe them, so I tried working them with my fingers and breaking them off a bit. Eventually, two of my birds had feathers rip off their butts with poop balls. I used hen healer paste on them to cover their butts the rest of the winter, but this barred rock never grew those feathers back. Her butt is also somewhat chapped looking. My fear is that she got slight frostbite on her butt. Since then, she's been getting picked on. I put a saddle coat on her to cover her body, but they would pick at her bare butt. Today, I saw some blood near her vent, so I quickly removed her, cleaned the slight wound, sprayed her with silver spray, and rubbed the area with hen healer. Her poop is normal, she's active, eating and drinking. I checked her for parasites and found none. I saw no maggots or anything to make me think fly strike either. I think she has lost some weight, but I think it's because she's been broody and being bullied. I'm going to keep her in this kennel until she heals up a bit. Has anyone dealt with the bare butts? Why did only some of the feathers grow back since January? Will she be bare forever? How can I help her grow her feathers back so they stop picking on her? submitted by /u/Cheeseaisleinheaven [link] [comments]
Tagged with
#chicken behavior#chickens#fear of chickens#chicken breeds#chicken myths#chicken anatomy#chicken eggs#bird behavior#frostbite#hen#leg#rehab#dirt bath#healing#injuries#mobility#rehabilitation#dislocated#grooming#energy