If you’ve ever sprained your ankle, you know how painful it can be.
The twisting, turning, or rolling of the ankle, the tearing of the tissue, and the swelling and the pain that eventually comes with it. This whole experience is quite traumatic to humans.
Do chickens suffer from sprained legs as well? Can chickens sprain their leg? This article looks into it.
Table of Contents
Chicken sprained leg:
Chickens can definitely sprain their leg, this condition is not limited to only humans. If your bird jumps off of a high roost, or off of any other high place, then the bird can sprain its leg.
If your bird is limping, and you see no sign of injury on the bird, then you may assume that the bird has a sprained leg, especially if you find the bird somewhere whimpering and huddled up
Here is what you’d need to do:
Inspect the bird:
You’d first need to check the bird for any wounds or breaks that may be causing the limping, if there are no outward signs that the bird is injured, like a wound or a break, then the bird likely has a sprained leg.
You can usually feel if your bird’s leg is sprained by feeling the bird’s leg. The injured area will be hotter than the rest of her leg and/or that area will feel tender.
A sprained chicken leg will look swollen and the bird will avoid walking on it.
Let her rest:
After you’ve concluded that the bird has a leg sprain then you’d need to isolate her to allow her injury to heal.
Keeping her isolated will force her to relax and rest, rest and relaxation will allow the leg to heal. Keeping her isolated will also keep her away from her flockmates who will peck at her because she is injured.
Make sure she gets enough feed and water while in isolation, also, make sure to give your bird vitamin b complex tablets. This vitamin helps with wound healing. Crush these tablets up and add them to your bird’s feed.
She may need a week or two to heal. Take her out of isolation after 1 week and see how she’s doing, if she hasn’t recovered put her back in isolation for another week.
Keep an eye on her:
You need to monitor the bird and make sure that she is eating and drinking while in recovery from the sprained leg, if she’s eating and drinking on her own then this is a good sign. A bird that isn’t eating and drinking is cause for concern.
Lower her perches:
Make sure that you lower any high perches that birds can jump off of and make sure to keep the birds away from any other high places that they can jump off of. This is especially true if you have a heavier breed chicken.
Larger birds are more susceptible to injuries like a sprained leg if they jump off of a roost that is too high. Their legs aren’t able to support their weight after jumping from a high height
A trip to the vet:
If you’ve isolated the bird for 2 weeks and she doesn’t seem to be getting better then you may have to take her to the vet.
The vet will examine the bird and offer painkillers as well as anti-inflammatories. These should help her with her recovery.
FAQ:
Can I give my chicken anything for pain?
Chickens can be given human medications for their injuries and sprains. Because they are so small you should avoid giving them strong medications.
Baby aspirin is recommended for chickens. If you’re giving your adult-sized bird baby aspirin give it 1/2 a tablet (81mg).
You can feed the bird asprin orally or diluate the asprin and give this drink to your bird. Make sure that the bird drinks all the water that you dilute the aspirin in.
Avoid giving aspirin if the bird is bleeding as aspirin has blood thinning and clot-inhibiting effects.
How long do chicken wounds take to heal?
The time it takes a wound to heal depends on the severity of the injury.
It could take anything from two weeks, to a month or longer for wounds on your bird to heal.
Conclusion
In conclusion, yes a chicken can sprain her leg, this usually happens when the birds jump off of a high perch.
If you think that your bird’s leg is sprained then you’d need to isolate her for a week or two to allow her to rest and recover. If the bird doesn’t recover in this time frame then take her to the vet
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chick Leg Problems, Chicken Falling Over To One Side, Crippled Chicken, Paralysis In Chickens Caused By Argas