Broken keel bone. Help needed.
Our take
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.
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