Scrunchy Bulenda

In October, Scrunchy, the ginger coloured chicken was bought in for treatment.  Scrunchy is a 12 month old chicken who belongs to the Bulenda family of Greensborough.

Scrunchy was lame in the right leg after being chased by the dog about a week ago.  Due to the size of Scrunchy’s leg, she was x-rayed with our dental x-ray machine.  The x-rays confirmed she had a fracture.

 

Our dilemma?

How do we tell Scrunchy that she has a broken leg and needs to limit her restricted activity.  We decided to apply an external cast from a disposable syringe and attached it with a bandage and some Elastoplast.  Even chickens deserve pain relief after going through such a traumatic incident, so Scrunchy was placed on anti-inflammatory drops to be given orally. The good news – successful treatment!  The splint kept Scrunchy’s leg stable and supported it without rubbing too much. Scrunchy proved to be a very co-operative patient.  The splint was changed every 10 days to ensure that the splint remained in the correct the position and that the skin was looking healthy under the dressing.  After 4 weeks, the splint was removed.

There are not many chickens that can say their family is so devoted that they treated their broken leg with such care. All credit to the Bulenda family for their persistence in treating Scrunchy. 

Hopefully, Scrunchy now has a long life ahead of her, but stops playing with Jazzie the dog!