# Broken Femur in turkey poult



## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

One of my broad breasted bronze turkey poults has snapped its femur. I've splinted the leg - I clipped the feathers off of it and used a clothespin with medical tape to stablize it. The bird is up and moving about, which tells me that the splint is working. How long until the leg heals? I have no idea how long it takes for a bone to heal on a bird this age.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

How old? How big?


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

They are about 40 days old...when standing they are about 8" tall. A lot of body for the age, if you know what I mean...
I checked on it just a few minutes ago and its navigating the gangplank from the chicken coop to the grass. (at least it did once as I put it in there last night and now its outside). I have it confined to one of those small chicken tractors with another one for company. It has the leg folded up under itself like normal when resting, and the splint appears to be working. I'm wondering if I need to change the bandage, and when. As long as it has blood flow to that leg and can get about, it has a chance of healing, right? I think this is a hen, and I need a couple to winter over with my Midget Whites.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

It is growing rapidly at this age and the bone should mend quickly. I would check the foot for circulation at least twice a day, if not more often. At the first sign of decreased circulation you will need to get the pressure relieved. I would expect it to mend within a couple of weeks. In the meantime, do a feed restriction, especially since you plan to winter over. Offer only enough feed that they clean it up within 10-15 min, 3 times a day. You do not want to stress that break very much with too rapid growth.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

I'm thinking about putting it by itself and in a flat bottom dog cage with food/water to limit activity and that way I can monitor the food and the foot circulation. Not sure how it will do by itself though - maybe put the cage next to the others? Turkeys seem to be clannish like ducks.
The rest of them are all outside and sharing a pasture next to the ducks.
It is heals in 2 weeks, that would be fantastic, this is a nice bird, friendly and quite content at the moment.
Thanks for the info!


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Cage by itself where it could see the others would be good. Be careful not to shift the bones when you work on the splint.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

I've moved it to a dog cage, which is right next to the others and inside the duck pen. The ducks aren't happy but the poult is. she is doing well this morning - chirped at me when I talked to her. Judging from the neatness of the bedding, she is not moving arond much but can reach the food and water I put out.
I'm not sure how to handle removing the splint. I plan on leaving it in place as long as possible to let the bone heal.
I'll try to post the picture i have of the splint on the bird.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Yes, please. A pic may help. I'd probably snip a small area of tape to release it then re-tape that spot before snipping the next section and work my way up the leg.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

Today it seems to be OK, circulation is going on, but the swelling is worse. This picture is a couple of days old.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Color doesn't look good and if the swelling is worse it could be cutting off circulation. Do you have any vet wrap?


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Do you have any fresh basil in the garden or parsley?


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

Yes, I have both.
I rigged the bird up in the sling this morning. It was taking too long to struggle to get up, and the other leg isn't able to hold its weight.
Here is the sling, with the bird in it. As an encouraging note, it did flex the leg and open and close the foot while I was messing with it.
The idea is to get the other leg some support and allow it to freely move the injured leg while its recovering.










I figure that it will be a week tomorrow, thereabouts, i discovered it injured. I'll make a decision then based on the leg color and activity level if I'll keep it alive. I'm going to snip the tape and re-splint the leg this morning. I do have vetrap - I'll try that and see if that helps with the swelling. I think the majority of it is because of laying down most of the time. The bird is eating and drinking just fine.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

See if it will eat some fresh basil or parsley then. It will help with swelling and pain.


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## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

Love the sling idea. Hope the poult makes it.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

That's a 38C bra...LOL. I had to think quickly about what to use. That was in the 'to throw out' bag - had seen its day supporting me. So I cut holes for the legs in the cups, put the bird in it and used some twine to suspend it. The cups give it room to flex its wings and not get hurt, so it works really well. 
I cut the medical tape and the splint off of it, and redressed it with vetrap and the whole time I held the area of the break. It doesn't feel "broken" at this point. 
The bird is adapting to the sling. And the swelling has since gone down. And thanks for the tip on the basil and parsley. I cut some and it ate some of it.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

Big progress today. Its now opened both feet up and is standing on both of them squarely. The swelling has retreated to all but the 'elbow' joint, and its resting comfortably. The sling made a huge difference in the comfort of this bird. I wish I'd thought of it sooner!


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

That's great! Love the sling.


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## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

You oughta send that pic to the bra maker, let them know how supporting their product is! 
'Offering support for chicks of ANY size!'

lol


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

Update for today is that its learning to twist about and moving about more. I put another one in with it that was squashed by a larger bird. This one is ambulatory, but spends a lot of time laying down. Both are happy campers at the moment.
Circulation is good in that bad leg, and today when I hoisted the swing to check leg movement, the bird flexed it and bent the joint. No pain noises, either. 
So things must be healing.

I should contact Hanes. I bought that bra at Walmart and wore the heck out of it, and now its doing a second duty supporting a turkeys breast. 

ound:


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

I took the bird out of the sling, and removed the splint. The leg appears to be mended. There is a firm knot where the snapped bone was, and it is now using it underneath itself to push around. 
I hope in the next day or two it will start getting up again for food and water. Its doing really well considering it broke a leg and has survived this long. I think the key was that it was NOT a compound fracture and it was able to be splinted adequately to stabilize it.
I'll get a new picture of the leg when I feed them this evening.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Wonderful! Hope she continues to improve.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

This bird is still not getting up with success. I've been rotating it in and out of the sling, to give it a rest. Last night I went to put it back in the sling and it objected loudly - so its now in the "get tough or die" mode. I put the food and water on the floor of the cage, so it can crawl around to it and get what it needs. Now its just wait and see if it can regain the muscle strength and coordination to get up on its own.
I did note last night while handling it that the foot on the leg that snapped has full grasping power now on my finger. So strength is returning to its leg and its getting some control back crawling around on the cage bottom.
I'm going to continue on this path to see if it has the gumption to get up by itself. Its not suffering at this point so I'll give it a chance.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Not to discourage you, but "grasping" in a bird's foot is a relaxed state. It takes muscle control to spread the foot out, none to "grasp". I hope she improves though.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

Poult was up last night when I came home from work. Didn't stay up long, but was UP.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Well, good for her!


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