Marshmallow The Chicken Ron Hines’s Most Difficult Case
I made a hammock, similar to the ones I make when young birds come in with spraddle leg:
Unlike younger birds with softer bones, Marshmallow’s left leg could not be repositioned gradually. It was too ossified and the forces required would have destroyed the adjacent joint. The only option was to cut the bone where the healed fracture had occurred and reposition the two sections in a more correct alignment. I keep avian skeletons in my garage and use them to contemplate what my surgical options might be and practicing them when a tough case comes along:
Perfect tools for these procedures do not exist. I tend to make them myself or utilize tools designed for watchmaker repairs and heat or alcohol sterilize them:
In Marshmallows case after cutting the bone at the old fracture line, tiny stainless steel screws, one in each leg, held the injured leg in close to proper alignment until the bone refused:
Fourty four days after surgery:
Hi Dr. Hines!
Just a short update for you: Marshmallow has learned to run! I’ve been taking him outside daily and he’s learned to chase hens and runs to a fence through which he crows at our other rooster! He still limps/skips when he runs or walks, but it’s such a minor issue compared to how far he’s come that it doesn’t hold him back in the least, and I believe it may even continue to improve with more time. He’s doing really well and his temperament has improved dramatically, too. He no longer aggressively bites!
I hope everything is going well for you,
C.
Some of the products used:
Not all SS is corrosion resistant. Must be screws of marine quality such as these: #2 0.5 inch pan head phillips #391680725042 from Baltimore Marine Supply @ $6.28/100
Aluminum foam splint is suitable for splinting all extremities. Made of lightweight and malleable foam padded aluminum, it is soft and adaptable. The splint becomes rigid and supportive for fractured or injured limbs by shaping it into a simple C, W or T- shaped curve. Can be cut with ordinary household scissors. Mine came in a donated pallet of hospital supplies. The TECHMED product appears similar. But I cannot guarantee that that was the brand that I received.
A drop of Cyanoacrylic glue between the foam/aluminum splinting shackles and leg scales helps keep the shackles from riding up or down, which might impede circulation. Check foot temp. frequently. They Should be equal. Coloration should be equal and there should be no swelling below anything that circles the leg which might impede circulation. I have found no difference between consumer superglue product pictured and “medical grade” products for the uses I use them in avian and exotic animal medicine. But I cannot vouch for all brands and formulations.
