5 weeks old Americauna hen with leg injury

I bought my hens about 5 weeks ago. None of them had any injuries, anomalies or illnesses. Today I noticed one of the hens just sitting and resting. After about an hour noticing that she has not moved i investigated further and noticed her right leg out to the side. In trying to get her to stand to evaluate her, she has a limp and favors the left side. They are kept in a small coop and I am unsure how she could have injured it and not sure if it could be anything else. Any help is greatly appreciated....

I would check the legs for any signs of swelling or broken bones.

sbonney said:

I bought my hens about 5 weeks ago. None of them had any injuries, anomalies or illnesses. Today I noticed one of the hens just sitting and resting. After about an hour noticing that she has not moved i investigated further and noticed her right leg out to the side. In trying to get her to stand to evaluate her, she has a limp and favors the left side. They are kept in a small coop and I am unsure how she could have injured it and not sure if it could be anything else. Any help is greatly appreciated....

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Vitamin/mineral deficiency. That's the first thing to suspect. Any feed older than three months, especially in warm weather, loses nutritional value. That can lead to all kinds of problems in the flock. Or could be this chicken isn't eating much. Anyway, I would put a good broad vitamin/mineral supplement in their water and I would try to individually treat the bird with additional need supplements.

Check this out and see if it might be like this. There are also some B vitamins that cause motor skill problems
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/220/slipped-tendon-perosis/

Hello,

Do you know if they were vaccinated for Marek's Disease when they were young? Chickens who develop the disease can display a spit-leg posture (one leg forward one leg back).

If you have a coop on the smallish side, then you might have an overcrowding problem. Chooks who are too confined can become aggressive with each other and fight and peck each other quite seriously. She could have been on the receiving end of some bullying by the other hens, or tried to get away and got caught in the wire/mesh.

First thing is to isolate her so she won't get picked on by the other hens and keep a close eye on her for 48 hours, and see if she is trying to get up and eat/drink. Also observe to see if the leg swells up in a particular area like around the ankle or ligament areas. Place some vitamins in her water during this time too, like MrsBachbach said in her post to cover all the bases. A nice warm bath can help with any swelling and pain in the sore leg, but be careful not to stress the hen out too much if you do do this.

Hope this is helpful.

Thanks all for suggestions and advice. I quarantined her for about 24 hrs and leg is back to normal. Weird.....