Chicken with arthritis

BantamFan4Life said:

Do you have The Chicken Health Handbook? If so, it says the symptoms and treatment for arthritis in chickens. I could look it up for you if you want.

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Mountain Peeps said:

I do have it. The info wasn't super helpful though.

Thanks anyway!

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BantamFan4Life said:

Your chicken could have either bacterial (staphyoloccal) arthritis or viral arthritis. If she has viral arthritis, all your chicken would have it. So that's not likely. She could have bacterial arthritis, however, so I would scrutinize the part of her leg that seems to be bothering her, and evaluate whether there seems to be inflammation and/or swelling. If there isn't any, then you aren't dealing with arthritis, and probably not a breakage of bones either. Check for coordination or possible muscle strains too. If she seems to avoid using a certain area of her leg, it's likely to be a muscle injury. I'm guessing that's what you are dealing with, or Gracie has what my Buff Orpington had earlier this year. To check for what my Buff Orp had, test the feeling in her legs. If there seems to be a lack of response to poking and pain, she is likely to be getting slow-moving paralysis of her legs like my hen.

I would say to try antibiotics for possible bacterial arthritis, but I would only do that if you are sure that's what she has, because improper use of antibiotics can be deadly.

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BantamFan4Life said:

Also, I forgot to mention:

The best way to check to see if your chicken is experiencing paralysis is to do this: tuck the upper half (above the knuckle on a human) of the toe under the lower part of the toe and let the chicken stand by itself. If she immediately moves her toe up, then there's no paralysis because she felt the uncomfortable toe being tucked under. If she doesn't do anything, then she is experiencing paralysis and she has little feeling in her toes/feet, which is why she didn't move her toe up.

Hope Gracie will get better

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Mountain Peeps said:

Thanks for the info! She's very responsive to me squeezing both her legs in different areas. The best way to describe the way she hobbles is that she looks very stiff. Kind of like when you injury a muscle in your own leg and don't like to put weight on it.
I'll try that Thanks!

And thanks for responding!

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BantamFan4Life said:

You're welcome. Could you possibly post a video of her walking?

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Mountain Peeps said:

I can try.

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