LydiaGP
Hatching
- Apr 6, 2015
- 4
- 0
- 7
Hello,
A little back story, just in case it's any help: I have raised 10 chicks from about 3 weeks old. They are around 12 weeks now. I have two bantam cochins, 2 black australorps, and 6 ameracaunas. I kept them on pine shavings with newspaper underneath when younger, and moved them to a coop outside about 4-5 weeks ago. I feed them Purina starter, and give them treats a few times a week (boiled or scrambled egg, vegetables, corn on the cob). The run is dirt with some leaves in it. The roosts are a flat piece of wood and closet rods. It has been a work in progress, and for a while might not have been the safest (I didn't expect the chickens to decide to roost where they did - I expected them to stay on the roosts instead of roosting on top of the pallets that make up the walls). Either way, I got it pretty safe a while back, but they do roost pretty high up. I'm wondering it perhaps in their normal roosting tiff for the best spot, this one got knocked off or injured. I'm working to come up with a better solution for them to roost. Anyways.
About a week ago I noticed one of my Ameracaunas was limping slightly. It wasn't too bad, and I had to watch her for a while to see if she was limping for sure. I picked her up and looked her over but didn't see anything amiss. At that point, I put some vitamins and electrolytes in the water. I kept an eye on her, and noticed she was limping more the next day or two. When I let the chickens out to play in the yard, she would come out, but would sit down shortly. If one of the other chickens chased her (or if I tried to pick her up) she would make a fast exit (using her wings to help), then resume her slow limping walk. So I moved her inside, into a cage. Newspaper on the bottom and pine shavings on top. I continued to put vitamins in her water, and put a very low roost for her to roost on. I was hoping that letting her rest would let it heal, whatever it is. I have thoroughly checked her over multiple times, and do not see any sign of bumblefoot, broken leg, or anything like that. I felt the whole length of both legs to try to find something different between the two but I can't seem to find anything. She also didn't seem to make any distressed noises at any point when I was gently pressing her joints and the whole length of her hurt leg.
The way she acts is, she stands up really high on her right leg and dangles her left. It can extend fully, because sometimes she just lets it trail behind her. Or she'll put it in front of her, extended fully. It's very obvious that she doesn't put weight on it unless she has to though. Often when she sits down, the foot is curled up, but it can also straighten up. She also will often stand on her right (good) foot and her left hock, especially when she's trying to get lower down (like to eat). She is able to roost, but when she stands up on the roost she is very shaky. When she sits down on the roost, she's OK. Her left foot is not usually holding onto the roost. Her droppings look normal, like a healthy chicken's.
I let her soak in an epsom salt bath this evening for about 10 minutes. It didn't really seem to have any effect.
Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do? Anything I can feed her to help her heal more quickly? Any ideas what might be wrong? I thought maybe a dislocation somewhere, but I can't find any evidence of it.
Thanks in advance for any help!
A little back story, just in case it's any help: I have raised 10 chicks from about 3 weeks old. They are around 12 weeks now. I have two bantam cochins, 2 black australorps, and 6 ameracaunas. I kept them on pine shavings with newspaper underneath when younger, and moved them to a coop outside about 4-5 weeks ago. I feed them Purina starter, and give them treats a few times a week (boiled or scrambled egg, vegetables, corn on the cob). The run is dirt with some leaves in it. The roosts are a flat piece of wood and closet rods. It has been a work in progress, and for a while might not have been the safest (I didn't expect the chickens to decide to roost where they did - I expected them to stay on the roosts instead of roosting on top of the pallets that make up the walls). Either way, I got it pretty safe a while back, but they do roost pretty high up. I'm wondering it perhaps in their normal roosting tiff for the best spot, this one got knocked off or injured. I'm working to come up with a better solution for them to roost. Anyways.
About a week ago I noticed one of my Ameracaunas was limping slightly. It wasn't too bad, and I had to watch her for a while to see if she was limping for sure. I picked her up and looked her over but didn't see anything amiss. At that point, I put some vitamins and electrolytes in the water. I kept an eye on her, and noticed she was limping more the next day or two. When I let the chickens out to play in the yard, she would come out, but would sit down shortly. If one of the other chickens chased her (or if I tried to pick her up) she would make a fast exit (using her wings to help), then resume her slow limping walk. So I moved her inside, into a cage. Newspaper on the bottom and pine shavings on top. I continued to put vitamins in her water, and put a very low roost for her to roost on. I was hoping that letting her rest would let it heal, whatever it is. I have thoroughly checked her over multiple times, and do not see any sign of bumblefoot, broken leg, or anything like that. I felt the whole length of both legs to try to find something different between the two but I can't seem to find anything. She also didn't seem to make any distressed noises at any point when I was gently pressing her joints and the whole length of her hurt leg.
The way she acts is, she stands up really high on her right leg and dangles her left. It can extend fully, because sometimes she just lets it trail behind her. Or she'll put it in front of her, extended fully. It's very obvious that she doesn't put weight on it unless she has to though. Often when she sits down, the foot is curled up, but it can also straighten up. She also will often stand on her right (good) foot and her left hock, especially when she's trying to get lower down (like to eat). She is able to roost, but when she stands up on the roost she is very shaky. When she sits down on the roost, she's OK. Her left foot is not usually holding onto the roost. Her droppings look normal, like a healthy chicken's.
I let her soak in an epsom salt bath this evening for about 10 minutes. It didn't really seem to have any effect.
Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do? Anything I can feed her to help her heal more quickly? Any ideas what might be wrong? I thought maybe a dislocation somewhere, but I can't find any evidence of it.
Thanks in advance for any help!
