On Thursday I found her limping around, I had no idea what happened she's one of my most healthiest hen's and has never had problems before although she is turning 5 and has slowed down a bit this year.
I took her to the vet asap, they did an x-ray, nothing was broken. They determined it was a soft tissue problem but couldn't give details about what happened, speculating a muscle sprain. I left with painkillers and to keep her resting away from the others.
On Friday, a family member let her out of the chicken hospital in the morning so she could free range with the others despite her limping. I was having lunch and was going to bring her back in. Not even 5 minutes later whilst I'm eating, a fox jumped into our garden and started pursuing one of my hens. My girl with the limp was away from the action but got clearly spooked when it happened and dashed away after being scared off by us. She had over exerted herself by running for her life and now her previous injury had become much worse. After the fox disappeared, the limping leg gave out and she collapsed in front of me with her wings out stretched.
So fast forward to now. I've kept her inside, given her painkillers + electrolytes in water twice a day. I let her sunbathe outside with the others when she gets restless inside. There's been no improvement in the last 3 days. She pecks at her pellets a little, has two or three mealworms, pecks a few times at mash and other fruit treats she likes. But her appetite is abysmal, she doesn't want to eat. Her good leg is now considerably weaker although not injured, she can still hop on it if she desperately needed to. She just sits around and leans on her wing to balance. The toes on her bad leg curl and she can't move the foot at all, it's like it's paralysed. It doesn't react to my touch.
I wish I could have taken her to the vet asap but couldn't get an emergency appointment for the avian specialist and now it's the weekend and bank holiday (in UK). I have to wait until Tuesday to call. I am getting very worried her injury might be permanent or she may need surgery. I suspect she has torn an important muscle in her leg and maybe there is nerve damage.
Has anyone experienced this with one of their chickens before? As she sits around all day, I'm worried her weight is also crushing her foot and bad leg as she presses against it whilst seated. I will attach images to show what her foot looks like. Her paralysed foot feels much hotter than her other foot.
Thanks for any help guys, I just want my hen to get back to her old self again. She's a cream legbar and a natural forager, this is so tragic what has happened to her. She desperately wants to walk alongside her flock mates again, I hate seeing her like this.
I took her to the vet asap, they did an x-ray, nothing was broken. They determined it was a soft tissue problem but couldn't give details about what happened, speculating a muscle sprain. I left with painkillers and to keep her resting away from the others.
On Friday, a family member let her out of the chicken hospital in the morning so she could free range with the others despite her limping. I was having lunch and was going to bring her back in. Not even 5 minutes later whilst I'm eating, a fox jumped into our garden and started pursuing one of my hens. My girl with the limp was away from the action but got clearly spooked when it happened and dashed away after being scared off by us. She had over exerted herself by running for her life and now her previous injury had become much worse. After the fox disappeared, the limping leg gave out and she collapsed in front of me with her wings out stretched.
So fast forward to now. I've kept her inside, given her painkillers + electrolytes in water twice a day. I let her sunbathe outside with the others when she gets restless inside. There's been no improvement in the last 3 days. She pecks at her pellets a little, has two or three mealworms, pecks a few times at mash and other fruit treats she likes. But her appetite is abysmal, she doesn't want to eat. Her good leg is now considerably weaker although not injured, she can still hop on it if she desperately needed to. She just sits around and leans on her wing to balance. The toes on her bad leg curl and she can't move the foot at all, it's like it's paralysed. It doesn't react to my touch.
I wish I could have taken her to the vet asap but couldn't get an emergency appointment for the avian specialist and now it's the weekend and bank holiday (in UK). I have to wait until Tuesday to call. I am getting very worried her injury might be permanent or she may need surgery. I suspect she has torn an important muscle in her leg and maybe there is nerve damage.
Has anyone experienced this with one of their chickens before? As she sits around all day, I'm worried her weight is also crushing her foot and bad leg as she presses against it whilst seated. I will attach images to show what her foot looks like. Her paralysed foot feels much hotter than her other foot.
Thanks for any help guys, I just want my hen to get back to her old self again. She's a cream legbar and a natural forager, this is so tragic what has happened to her. She desperately wants to walk alongside her flock mates again, I hate seeing her like this.
