Does something LOOK wrong with this hen's leg? She is limping.

[ChickenLittle5]

My chicken is limping again. I'm posting some photos. Can anyone see anything that might be the cause? I checked for bumblefoot, but that doesn't appear to be the case. The other night my husband declared "something seriously wrong with the way that leg looks", but I don't see it. It looks normal to me. A few minutes later my husband decided it looked normal too, but she is still limping so I thought I'd ask here.

Some background information: She is a Bielefielder and is just shy of 1-yr old. She hatched sometime last April. We purchased from a hatchery and she started limping a few days after arrival. We gave her electrolytes and she improved, but the limping returned serval times as a chick. Now it is back and she has been limping for several days now. Can anyone tell what might be wrong? Are there any type of chicken supplements I can give here that don't need to be mixed in with water? Maybe some type of "treat" that might help. She is always been weaker than the other chicks her age, but never limped this long at one time.

 

[azygous]

Lameness is one of the most puzzling issues chicken keepers face from time to time. Absent more symptoms that can point in one definite direction or another, we are left wondering what we can try, if anything.

Currently, I have two separate lameness issues in my flock. One is an older hen that, like your hen, limps and favors one leg. When standing at rest, she won't place the foot completely flat on the ground. It's not gotten worse over the many weeks since I noticed it, but it's gotten only a tad better. I've been treating her with one or two 81 grain chewable aspirin a day to relieve pain and hopefully treat any tissue inflammation.

The other lameness issue is much more serious. It resembles Marek's, although the lameness of two pullets currently affected hasn't progressed in the same manner Marek's does. One pullet lost all use of both legs for a couple of months and is now recovering full use of her legs. The other pullet had fully recovered from her first bout with this strange illness, but she relapsed three days ago. She seems to be improving with treatment consisting of Tylan 50, vitamin E, B-1, 2, 6, and an anti-viral med and St John's Wort.

If your hen gets worse, you might want to check out my thread and how I'm treating these two pullets. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...llet-going-lame.1432738/page-44#post-24162783

 

[SulkyBantam]

Have you checked for bumblefoot?

 

[ChickenLittle5]

Lameness is one of the most puzzling issues chicken keepers face from time to time. Absent more symptoms that can point in one definite direction or another, we are left wondering what we can try, if anything.

Currently, I have two separate lameness issues in my flock. One is an older hen that, like your hen, limps and favors one leg. When standing at rest, she won't place the foot completely flat on the ground. It's not gotten worse over the many weeks since I noticed it, but it's gotten only a tad better. I've been treating her with one or two 81 grain chewable aspirin a day to relieve pain and hopefully treat any tissue inflammation.

The other lameness issue is much more serious. It resembles Marek's, although the lameness of two pullets currently affected hasn't progressed in the same manner Marek's does. One pullet lost all use of both legs for a couple of months and is now recovering full use of her legs. The other pullet had fully recovered from her first bout with this strange illness, but she relapsed three days ago. She seems to be improving with treatment consisting of Tylan 50, vitamin E, B-1, 2, 6, and an anti-viral med and St John's Wort.

If your hen gets worse, you might want to check out my thread and how I'm treating these two pullets. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...llet-going-lame.1432738/page-44#post-24162783

Thank you for the link. That thread is long, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to read it, but I'll definitely look through it. Do the vitamins you use need to be mixed with water? I'd love to find some in treat form to give her. With the water, I never know how much she gets.

Have you checked for bumblefoot?

Yes, I checked and don't think that is it.

 

[Eggcessive]

Pictures of the bottoms of the feet may be helpful. The nails appear long, especially the middle one on the right foot. They can get caught on thigs and be ome injured. I would trim them slightly with dog nail clippers. Use corn starch or flour if there is bleeding, but don’t trim too much at a time. There also is some scaly leg mites. Those may be treated either by rubbing an oil into the leg scales1-2 times weekly, and castor oil, vaseline, or mineral oil are good ones. The other common treatment is to use ivermectin pour on 5 mg per ml. Dosage is 0.1 ml for every 2 pounds of weight applied to the back of the neck along the spine. Here is a good article on trimming nails:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/when-how-to-trim-chickens-nails/

 

[azygous]

The vitamins I use are in tablet form and I just stick it right into the beak for the chicken to swallow. The water soluble ones such as B vitamins can be dissloved in water, but you are right in wondering how much is getting into the chicken.

 

[ChickenLittle5]

Pictures of the bottoms of the feet may be helpful. The nails appear long, especially the middle one on the right foot. They can get caught on thigs and be ome injured. I would trim them slightly with dog nail clippers. Use corn starch or flour if there is bleeding, but don’t trim too much at a time. There also is some scaly leg mites. Those may be treated either by rubbing an oil into the leg scales1-2 times weekly, and castor oil, vaseline, or mineral oil are good ones. The other common treatment is to use ivermectin pour on 5 mg per ml. Dosage is 0.1 ml for every 2 pounds of weight applied to the back of the neck along the spine. Here is a good article on trimming nails:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/when-how-to-trim-chickens-nails/

I'll have to get the kids to help me with the photos of the bottom of her foot. She is easy to catch, but not so easy to hold in a position while I take a photo. I'll try to get some this week. As for the nails, I had no idea chickens needed their nails clipped! Fortunately, I have the dog nail clippers so I should be able to do that.

What makes you think scaly leg mites? I'm going to take your word and treat for them on all the chickens, but I'd love to know what I should be looking for in the future to spot them. All the photos I see online must be of severe cases and I assume my girl must have a more minor case?? Should I be treating the coop too? I had planned on posting here to see if folks treat the coops regularly for any mites/lice as preventive measures along with their spring cleaning. I guess I'll do that in a separate post, too.

The vitamins I use are in tablet form and I just stick it right into the beak for the chicken to swallow. The water soluble ones such as B vitamins can be dissloved in water, but you are right in wondering how much is getting into the chicken.

Where did you find the tablet vitamins? Or are you just using people vitamins?