Limping chicken

[Katie F]

That's great!

 

[sdaikus]

We are all healed! Thanks you for the support

 

[Katie F]

Yaaaay!!!! That's great news!

 

[henmania]

Im hoping someone here can advise. This morning I realised one of my hens was limping like she can't put too much weight on it but I've seen her run when she heard a noise. She acts normal, eats and drinks normally and walks about but her poop is very brown and watery/foamy. The weather is quite cold now in London about -3–4 degrees C. They sleep in a closed coop with wood chipping and hay and I've noticed her on some nights sleeping on the floor of the coop and not the roost. The coop is small so just room for the 2 of them. I though she injured her let but we couldn't see any visa ke injuries but we looked over her leg, she seemed fine but did squirm a bit when touching above the knee.

I know buff Orpingtons are quite hardy so I'm wondering Is this something that will heal slowly or something to worry about?

Edit: also, her limp is more of a jumping sort of limp than a dragging feet kind of limp

 

[sdaikus]

I gave my little one 1/2 a low dose aspirin for a couple days (I stuffed it in a raspberry) and that helped a lot and then she just continued to get better!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Im hoping someone here can advise. This morning I realised one of my hens was limping like she can't put too much weight on it but I've seen her run when she heard a noise. She acts normal, eats and drinks normally and walks about but her poop is very brown and watery/foamy. The weather is quite cold now in London about -3–4 degrees C. They sleep in a closed coop with wood chipping and hay and I've noticed her on some nights sleeping on the floor of the coop and not the roost. The coop is small so just room for the 2 of them. I though she injured her let but we couldn't see any visa ke injuries but we looked over her leg, she seemed fine but did squirm a bit when touching above the knee.

I know buff Orpingtons are quite hardy so I'm wondering Is this something that will heal slowly or something to worry about?

Edit: also, her limp is more of a jumping sort of limp than a dragging feet kind of limp

She may have injured it getting on/off a roost or something similar. Since it's just the two of them I won't suggest separating her to heal. Offer some extra poultry vitamins in the water (both can have that) and give them some egg (extra protein) for daily treat. If your 2 BO's are like mine, they seem to want to share everything, this will make it easier for you to manage. Neither the vitamin or egg will hurt either one.

If it is a leg injury and not something else, it will take a while to heal. My BO girl took a couple of weeks to stop limping after her injury. Look for any swelling/bruising/discoloration around the knee (hock joint) and inspect the bottom of her feet as well. Hopefully you will see improvement in a few days.

 

[henmania]

T

She may have injured it getting on/off a roost or something similar.  Since it's just the two of them I won't suggest separating her to heal.  Offer some extra poultry vitamins in the water (both can have that) and give them some egg (extra protein) for daily treat.  If your 2 BO's are like mine, they seem to want to share everything, this will make it easier for you to manage. Neither the vitamin or egg will hurt either one. 

If it is a leg injury and not something else, it will take a while to heal.  My BO girl took a couple of weeks to stop limping after her injury.  Look for any swelling/bruising/discoloration around the knee (hock joint) and inspect the bottom of her feet as well.  Hopefully you will see improvement in a few days.

thanks. Today when I let them out in the morning she seemed to be limping less than before but I'll have to check again when I'm home.
I cleaned her under foot yesterday too just in case something had gone in like a prick or twig. I hope it's just a minor injury but her roost isn't high (only about 5-10cm up from the floor of their coop and I'll give them some egg (minor infanticide lol). But my buffs seem to only want to eat their organic layer pellet mash that I make. Literally anything else apart from rice and bread that a put out for them they completely ignore. They don't touch corn or most fruits. Carrots, grapes or yoghurt even and I need to change that so their diet is more balanced.

Thanks for the advice though. I'll keep an eye on her for the next few days to see how she progresses. Apart from the limp she acts complete normal.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

thanks. Today when I let them out in the morning she seemed to be limping less than before but I'll have to check again when I'm home.
I cleaned her under foot yesterday too just in case something had gone in like a prick or twig. I hope it's just a minor injury but her roost isn't high (only about 5-10cm up from the floor of their coop and I'll give them some egg (minor infanticide lol). But my buffs seem to only want to eat their organic layer pellet mash that I make. Literally anything else apart from rice and bread that a put out for them they completely ignore. They don't touch corn or most fruits. Carrots, grapes or yoghurt even and I need to change that so their diet is more balanced.

Thanks for the advice though. I'll keep an eye on her for the next few days to see how she progresses. Apart from the limp she acts complete normal.

Sounds like a sprain. Hopefully she will recover soon.

If they love their organic mash, that's great! The feed should be nutritionally balanced, so no worries there

 

[henmania]

Sounds like a sprain.  Hopefully she will recover soon.

If they love their organic mash, that's great!  The feed should be nutritionally balanced, so no worries there

I really hope so. I just checked on her this morning. She puts even less weight on her leg by the looks of it. For the love of god, I can't find the source of the pain lol. I keep feeling around on her feet, leg and thigh but no reaction from her (not I know how parents feel lol). Even with her limp she ran to her food bowl when she came out of the pen too.

how long would you estimate the recovery time? I was going to ask if it's not showing signs of getting better within a few days or a week, should I take her to get it looked at?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I really hope so. I just checked on her this morning. She puts even less weight on her leg by the looks of it. For the love of god, I can't find the source of the pain lol. I keep feeling around on her feet, leg and thigh but no reaction from her (not I know how parents feel lol). Even with her limp she ran to her food bowl when she came out of the pen too.

how long would you estimate the recovery time? I was going to ask if it's not showing signs of getting better within a few days or a week, should I take her to get it looked at?

If it seems to be getting worse, having it looked at is a good idea.

A sprain/leg injury I have found takes a couple of weeks. When my BO hurt her leg, I "isolated" her in a large wire kennel and placed it in the run. She was still with the flock, I was just restricting her activity. Chickens try to "keep up" even when in pain, so I was afraid she would injure herself further. I let her have her own food water to the amazement of the Barred Rocks

, everyone wanted into the cage with her. I would let her out for a while before roosting so she could move around, scratch a bit and go to "bed" with the others. Every morning, I would take her from the roost and place her back in the kennel. I did get in a hurry and let her out after a few days thinking she was healed up (no limping), she was very active that day and by night was limping again, so she had a much longer stay kenneled. Now she is fine. I think she actually enjoyed all the attention.

Since you have just the 2 girls, I think it would be hard on them both if you isolated her, they really look like they stick together. You may be able to get creative and somehow lessen her activity level for a few days to see if it helps.