Limping hen - arthritis?

[chickchickie]

hi all this is a continuation of something I asked about previously ~6 months ago

9 y/o hen (breed: sex linked red star) has been walking funny for a while now. Took her to see a vet ~6 months ago and vet gave her some nutritional supplements and an antibiotic, both of which have long since run out, and had me switch her to a starter feed from her previous diet (I now feed her a mixture of starter feed + rice + birdseed mix consisting of millet corn sunflower seed and sorghum because she spent most of her life eating rice + birdseed + whatever she found in the yard and compost when she was let out, so I didn’t know if a complete change in diet would be too much for her in her old age). She overall doesn’t seem to have gotten any worse or better (it seems to get worse for her when her weight goes up and get better when her weight goes down. Maybe the switching feeds helped some too I don’t know). Has stopped laying since this summer (finally! Vet said the laying at her age was bad for her so hopefully she doesn’t start back up again). Walking is either hard or painful for her because she definitely does not move around as much as she used to and prefers to sit if she can. When she walks, she limps and she now hates climbing/jumping up to roost (can still do it but struggles and clearly dislikes the effort). With the new information, anyone have any experience with this? Thoughts on what it might be and how to help? It’s hard for me to get her to a vet so would love any advice from people who have seen similar things in their old hens before I try vet again. Lives with a roo, same age and diet. He is fine.

Here’s a video of her walking:

Just kidding it won’t let me upload a video. Basically her walk is a bit stiff, like a human with bad legs or hips might be, and she’s not very fast anymore. More times than not, her tail also drops and it’s almost like the penguin walk that eggbound hens do, but not as dramatic.

 

[aart]

Just kidding it won’t let me upload a video.

You need to upload vids to youtube or other platform, then link here.

 

[ChickNanny13]

2x @aart It would help seeing a video of her.

Since you have observed she does better when her weight is down, her weight could be part of the issue. It's better she get all the nutrients from her feed, the added stuff she may like but added calories she doesn't need ... IMO

Where are you located? You should update your profile with your location so we don't asking. Fall brings on shorter days, chickens require about 14hrs of sun/light to keep laying. She hasn't laid since this past Summer, assuming the Vet cleared her of not being egg bound?

 

[chickchickie]

Thanks a lot everyone and sorry for the late response - here is a video of her walking. The mild penguin walk is not obvious in this video (she didn't do it as much this time and she sat down after that video so I didn't want to force her to walk again for the camera) but you can sort of see it starting to happen for a brief moment.

I'm located in Southeast USA. Vet has cleared her of egg binding and actually said she was a bit underweight when I took her in last time. She was doing particularly bad the week I made the vet appointment. We had to wait a bit before the vet had an available time slot though, and by the time the vet appointment came around, she was walking around more and seemed better. Between when she was doing particularly poorly and when the appointment rolled around, she also hadn't eaten much for a few days, I'm thinking maybe because of the summer heat.

At the time, I didn't notice the apparent connection to her weight for how well she would look. I think she weighs about the same now as she did when she made the trip to the vet. I am not her primary caretaker for parts of the year (which is why there is a 5, 6 month gap between my last post about this and this post, as opposed to a 2 or 3 month gap). When I got her back a few weeks ago, she weighed a little less (I suspect she was slightly underfed for the months I was not with her) and I thought her leg problems were getting better because she looked more active (but maybe that was just because she was hungry?). She's put on a little more weight these days (but not as much as during her heaviest) and I've noticed her limping coming back as well. I don't want her to be underfed and hungry, but do you think this is maybe some kind of joint problem that I should be managing with weight? Or is due to something else/there is something else I can do for her.

As for the eggs, that I know of, she has not laid since the summer but you're right in that it could be due to the change of seasons. But since the vet said the laying is very taxing for older chickens, I'm hoping she's done laying and isn't going to start back up in the spring, especially since she's not on a laying feed. She's definitely getting older - some of her feathers turned white in her last molt, like we get gray hairs...

 

[aart]

here is a video of her walking.

Says video is private...might need to change the settings for it?

 

[chickchickie]

Changed the settings - hopefully works now! Thanks!

 

[aart]

Changed the settings - hopefully works now! Thanks!

It did.
She definitely is not moving comfortably....but she's 9yo, which is pretty darn old.

Vet has cleared her of egg binding and actually said she was a bit underweight when I took her in last time.

Which was 6 months ago?
Who takes care of her the rest of the year?
What do they feed her?

and had me switch her to a starter feed from her previous diet (I now feed her a mixture of starter feed + rice + birdseed mix consisting of millet corn sunflower seed and sorghum

Kind of an odd diet. Is the bird seed spillage from a wild bird feeder or do you intentionally give her that?

 

[chickchickie]

She only had the 1 vet visit in her life about 6 months ago, where the vet said she didn't think it was egg binding and that she was also a bit underweight. (note, she has not been underweight her whole life but because she had not been eating in the days leading up to the appointment, she got a little lighter at the time. and I suspect she probably weighs about the same now as she did at the time of the appointment given that she was underfed for a while when I was away). When I am not with her, extended family members take care of both my birds for me. They do everything they think they need to do but are admittedly not quite as attentive or knowledgeable about chicken care. I've told them to feed both chickens about a cup of feed a day (typically, spread out in 2 feedings, 1/2 cup per feeding). I pre-mix the feed for them (the bird seed and rice I intentionally mix in. It's a bit of a long and not really relevant story why they started eating this diet but the reason why I've continued mixing it in to their feed is because both birds are old and they grew up on it with no observable problems so I didn't want to completely change their diet out of the blue since they'd gotten used to it). In the months I am not there, I don't believe they are allowed out to free range as much, but I do believe they are still pretty regularly given vegetable scraps for supplemental nutrition and occasionally table scraps. I've inferred that at some point though, my relatives started feeding them less than I told them to because I was told the leftover food they didn't eat every day was apparently attracting a lot of wild animals such as rats.

 

[ChickNanny13]

From my experience, I would cut out table scrapes & veggie scraps and feed strictly their commercial feed, leaving out the rice & seed mix. When you treat with healthy treats, it off sets the nutritional value of the feed that they need. Treats should not be more than 10% for their diet. I'm thinking she jumped off the roost and landed wrong, causing a sprain. Her loosing weight is less pressure on her leg/foot. Assuming you've examined her for bumble foot?

 

[chickchickie]

Hi! Yes she does not have bumblefoot. Do you think if it was a sprain, it would take this long to heal though? I'd say the limp has been present for 6-7 months already. Hard to tell for certain from the video if it's just 1 leg or both having issues but I think it is both, especially as both her legs also appear turned inward slightly and I never see her standing on one leg, just hobbling around on both.