My hen hurt her leg

[nuthatched]

Would it be a tendon issue if it has only been bothering her for a week?

If the leg was injured and the tendon slipped, it's possible.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...and-caring-for-the-special-needs-chick.72163/ I'm not sure if it's indeed slipped tendon or if it's treatable as an adult.

 

[AidKD]

Yes, she definitely could have injured herself jumping off the roost.

What vitamins could I give her?

If it's an injury then I wouldn't worry so much about vitamins as fixing the leg. @nuthatched has given good advice!

 

[BagBegBog]

Wow! That sounds very similar to my situation. It would be very helpful to hear what the vet says.

Certainly. I'm not too optimistic it'll be any different from the good advice we've already gotten and/or our chickens may have different leg injuries, but I'll pass along whatever he tells me! The appointment is for late Monday. Our house is also expecting a baby to be delivered any day now (due date is Friday), so it's possible we'll miss the appointment should someone decide to arrive.

Our chicken is still in a bit of pain, the past two days seemed to be the worst of it. She frequently had her mouth open and was keeping the leg up. Today she's walking around again, and the limp seems less obvious. Keeping her confined to her isolation cage seems to have helped her from moving or using the leg too much, especially from jumping & roosting. I used the link @nuthatched provided to check her tendons, and they seem to feel okay to me. If I had to guess, I think our girl is injured where the toes meet, as it seems slightly warm and maybe a tad swollen compared to her right foot. It's very slight, and I'm not very confident that's right.

Every time I check on our chicken, I think of your chicken and hope she's feeling better! Good luck.

 

[BagBegBog]

Well, my chicken got a nice little check up, but sadly nothing really helpful to pass along.

He felt my chicken's legs, checked her toes and worked them both around a bit. He didn't feel any fractures or breaks, so that's good news. He said he thinks it's a sprain. Since our girl likes to party and jump around, it's a good idea to keep her in an isolation cage for a few weeks. At the time, she was standing on both legs and briefly walking around almost normally, which is a good sign she's on her way to recovery. We noticed she was doing better yesterday and had her out of her cage to watch her and after 5 minutes she was limping again so she's not ready just yet. We'll see how the two weeks go.

I'm not sure if any of that is useful, especially as since your chicken is obviously injured in her own way. Have you seen any change or improvement?

 

[Chichin Mama]

I am so sorry I didn't respond sooner. I hope that your chicken has made a full recovery! My hen continued in a downward spiral until she had lost movement in both of her legs. She lost all will to live and ended up passing away.