Old hen high-stepping and stumbling

[Eggcessive]

That could have caused the limping.

 

[StinkyAcres]

The dosage is 0.5 mg per kilogram (each 2.2 pounds.) you will need to weigh her or know her weight. The tablet is too much, but depending on weight, you might be able to cut it into 4ths and calculate a dose. I am offline until morning.

Just weighed her - she is 3.4 pounds. And the tablets are 15mg. It'll probably be too difficult to cut the pills into something that small, huh?

 

[StinkyAcres]

I took her outside with the other chickens for a little while. She really struggled to walk and kept crossing her legs and using her wings to balance. I'm not worried about her falling in the pecking order - everyone knew exactly who she was and steered clear, except for her elderly hen friend who stood by her for much of the time.

 

[Eggcessive]

Well if the tablets are water soluble, you could try crushing a 15 mg tablet between 2 spoons very finely, and mixing it into 10 ml of water or yogurt. The yogurt may work better if tablets are not water soluble. Stir well, then draw up into a 10 ml syringe. That would make it 1.5 mg per ml. Then give 1 ml which would be 0.5 mg dosage for a chicken who ruffly weighs 1.5 Kg. Please check my math.
Edited to say that the dosage would be 0.5 ml or 0.75 mg.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Well if the tablets are water soluble, you could try crushing a 15 mg tablet between 2 spoons very finely, and mixing it into 10 ml of water or yogurt. The yogurt may work better if tablets are not water soluble. Stir well, then draw up into a 10 ml syringe. That would make it 1.5 mg per ml. Then give 1 ml which would be 0.5 mg dosage for a chicken who ruffly weighs 1.5 Kg. Please check my math.

Thanks, I didn't think of doing that! I am bad at math, but I thought she needed 0.75mg of meloxicam per day. ?

 

[Eggcessive]

You are right! If she weighs 1.5 Kg, then she should get 0.5 ml or 0.75mg.

 

[LaFleche]

Here are some photos. She steps on her own foot a lot.

View attachment 3702911View attachment 3702912View attachment 3702913
View attachment 3702914

In your first picture her crop looks distended and quite low. Check her for crop impaction. Did you check if it empties properly over night?
Highstepping with the right leg can sometimes mean that the bird is trying to adjust or push an extended crop.

A partial crop impaction could also lead to emaciation over time and even more so when the bird is/was recently moulting.

 

[StinkyAcres]

In your first picture her crop looks distended and quite low. Check her for crop impaction. Did you check if it empties properly over night?
Highstepping with the right leg can sometimes mean that the bird is trying to adjust or push an extended crop.

A partial crop impaction could also lead to emaciation over time and even more so when the bird is/was recently moulting.

Thank you. I have considered sour crop. Since she's eating some days and not eating others, her crop has ranged from water-filled to empty to normal full feeling, so I do think it's emptying. Today and yesterday her crop did not fill because she's barely eaten anything. Right now it feels like a mostly empty water balloon, very soft and squishy. That said I have a hard time convincing myself it's something other than pain in her legs/feet - I think both her feet, but more so in her right foot. She is very unbalanced. She will often step on her feet and cross her legs when she walks and she falls backwards when she stands still. She had to use her wings and run (while sort of stomping/high-stepping) to gain her balance back a few times today. She wants to lie down a lot and hasn't preened her tail.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I have also checked her abdomen for any swelling. Her abdomen just feels like bone with barely any muscle on it.

 

[Eggcessive]

Will she eat mushy wet chicken feed or egg?