Hen Limping

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FlaChickenMan

FlaChickenMan

Chirping
15 Years
Oct 8, 2008
51
10
96
Hastings, Florida
I have 3 RIR hens for 2 years. I came home today and found one really limping, kinda drags her one leg. They all have been really healthy all this time. I picked her up and tried to examine her bad leg, but I could not feel anything out of the ordinary ( I am a nurse so I know a little bit about anatomy). Anyone got any ideas, as it is cold (35) here in Fla and she can't get up in the coop??
Thanks
 
Hello, sorry about your hen. As you know, being a nurse, it could be a multitude of things like tendon, muscle, ligament. If she is dragging it, it sounds like it is a pretty bad injury. Can you tell if there is a break? Perhaps it could be broken high up into the thigh. If you don't want to take her to a vet (for a positive diagnosis) I would confine her and keep her as quiet as possible and warm. I would keep her in a small dog crate or box inside the house. Make sure she keeps eating and drinking for you too. You can offer her special treats like peas, yogurt, scrambled eggs to make sure she gets nutrition. I would keep her confined for at least a week, check her for improvement, and still keep her confined if the limp continues. Hope this help and maybe someone else can offer more advice too. Good luck.
 
I wouldn't think it would be frostbitten, it gets a lot colder than that here and we have never yet had a case of frostbitten feet; combs and wattles, yes. She might have sprained it in a best case scenario, in which case she needs to rest it; put her in a pen or cage where she can't use it too much, and crush up a couple of baby aspirin per day to mix with her food. If it is a sprain it can take a long time to heal, we had a pullet with a leg or foot injury, we never did figure out what, who was in a pen for about six weeks before she recovered. She might also just have a glass splinter or something in her foot, which you wouldn't see. Feel her hips too; sometimes they can be injured or evem dislocated.

Another thing that comes to mind is a neurological problem So again you would want to keep her where she can't use the leg too much, and start her on high potency vitamins, preferably aviacharge. If nothing else you can use polyvisol, but I can't remember the dosage, should be on here somewhere if you search. Watch and see if she gets worse; if it's neurological they gradually decline over a period of weeks, and become more and more uncoordinated. Might be Marek's, but not necessarily, and even if it is, you would still treat it with vitamins.

So basically; a baby aspirin or two in her food; vitamins in her water. Good luck.
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Oh also..give her the best food you can; whatever she likes; yogurt, cottage cheese, applesauce, are all good mixers to conceal the taste of meds in the food!
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the input. I was looking around and found that a vit D deficiency is a likely reason if there is no outward sign of trauma. I just crushed up a multivit without iron and gave her 3 cc's. I will put her in a chick crate I have so she wont use her leg much. ASA is on the way. I felt her hip and joints but no difference from her good leg?? Her toes are all fine too?? I have given them yogurt, cottage cheese and oatmeal treats for the last couple of days because that is their favorite (ate one whole cereal bowl full!) she is the leader of the pack, so I hate to see her not be able to do that. They all were sitting next to her on the floor of the coop, waiting for her lead to roost. I put her up on the roost (top of the nest boxes) and the rest jumped right up there, But I will take her out at dark (which is about 20 minutes) and put her in the house.
 
I hate to keep them in a separate pen too cause I always thought it was hard on them and their friends, too. Last summer we had a sick hen, she wasn't contagious, but I wanted to be able to treat her with meds, so I would put her in a dog cage and lug her up to the house, stick her under the bushes with her friends who were under there, then she could have her meds in her water but still be with her friends. Not good enough for her; she was a full sized shaver red hen but she managed to squeeze her way through a six inch gap in the top bars of the crate! I couldn't believe it, i didn't try that again; I was able to get her meds in pill form and give it to her in a treat; I knew where she always laid her eggs so I could just throw hers away!!
 
btw, two things; baby vitamins, I have read, are better than regular people vitamins, though you have the poultry ones coming anyway; also, give her chick grit, for the calcium. If she eats a lot of that, that's a clue she might have a nutritional deficiency.
 

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