Chicken can't walk properly, please help!

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Doity Boyds

Doity Boyds

In the Brooder
Jan 25, 2017
13
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Our 21 wk old hen Arthur Boyd can't seem to balance properly and we are not sure why.
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We saw no obvious cuts or swelling when inspecting her feet/legs (and applied some aloe for good measure).

She sleeps on the floor of the wooden coop (with about 15cm of straw bedding - sometimes has bare patches from scratching) with another chook rather than on their roosts (tree branches approx. 10cm diameter and other is approx.15cm). The other chickens haven't had the same issues under the same conditions. She is the smallest bird, but hasn't shown obvious developmental issues (that we know of or can tell).

She can still scratch and fly relatively well, has a good appetite, and drinks throughout the day.

Can anyone who has had the same or similar issues advise us on what to do?
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Here is a video, we will upload some close ups of her legs and feet tomorrow.

Any help is greatly appreciated
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Welcome to BYC!

I would bring her inside and put her in a dog kennel with food and water with vitamins you can offer her eggs and tuna often.I noticed in your video that she went to the corner which can mean that she is trying to avoid contact from another chicken.She could've of been bullied from the food for a while and developed a nutritional deficiency.Keep us updated
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Thank you for the reply.

She gets plenty of food but we got her at 16 weeks so unsure of her prior eating habits.

Do you know specifically what nutrient deficiency it could be?
 
No,I just know that a nutrition deficiency can cause weakness in the legs.They have vitamins for chickens at feed stores.
 
Cheers, its a public holiday in Aus so most shops aren't open. We'll pick up some vitamins etc. tomorrow morning and ask the people at the feed shop too.

In the meantime we've brought her inside in a big storage tub with a wire lid and some hay/food/water (added a tiny bit of garlic).
We fed all of them a bit of vegemite and coconut oil on chia seed toast, making sure Arthur Boyd got some. Vegemite has niacin, thiamine, riboflavin and folate. Coconut oil for easily metabolised amino acids. Garlic for worms. And we are about to treat her to some kefir for a source of probiotics, kefir is yeast and lactobacillus.

Hopefully she starts to improve with a pampering and a rest. We also noticed she walks on her feet a bit ie. trips over her feet.

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Last edited:
Update:
Gave her a bath with chamomile, aloe and coconut oil. She loved it.
Shes still eating well, had some more kefir and layers mix/pellets as well as a little chunk of coconut oil - which she also loved.
She's in the storage tub/make shift cage overnight. She seemed to miss her sisters at sunset so we put her in the coop for a minute and she was pecked by Sigmund Freud (Her sister - head chook) so we took Arthur Boyd out straight away.

We think there is a possibility that she has injured her hip or knee, it's hard for us to tell though. We are doing some research but if anyone has tips please sing out.

I suppose we could feel her legs and move them to check for reactions to pain? We have a friend who is a vet and might be able to look at her in the next few days, but the sooner its diagnosed the better.

Heres some more pics just for general health and another shot of her legs, will update tomorrow. (pics are just after bath)
Cheers!
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Feel her legs and move up and down feel which place feels the hottest.You can give her 81mg baby aspirin to reduce inflammation in the legs.
 
they way she wobbled makes it look like a hip injury
keeping her separated is a great idea, may want to up her protein intake as well
 
Doity Boyds said:
We fed all of them a bit of vegemite
Click to expand...
I luv that you are caring for your chicken as best you can and I hope all goes well.

But Vegemite!!! You are soooo lucky, I left Australia a few years ago (now in Paraguay) and have the tiniest sliver of vegemite left in my jar, I crave it so much I can taste vegemite just looking at the jar. Next week is my birthday so I shall indulge in half of the last sliver and pretend I never read a chicken got some!
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Jesting side, I do sincerely hope she recovers, offer her paw paw / papaya, its a wonderful fruit and in season so should be easy to get.
 
MasterOfClucker said:
Feel her legs and move up and down feel which place feels the hottest.You can give her 81mg baby aspirin to reduce inflammation in the legs.
Click to expand...

Felt her legs and didn't notice anything significant in temp or feel but im no vet. We forgot baby aspirin, is a weak dose of regular aspirin ok? Cheers

DwayneNLiz said:
they way she wobbled makes it look like a hip injury
keeping her separated is a great idea, may want to up her protein intake as well
Click to expand...

Will do. Yeah we were thinking something along those lines too. She can still run away just not too well, we gave her a litttle run this arvo and got some more footage that i'll post shortly.


MasAhora said:
I luv that you are caring for your chicken as best you can and I hope all goes well.

But Vegemite!!! You are soooo lucky, I left Australia a few years ago (now in Paraguay) and have the tiniest sliver of vegemite left in my jar, I crave it so much I can taste vegemite just looking at the jar. Next week is my birthday so I shall indulge in half of the last sliver and pretend I never read a chicken got some!
hit.gif

hugs.gif
Jesting side, I do sincerely hope she recovers, offer her paw paw / papaya, its a wonderful fruit and in season so should be easy to get.
Click to expand...

Thank you :) Sounds like you need to get someone to post some vegemite over to you asap! Try finding it online maybe? I hope you can get your hands on some soon!
 

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