2 chicks with sudden limp on same side?

[tricialemon]

This is my first hatch, and I have one chick that hatched 2.5 weeks ago and 3 that hatched a little less than 2 weeks ago.

The first chick was absolutely thriving, same with the others until this morning. Last night none of them showed signs of lameness or lethargy, but I go down this morning to check on them and the eldest chick and one of the younger ones now have a limp in their right leg. They also seem more lethargic than normal. The other two seem absolutely fine.

I managed to catch one of the limping ones (they're in with the mom in a brooder pen) and didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the foot in question, but I'll try to catch both of them and take pictures to examine more carefully.

Should I isolate them from the mom and put them in a brooder pen of their own for now? I'll post pictures if I can take some good ones.

 

[tricialemon]

This is the younger one- it has bruising all along the leg and the bottom of the foot has a dark bluish tint to it. It will put weight on it, but still limps.

 

[tricialemon]

This is the older one and it’s hard to see if there’s bruising obviously because it has dark feet but it won’t put any weight at all on it. I feel so bad for them

 

[LaFleche]

This is the younger one- it has bruising all along the leg and the bottom of the foot has a dark bluish tint to it. It will put weight on it, but still limps.

I would think this is because the mother hen accidentally stepped on them. Is the brooder perhaps too small for her and the chicks?
I had this once happen with a mother hen which was overly protective: Each time a bird flew by or into the big apple tree near her coop and run she would jump in the air hissing and threatening just to land on one of her chicks. It got so bad that all but one chick had bruised legs unable to walk properly for several days due to her behaviour and I ended up separating her from the chicks early.

 

[tricialemon]

I would think this is because the mother hen accidentally stepped on them. Is the brooder perhaps too small for her and the chicks?
I had this once happen with a mother hen which was overly protective: Each time a bird flew by or into the big apple tree near her coop and run she would jump in the air hissing and threatening just to land on one of her chicks. It got so bad that all but one chick had bruised legs unable to walk properly for several days due to her behaviour and I ended up separating her from the chicks early.

Thank you for responding!
The brooder is a repurposed rabbit pen my husband built a few years back when one of our rabbits had babies, and it's plenty big in the main part for the hen to stand and jump and do whatever she needs to do, but in the back where she has her nest it is a bit small for a hen and 4 babies. If something spooked her it is very likely she could have landed on them. She is very protective and tries to peck or scratch me if I take one of the chicks out to examine it, so maybe that's it! I'll keep monitoring them, but for right now they are eating, drinking, and pooping just fine so if they don't seem to be improving or getting worse I will definitely have to remove them from her.

This is my first hatch so there was plenty of room for trial-and-error. I think next time I will invest in an incubator and keep them in a homemade brooder with a heatlamp like I started my original 6 hens with. But I had a very broody hen so I figured I'd give it a shot at least once.

Thanks again! Hope you and your family are safe and healthy in these crazy times