4 month old lame hen

[Elisha81]

She has over night started limping. upon further observation it is both legs. One is worse than the other. she is limpy when she does walk at all. I am not sure how long she has been injured but cant be more than 24 hours. I cannot see anything wrong by looking at her limbs. no signs of swelling etc. she is in a cage in the house and not happy being away from the flock. She is eating and drinking. Please advise and thank you! These are my first chickens and first crisis here.

 

[momma of a chicken lover]

Sometimes they just need a little time to heal. Another thing to look at is the bottom of their feet. There is this thing called bumble foot. Does she have a big ball in the middle of the bottom of her foot?

 

[Elisha81]

I can get some piccys but no bumblefoot. her scales and everything look pristine. looking at her you wouldnt have any idea there was something wrong. and thanks!!

 

[Eggcessive]

If it was just 1 leg she could probably get around well enough by hopping, but with 2 legs affected, it will be hard for her to eat and drink. I would put her in a large dog crate with food and water, and force her to rest the injured legs. Do you suspect Marek's disease, or think it's an injury? Do you have high roosts?

 

[Elisha81]

They have a low and a high roost. the high roost being the top of the coop and they don't want to stay off of it. I do worry about marek's, mites, etc but heck looking at her she looks perfectly fine except the inability to get around. i have already put her in the dog kennel with food and water and a towel to lay on. also a tub of DE just in case. When i looked at her and wiggled her toes and such she is flinching with touching of her hock on one leg. so I am hoping it is an injury but want to be sure I am doing the right thing for her

 

[Eggcessive]

If she is pretty scrappy she might get better in a few days. I recently had a speckled sussex with a sprained leg who went around for a month with it held up limping on the other leg, and she was able to roost, free-range, and get around just fine. If she is lower in the pecking order she might be picked on when you put her back in with the group.

 

[Elisha81]

yeah she's not very scrappy. none of em are really. cept the roo.. he's a jerk lmao.. he will be dinner here in a month or so haha

 

[Elisha81]

well it's def marek's

 

[Paxseko]

What makes you so sure that it's Marek's now?

 

[Elisha81]

she's lost use of one of her wings