I saw one of my babies, Lance, limping yesterday from his right foot. I really didn't think anything of it. I thought he had just sprained it. I'm hoping that's still the case but today he seemed like it was really bothering him. He keeps favoring it and can barely walk on it. It's just a tad swollen and nothing seems to be broken. I've looked up bumble foot thinking it could be that but it looks nothing like that. I brought him and a few of our younger kiddos inside so i can keep a better eye on him. ALSO! We're having a problem with something getting into our coop at night and taking my babies! We're thinking it's a possum. My little Lance has 2 round wounds by his right "shoulder" kind of under his wing. They're about the size of the flat part of a thumbtack and maybe a half to a whole inch apart. The one closer to his back looks like the skin was scraped off but the other one doesn't look as bad. He doesn't feel too well either. He just wants to sleep in my hand and his comb is really pale. Do you think those spots have anything to do with why he's limping? Do you think a possum would leave marks like that? Is there anything i can do to make him feel better? Do you think he did just sprain his little foot? Thank you!! *I'm not 100% sure Lance is a boy but it's quicker than having to put 'he/she' for everything.
Wow, that's a lot of separate issues! For the limp I would probably try a chick chair to take the weight of for a while to see if it improves. Could just be a bad sprain. Here is a thread with some pictures of chick chairs that people have made. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1166308/versions-of-chick-chairs-please Make sure the chick can reach food and water. Clean the wounds and use plain neosporin (no painkiller) or veterycin wound and skin care on them. Use some elecrolites in the water (like sav-a-chick). If it's not drinking you can use a syringe or dropper. With small chicks I put a drop or two in the crease of my finger and dip their beak in that. Give as much as it will take every 20 minutes or so until you see it drinking on it's own. What is your coop set up like? Construction is like what and what materials? Do you have adult chickens out there also? Anything larger than 1/2" hardware cloth will let lots of things in. Mice can even go through 1/2" hardware cloth. Mice can actually go through really TINY spaces. Any kind of regular fencing, with no cover, will let just about anything in. If you have or can borrow a trail/game camera that you can set up that would help in ID-ing the predator. But sounds like you need to do some securing of the coop to make it more predator proof.
