4 year old hen suddenly limping, no physical signs of injury

[Anna_b]

4 year old hen developed a bad limp a couple days ago. She’s still eating, drinking, moving around, and going onto the roost at night. I don’t see any physical signs of injury. She’s been very healthy her whole life.

We’ve had two cases like this before and both hens passed away. Both hens were a couple years old when their limp developed. I’ve heard Mareks disease brought up before but her leg doesn’t seem to be paralyzed, and in both prior cases it didn’t spread to any other hens. I don’t think our hens are vaccinated, so if it was Mareks i think it would be spreading.

Any advice on possible causes and how to help her would be very appreciated.

If anyone has any links to info on how to examine a chicken for injury that would also be appreciated.

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you see any green bruising, redness or swelling along the leg? Look for any bumblefoot scab on the bottom of the foot pad and toe pads. She could have sprained her leg or fractured a bone. I had a hen who I suspected of a spiral fracture, who limped for 2 years, eventually dying. But she always wanted to go out to the field and just be with the other chickens. They probably should not be allowed to jump up and down from a roost or overuse the leg, to see if it will heal. That may be accomplished by placing her inside a wire dog crate with food and water. She could roost at night with the others if you can be there to put her on the roost, and take her off at daylight before she jumps down.

 

[Anna_b]

Do you see any green bruising, redness or swelling along the leg? Look for any bumblefoot scab on the bottom of the foot pad and toe pads. She could have sprained her leg or fractured a bone. I had a hen who I suspected of a spiral fracture, who limped for 2 years, eventually dying. But she always wanted to go out to the field and just be with the other chickens. They probably should not be allowed to jump up and down from a roost or overuse the leg, to see if it will heal. That may be accomplished by placing her inside a wire dog crate with food and water. She could roost at night with the others if you can be there to put her on the roost, and take her off at daylight before she jumps down.

I don’t see any bruising, redness, or swelling. No signs of bumble foot.

I put her in a cage inside their run. I think i’ll carry her to the roost at night.

She has plenty of appetite, her comb has normal colouring, and I haven’t noticed any odd poop, she doesn’t have any bugs. She really doesn’t seem ill so i’m going to assume it’s an injury even though I don’t see any signs. I assume she might have injured her upper leg? I’m going to keep her in the cage during the day and monitor her symptoms. I’ll try to examine her upper leg a bit more.

Do you have any other advice on dealing with leg injuries?

 

[Anna_b]

I don’t see any bruising, redness, or swelling. No signs of bumble foot.

I put her in a cage inside their run. I think i’ll carry her to the roost at night.

She has plenty of appetite, her comb has normal colouring, and I haven’t noticed any odd poop, she doesn’t have any bugs. She really doesn’t seem ill so i’m going to assume it’s an injury even though I don’t see any signs. I assume she might have injured her upper leg? I’m going to keep her in the cage during the day and monitor her symptoms. I’ll try to examine her upper leg a bit more.

Do you have any other advice on dealing with leg injuries?

I assume it might be an upper leg injury just because i don’t see anything on her lower leg. It’s hard to see bruising or swelling on her upper leg that’s covered with feathers.