I have an adult bird that has been exhibiting some issues with her leg for several months. When she was approximately 3 months old we assumed she injured it jumping off a high roost in her new coop we had transitioned her and her sisters into. She was limping around like she was in pain, but still eating and drink and putting weight on it to some extent. So.. We isolated her for a few days, put her in her own small cage with food/water and let her rest with nothing to jump from…. And it didn’t seem to help.
Flash forward now to tree months later…. I have a six month old hen, laying beautiful eggs. Eating. Drinking. Free ranging. Playing. Running. And LIMPING !!!! Her leg turns out to the side. It looks so disturbing at times. She seems fine. Doesn’t seems phased by it. Honestly there is no real poultry vet anywhere near us. There are some avian vets that will “see chickens” under “certain circumstances” but my fear is I will take her there and they will make a situation that seems tolerable for the bird worse…
I will not cull her. As she seems perfectly happy in her chicken life. However, if I can somehow fix her wobbly leg I would love to make her chicken life better. The way it looks it maybe seems like a slipped tendon ? But she seems so old for that, as everything I’ve read is for birds that are very young. And she was months old when the original “injury” occurred. But the leg bows outward. She puts weight on it. Hops around and will let us move it around. So it doesn’t seem to bother her much if at all. Any ideas as to what is actually happening or suggestions as to what to do would be amazing !! The first photo is of her three months ago, how she was holding her leg that first night she hurt it. The rest are from today.
Flash forward now to tree months later…. I have a six month old hen, laying beautiful eggs. Eating. Drinking. Free ranging. Playing. Running. And LIMPING !!!! Her leg turns out to the side. It looks so disturbing at times. She seems fine. Doesn’t seems phased by it. Honestly there is no real poultry vet anywhere near us. There are some avian vets that will “see chickens” under “certain circumstances” but my fear is I will take her there and they will make a situation that seems tolerable for the bird worse…
I will not cull her. As she seems perfectly happy in her chicken life. However, if I can somehow fix her wobbly leg I would love to make her chicken life better. The way it looks it maybe seems like a slipped tendon ? But she seems so old for that, as everything I’ve read is for birds that are very young. And she was months old when the original “injury” occurred. But the leg bows outward. She puts weight on it. Hops around and will let us move it around. So it doesn’t seem to bother her much if at all. Any ideas as to what is actually happening or suggestions as to what to do would be amazing !! The first photo is of her three months ago, how she was holding her leg that first night she hurt it. The rest are from today.
