Barred Rock seems crippled

[chkn]

Gosh, they all eat differently. Man, my chickens follow me all over the yard for fruit. They'll even go help themselves if they can. How is she doing? I'm sorry we weren't more help.

 

[chickfan]

I put her in a cage, on some hay, and left her out near where most roost at night. It is a covered area, and usually has a nice breeze, so she is OK. She is moving around in the cage by pushing with her feet, but still can't stand up. She is eating and drinking fine, and seems alert....has no symptoms of being sick that I can see. I'll take some cantalope out to her shortly. I just feel so sorry for her, and so helpless. I'm leaning more and more toward an injury of some sort. She had made a fist with one of her lovely feet yesterday, and I opened her toes back out. They felt very flaccid...almost rubbery. I have been gone most of the day, and checked on her the minute I got home. She had a chicken visitor by the cage. :0) I'll go back out with her and check her foot again. I hate to think she is in pain, but I don't know how I would know if she was. All the chickens are panting some, because it is so blasted hot outside! However..with the breeze blowing through the area where they sleep at night (and hang out some during the day), it can be almost comfy out there.
I might be repeating myself here. Yesterday I gave her some oatmeal. I put her up on the covered top of one of our cages, so I could hold on to her and the others couldn't try to eat her food. She really went for it, and I could hear a smacking sound...almost as if she was chewing. I guess it was her beak clicking or something, but it made me so sad I came in the house and cried! She was trying to enjoy her food, and could be she was in a lot of pain. I shouldn't be such a softie, but can't help it.
Thanks for asking about her.

 

[gbinpdx]

I gave Georgie a half 81mg aspirin every 6 hours or so as she needed for pain. She demonstrated pain by panting. It went away for hours, then would start up again, letting me know it was time for another. I also gave her lots of yogurt to combat the harshness of the aspirin on her GI system.

Is is important that it's aspirin? I think my Amer has a swollen foot pad...probably from jumping down from the perch, but we only have ibuprofen and I don't know if it's toxic for chickens. She's panting so I'd like to get her some relief.​

 

[chickfan]

I just tried to do a copy and paste of something I read on the internet, and can't do it. But google "chicken Podiatry" and scroll down to read about ibuprofen. A BIG NO NO!!!!!!! I'm glad I looked it up because I didn't know either. Or you can just look for "is Ibuprofen safe for chickens?" and you will find several sites. Looks like a lot of good info about lots of things, under "chicken Podiatry".

 

[chkn]

Hey, did you see this about Vitamin B therapy that worked on a rooster that couldn't walk?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=371501&p=5

 

[chickfan]

I did not see it! I hadn't read the board much about problems because it made me sad! I'm such a wimp. Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. You can believe I will read the whole thing, starting at page one, and will get the B stuff when I'm out tomorrow. I wonder why I couldn't buy that at the grocery store though?

 

[chkn]

I think I might try a little on my chickens too. I've been taking these vitamin B packets lately myself and I think it makes me feel better.

 

[chickfan]

Did you get yours at a health food store?

 

[chkn]

Yes, I did. It's Instant Energy B12. It has Chromium and Creatine in it as well. I haven't given any to my chickens. Maybe you should find out what this lady uses. She said a B multi so the one I'm using might not be suitable? The link I gave you is where they start talking about the B12. Then she has a picture of her roo down below, how he was at his worst.

 

[chickfan]

I saw her before and after pictures. That was amazing! She said she got a High Potency Multi B Vitamin from the health food store. I'll be driving right by one of those tomorrow, I think, so I'll stop in and see if they have it. However...I wonder why the grocery store or WalMart wouldn't have the same thing in their vitamin section.
I'm sure going to try this. It wold be fantastic to see my chicken recover. I really don't think she has Mareks....she doesn't have the other symptoms, as far as I can see. We got her from a friend who hatched her, I think, so she hasn't been around other chickens besides ours, and (knock on wood) they all seem healthy.
I still suspect an injury, but after reading that thread, the descriptions fit mine exactly.
Thanks so much for sending that to me! I probably would not have seen it otherwise.