Big Girl is limping! Help me, please!

[dehowery]

This is Big Girl, the heaftiest but friendly of my five. This evening I went to get them for the night, and I suddenly noticed her limping; her right leg is hurting her! She wasn't doing this this afternoon. View attachment 1857794 View attachment 1857795 I picked her up and examined her thoroughly. No cuts, bruises, no bleeding, no injuries on the leg. No punctures, bleeding, or lump on bottom of foot. I'm assuming she tripped over something or somehow did something! How can I help her, please? Vet isn't an option right now. View attachment 1857792 There is Tractor Supply, CVS Pharmacy and Wal-Mart. View attachment 1857797

I did not see the bottom of the foot. Does she have a small black "thing" that looks like a mole? If so it could most likely be bumble foot that will cause limping. If she does you need to remove it or have it removed. Bumble foot only gets worse, we have removed these growths from 3 of our birds and they are fine.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

She is with the others now, outside. I'd hate to pick her up again right now. She is the least friendly and doesn't care to be cuddled or held long. That's why she scrambled out my Mom's arms. My Mom wants me to get rid of them because they are being stressful.

I looked at her foot this morning. Nothing abmormal.

 

[Kiki]

She is with the others now, outside. I'd hate to pick her up again right now. She is the least friendly and doesn't care to be cuddled or held long. That's why she scrambled out my Mom's arms. My Mom wants me to get rid of them because they are being stressful.

I looked at her foot this morning. Nothing abmormal.

Leave her alone. She will heal on her own but not if you make things worse please just leave her be.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

I will. Say, um... you're really smart on your chickens, @Texas Kiki, I don't suppose you might consider... um.... adopting my girls? It's going to break my heart to get rid of them and cry for days but it's being stressful on my family trying to figure out what to do about everything.

 

[Kiki]

I will. Say, um... you're really smart on your chickens, @Texas Kiki, I don't suppose you might consider... um.... adopting my girls? It's going to break my heart to get rid of them and cry for days but it's being stressful on my family trying to figure out what to do about everything.

Awww... I really wish I could take them but I keep a closed flock.

Have you thought about placing an ad on your local craigslist?

Have you mentioned re-homing them in our state thread?

 

[Kiki]

I think you're overthinking everything...maybe.
Keeping chickens is not that difficult.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

It's my mother that is doing the overstressing. It just upsets her to no end when an animal is hurting. And they have cost a lot of money so far. And we live in the woods where predators roam. No dog, and really don't want one.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

And my step-dad is kinda stupid, he doesn't know how to build things the way my Mom asks him. And he drops wires, plastic stuff in the yard, he left some foam caulking just this morning.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

And if something goes wrong, I don't have the money to keep taking them to a vet. I never realized chickens had so many problems until joining this forum. If they went to someone, they'd have to promise to hug them a lot and never eat them.

 

[MountainGaurdian]

Most of the birds that I have seen with a bum leg injured the leg by getting it caught in something, their legs get quite a bit of leveraged force when they get caught in something.

With my chickens thankfully I have never had one with a "broken" leg before, though I have had a number of them with injured legs. If they are not getting around very well I generally put them in a "cat carrier" box with a supply of water and food and keep them from moving around as much. If they just have a slight limp I watch them and make sure it doesn't get worse. Restricting movement is about the only thing that I know of that seems to be particularly effective at helping something like this. You definitely don't want a rooster breeding her with an injured leg or another hen beating up on her and her trying to run away etc.