Chicken can't walk

[jslivyak]

Help! We have a silver laced wyandotte that suddenly became unable to walk. We moved her to a kennel and have been feeding her and watering her by hand - mostly protien (dogfood, sunflower seeds) and she's got a great appetite. At times she stands for brief moments. It appears that one foot is held in front most of the time. She has missing feathers that are regrowing nicely. Someone suggested that we examine her so we carefully lifted her and she vomited a beige liquid. We are heartbroken and confused. She's been in this condition for about 4 weeks. I've googled myself silly and can't seem to find a good solution. Please, if you have any ideas - let us know.

 

[Judy]

It sounds like she had a run-in with another critter, possibly a dog for example, and has a leg or hip injury. It is unlikely it will improve if it hasn't at this point. I would gradually return her to regular chicken feed, if you are going to keep her. Then you could try examining her again after some regular feed for a few days. They usually stay quiet for examination if you lay them on their back a minute til they calm down, but realize this makes it a little difficult for them to breathe so you don't want to keep them that way for long. If you don't feel an obvious fracture in a leg, it is unlikely you could do anything for her yourself. Of course, you could find an avian vet, but that tends to be expensive. Some people do keep a crippled chicken, but it is a lot of hands on care.

Here is a link to a good reference on leg and foot injuries:

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

Good luck, and welcome to our forum! Sorry it was something like this thst brought you here.