Chicken has a hurt leg??

[Chic Lady55]

Hello, I am in need of help. I am new to raising chickens. My 6 month old hen has either hurt her leg or is ill. She is using her wing for balance and won't stand without falling over. She has been eating a bit, we took her inside the house, put her in a wire dog crate with straw and heat along with her food. Gave her porridge this morning she ate some. Ate more this afternoon. Her poop has turned to water (no blood in it) she is not puffed up. She is typically quite busy. I am thinking she jumped off a high roost and hurt herself. Our coop is large and an outdoor run for 18 chickens. We have a male Roo too. The set up is clean, heatlamp on at night to keep the coop at 30 or so degrees F. when the temp drops here. Lined with straw and shavings. Heated water, plenty of food always available, I cook every morning for all of them. Grains , fruits veggies etc..they are spoiled. I am at a loss here and don't know what could be wrong with her. help please. thank you, Jayne

 

[hennible]

If it is just a leg injury you should be able to give her a dose of aspirin to help ease the pain otherwise you're doing really all you can. the one thing that concerns me is the watery poop... More sure could be going on. Are there any other symptoms you can think of watery eyes? runny nose? pale comb? :/
I wonder if you should look up coccidiosis... That wouldn't be connected to the leg...

Can she move the leg? is it injured or is it paralyzed?
If it's paralyzed you could be looking at a few things...

 

[dawg53]

Here's a link for you, please read post #15 for treatment.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/881607/hen-with-severe-limp/10

 

[Chic Lady55]

She was fine bopping around as usual on Wednesday. Thursday morning I went out to the coop she came out and put her wing down, went to eat a few bites of porridge I bring up each morning then went to lie alone in the corner of the run in the straw. This is when I put her inside her own cage inside the coop with her food and water, to see if she needs rest. Tonight she is inside our house with heat lamp at one end of the large dog crate. No blood in her poop but all water, no runny eyes or nose, breathing seems fine. Not puffing up. She will drink from a dropper but cannot stand to get the waterer. :/ she is eating porridge but no interest in getting to her medicated feed we put out. She seems alert but won't/can't stand up without the use of her wing as balance. ??? thoughts???

 

[dawg53]

You can add the vitamin B complex to the porridge if you wish. The healing plan is NOT to let her get up and walk around while caged. She needs rest and relaxation letting the leg heal. Have you ever had a sprained ankle? You wouldnt be up walking on it due to pain and further injury to your foot. You can try putting the waterer closer to her or continue giving her water via eyedropper frequently. This will be a long healing process. Like I mentioned in the link above, there might come a time that you'll have to make a tough decision regarding her quality of life if her leg doesnt heal.

 

[Chic Lady55]

Hello again, I posted a video of my Leghorn to my personal FB page but do not know how to load it here :/ If anyone would like to view it please let me know. I will post my fb name here. I am thinking she may have had a stroke. thanks

 

[hennible]

I think you can link the video here without posting your Facebook name.
Side note I had a hen with a severe head injury who lost balance, had to hold out her wing to walk, fell over when she tried to walk etc. etc.

 

[Chic Lady55]

Hens are not well tonight, most people saying this is Meraks. I have explored evey avenue to treat, feed, etc. One of the girls was better yesterday and tonight downhill badly. I am beside myself. I have a flock of 15. 17 girls with these ladies. I am sick over the thought of losing all of them. I looked up Meraks and they are symptomatic. Paralysis of the leghorn and the Jersey is now in respiratory distress tonight.

 

[hennible]

Hoping for the best for you and the birds...
@Nambroth knows a lot about meraks...

 

[Nambroth]

Just saw this post. How are they doing now? It might be Marek's, it might not. I wrote a (huge) article about Marek's.... it might help you out: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

Especially take note of the section called "Are there any other diseases that look like Marek's?" as there are indeed things it can be other than Marek's. Carefully think about your flock history, where birds have come from, if you've had any illnesses, etc... to try to put pieces of the puzzle together. For now, supportive care, rest, and vitamin therapy can't harm as long as you don't overdo any fat soluble vitamins.

What sort of respiratory distress are you noticing? Any gurgling, rasping, discharge, sneezing...? Or just struggling to breathe? Is the comb darkening or getting purplish at all?