Chicken leg trembling - reason?

[tessa123123]

Hi,
can anyone tell me what is wrong with my 2 and a 1/2 year old Sussex-cross hen?
When she raises one leg whilst standing, it trembles. Is she ill or just getting old?

 

[CMV]

If she is not showing any other signs of being ill, I would say not to worry about it. It has been my observation that chickens don't get "a little sick". They usually get spectacularly sick very quickly and are at death's door before you even know they are ill. A tremble in her leg is likely just a sign of age and nervousness/watchfulness. Any additional symptoms may make me reconsider, but at this point your description leads me to believe it is not something to be concerned with.

Good luck.

 

[tessa123123]

Hi,
thanks for replying.
I will now go into more detail about this chicken, in case you can help me please.
The chicken in question was in perfect health until late last year, when she moulted.
Then she started to eat the new feathers despite all efforts to spray her to try and stop it.
Everything I spray on her, and I have tried almost every product on the market, just gets preened off.
Despite now being almost half naked, she was fine until last week - eating OK, laying OK eating grass etc.
But, last week, she suddenly stopped taking an interest in things and stopped laying .
When I open the door of the run, the other chickens all come flying out, but she just stays there as if huddled up.
Looks-wise, her remaining feathers are healthy looking. She will eat if I put food in front of her. Her comb is still a good red colour, so I am not sure why she is like this.
A vet examined her for mites and that was negative.
I thought the fact I saw her leg trembling might be an indication to what is actually wrong apart from the feather loss.
I am not sure if she is now actully moulting, but without her full set of feathers, it is difficult to tell.
I hope I have given you enough information and hope someone can tell me why she is like the way she is.

 

[95yj]

did her leg always tremble, cause alot of chickens always have twitching/trembling legs. Especially bantams, high strung little things.

 

[tessa123123]

Hi,
this is the first time I have noticed it.
She is a large chicken and normally quite placid.
Perhaps a sign of old age creeping up, if it isn't a sign of some illness?

 

[silkiechicken]

For feather eating, try increasing their protein, often they pick and eat feathers when they need more protein. Plus, to prevent picking of pin feathers, a hot pick lotion on the picked feathers can discourage it, and blue kote can help hide the red blood they are drawn to. If she is huddled up inside and does not want to leave... is she broody?

 

[tessa123123]

Hi,
we live in England and I don't know what a hot pick lotion is nor what blue kote is.
Where are you from?
We have bought a blue spray, so I think that is what you mean, but she only preens it off.
I also feed her both layers and growers pellets to increase the protein.
She isn't broody, as she isn't staying in the nesting box. She is inside the external area in an enclosed run and stays in there when the other birds come out of that enclosed area onto the lawn in the other part of the garden.

 

[CMV]

You can get both products mentioned at any agricultural store or find it on-line. Is the heat getting to her? It's been brutally hot in this neck of the woods the past 2 weeks. Is she lethargic from over-heating? I've lost 16 meat birds to the heat since the first of July. It's a tough time of year to have a feather coat on.

 

[tessa123123]

Hi,
we did have some warm weather recently, but the last few days have been a lot cooler with a lot of rain.

 

[Bala]

My hen is shouting always and her legs are trembling what would be the reason she is also knocking out her tongue