Chicken limping and leg uncontrollable

[Causin Chaos]

My chicken hurt her leg. She limps badly. We looked at her leg closely and it isnt broke. You can move her leg and her toes move when you pull her leg up. So I know its working but she holds it up some and it turns outward also. I saw a pic of one that looked simular to a rotated tibia or slip tendon? If its the tendon or tibia is there anything I need to do? I have her separated.
I checked her today and her toes are curled. She dont seem any better. Called a bird vet said 64 to look at her 100 for xray. I just cant afford that.
Anyone have any ideas

 

[threehorses]

Can you link the picture that looked similar to your bird? How old is she? What type? Is she a broiler? Any possibility she jumped down from a high roost?

On the curled toes, I'd go ahead and give her B vitamins in case it's B-vitamin "Curled toe". Go to the store, Walmart or similar, and buy a bottle of B-complex vitamins, of E vitamins (oil capsules, 400 IU), and a bottle of PolyViSol baby vitamins, not the iron fortified kind. All of these items are in the vitamin section of Walmart for example, or other pharmacies, etc. Buy a container of plain yogurt - big is better and cheaper as you can feed it to your other birds - more on that in a bit.

I'd keep the hen up in a smaller area so she doesn't have to use her leg. Feel the leg for heat. Compare it to the other. Make sure she has free choice crumbles and water all day.

You'll want to make a small amount of a "damp mash" for her to eat first thing each day. Mix 1 teaspoon of yogurt, part of a boiled egg yolk (no whites - feed those to your other birds), 1 crushed B-complex capsule, and the contents of the E vitamin. Stir well. Mix that with 2 tablespoons of cooked oatmeal. Feed that to her. If she doesn't like the wet texture, do the same but with 1 tablespoon of water and her crumbles instead of the cooked oatmeal. Let sit 10 minutes to absorb. And if THAT doesn't work, try mixing boiled egg yolk mashed with the B-complex vitamin, and simply squirt the contents of the E vitamin into the side of her beak. Removing her feed 20 minutes before giving the damp mash really helps encourage them to eat it. (2 drops if she's young, the whole thing if she's older). She'll get 2-3 drops of polyvisol in the side of the beak. (2 if she's younger, 3 if she's older.)

The B vitamins will correct a deficiency in choline or riboflavin which can cause something like this. The egg yolk is a source of Managanese which, if deficient, can cause "perosis" or slipped tendon disorder in poultry. The E vitamins help with any neurological impairment (as her toes are curling). The yogurt provides yet more riboflavin as well as living bacteria which support healing. The polyvisol contains B vitamins and other vitamins, including D in case there was a D deficiency causing rickets. The oatmeal - well they just really like it. All of these vitamins can help if this is nutritional. They can also help healing if this was an injury. The answers to the questions about type and diet (below) will help me rule out broiler leg issues or heavy weight issues.

Can you also tell us what type of birds she is? (Broiler type, laying type, etc), how old she is, what feed exactly she's getting, including protein level, and if she gets it free-choice or fed twice a day? Are her legs at all 'bowed', her beak at all limber, her toenails at all soft?

There are some things that cause slipped tibia but we need a little more information.


OK Shopping list:

B-complex tablets
E vitamin oil capsule (400 IU)
polyvisol baby vitamins (Enfamil brand, NON-iron fortified - vitamin section)
plain yogurt
Oatmeal if you don't have it
eggs if you don't have them.

 

[Causin Chaos]

Thank you so much. She is a buff orpington around 6/7 months old. We feed them free choice Tindle Feeds 16% Complete Egg Ration and Hirschs Corn Chops with crude protein min.7.o%, crude fat min. 3.o% and crude fat max 3.0% This is what the bags says. We mix it together and put in a feeder. I am going to try to include some pics of her which may help. She could have fell out of the house which is about 3 feet off ground or off of the perchs inside.
http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/CausinChaos/?action=view&current=DSC00346.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/CausinChaos/DSC00364.jpg

http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/CausinChaos/?action=view&current=DSC00350.jpg

http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/CausinChaos/?action=view&current=DSC00339.jpg


I hope this worked I'm new to all this

 

[threehorses]

She actually looks ill, not injured, to me. It's in her feathers, her stance, and her face.

Feel her weight - does she feel emaciated to you? You shouldn't be able to feel her keel bone strongly like a spatula. It should have a good bit of flesh to either side. Incidentally, do they get granite grit and oyster shell with their feed?

I would definitely decrease the corn to 10% or less of the diet. It's depleted her protein and her vitamins greatly. And definitely I would give the vitamins immediately and start giving her an egg (cooked, no shell, mashed) a day all to her self to get her health back up. Also of course she needs to be kept up in a smaller pen with separate food and water from the other girls until she increases in weight. The yogurt will help her digest the food better.

I believe this and my former suggestions can get this hen back into health if you choose to follow them. She really needs some help pretty quickly.

Best of luck, and I do hope you're able to update with some good news soon.

 

[Causin Chaos]

I will go to the store tomorrow and get everything for her. She is skinney. The only grit she gets is sand. Should I buy something? So do you think her leg and foot are not operating correctly because she is ill? I know its hard to see in the pics but she walks and falls over because her foot will go out to the side and her toes arent straight. She uses her wing to brace herself. If it is a slip tendon and I get her back healthy would that improve any? Thanks so much for all the info.

 

[Causin Chaos]

I wanted to also say she has been on grower up until maybe a few weeks ago. We have only used 1/2 bag of corn. Also there is one other thing that will affect her weight. When we noticed she was limping so badly we caught her and looked her over. Moved her leg all around. At that time when you push her leg into the roosting position her toes drew up and relaxed when you lowered it. I noticed she seemed very hungry and even though I would throw her beard she didnt really eat it. She pecked at it but only got to eat a small amount. So we looked at her beak which was longer than we thought it should be so I filed the top beak down until you could feel her when she pecked you. She is eating alot better now. I wonder if when we switched to corn and layer if she couldnt eat it because of her beak and maybe that started the weight problem. I will still get her on the diet you suggested and see if that helps. Thanks again.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
I personally think, just from seeing her from here and what you've said about diet, that it's a B vitamin deficiency causing curled toes. I think the diluting of the nutrition of the feed with corn has caused her to be unthrifty which is showing in her feathering, her expression, her weight, etc. Definitely she should have some granite type grit as I see she has access to grass and know she has access to grains. definitely I would also please give her almost straight crumbles. That's what they all should have. Cutting the feed with corn is lessening the protein to 11%, way lower than the 16-20% (actually 20% is preferred) protein she should be getting - almost by half. She can't hold her toes straight because they're cramped by nutrition, I believe. If you get on the vitamins (human vitamins)... the B complex, the E, the polyvisol, and change up her feed to crumbles - I believe you'll see some effect. Yogurt will help her with the diet change and add yet more riboflavin.

This suggestion is designed to be interwoven, like a tapestry. You could MAYBE leave the E out, but not likely and then honestly like a tapestry if you take one thread out, you won't get the full effect.

I suspect that the recent change to corn is why you didn't see anything before. A few weeks is definitely enough time to cause this. it takes time.

On the toes, that's what birds' toes do naturally. When they squat, their legs are designed to curl at the toes so that they don't fall off their roosts. (Neat, huh?). And once a bird gets light, it's harder for them to eat. I'm glad she's eating better though. The elongated top beak also makes me wonder if she didn't have a bit of vitamin A deficiency (which would explain a look she has to her eyes) as that sometimes happen.

Also she surely couldn't digest the corn well (not that it would give her much) without grit as that's what breaks corn down. Think of the gizzard as being two round-shaped muscles. They grind against each other to break down feed. THey have a bit of hard surface, but nothing good enough to break down grains. Only easily dissolved feeds like pellets. If you put pellets in water for 10 minutes, you'll see exactly how much they break down. The crop, the storage pouch at the throat, is where water and food combine to break down - so really not much more is needed. The bacteria in the hindgut digest what bits of grain there are left.

So any time a bird has access to ANYthing more than a pellet, they need grit. Even if they're in a rocky yard - rocks sometimes break down easily (for example, oyster shell - seems very hard, dissolves very easily in gastic acids).

I'm a little excited about her new diet. I think if you can you should try to get a weight on her. Weigh her before. Change the food, add yogurt to make the transition easier, to the vitamins for a week to catch her up - continue them for a following week but tapering off. Then take more photos and compare them. Unless she's gotten so weak that something else is going on, or there was something else underlaying, then I really feel you'll see an improvement. And I'd like to celebrate that with you.

By the way, all of the flock should be on the same diet as she is - minus the vitamins because they're not showing symptoms. They can simply get vitamins/minerals in their water as there's not damage to reverse. it'll help for a week.

 

[Causin Chaos]

What is crumbles? Is that grower? I want to make sure to get the right stuff for her. I will try to weigh her when I get in from work. Thanks

 

[threehorses]

Crumbles are just the smaller crumbled form of whatever feed you're feeding. For her, you'd feed the laying feed you're feeding. IF they have a higher protein one (18 or 20%) that is still a "laying" feed (crumble form or pellet form) I'd recommend that.

But for feeding an ill bird, 'crumbles' out of pellets in the blender (in other words breaking the pellets down into crumbley stuff, but not down to dust) is more tempting for them to eat. It also absorbs the water, yogurt, etc better.

But generally many feeds for adults come in a pelleted form, or a 'crumble' - which is like big crumbs of the pellets.