Clueless

[chickymonkey]

I'm nursing/culling a hen who seems to be paralyzed in one leg. It's been a few days. Have her in the house. She poops. She eats and drinks and seems to be the picture of health except for bein lame. She likes to lay in my lap. A few minutes ago she shook her head and opened her beak wide as if to crow. Did it 3 or 4 times and that's it. Any of this sound familiar?

 

[KayTee]

A few more details would be good in order for us to be able to help you:

How many birds do you have in your flock, and are any of them showing signs of lameness or any other physical symptoms?

Have you changed anything recently? (added new birds to the flock, changed feed or bedding?)

How old is the bird, and is she laying at the moment?

Is her poop normal-looking? (I assume it is because you don't say anything else about it)

Is it possible that your bird could have jumped down from a perch or somewhere else and twisted her leg on landing? (especially possible if the surface she lands on is hard, like concrete or very compacted earth).


Your girl looks in quite good health from the photo - bright eyes and healthy looking plumage. Does she show any other behaviours / symptoms that you haven't seen in her before? Also, do you know if she has been vaccinated against any diseases or not?

I'm sorry for all the questions, but the more information you can give us the more likely it is that someone will come up with ideas to help you.

 

[chickymonkey]

I have 6 hens and one rooster. None of the others are having symptoms. They are 6mos old and she hasn't laid an egg since I've brought her indoors. Poop is normal. I lift her (kinda like physical therapy?) and she puts weight on her right leg but not the left. Was thinking maybe the rooster's weight may have caused it or something. She's happy as a clam in my lap, hand fed etc.

 

[KayTee]

If she has her appetite, is happy and alert, and her poop is normal, then it could well simply be a physical injury caused by a rooster mounting her heavily, jumping and landing awkwardly or something similar.

If she is happy to take her weight on one leg then you could look in to rigging up a 'chicken sling' for her (a search on google will give you loads of pictures and ideas). This would let her be in a better position during the day (I would be inclined to let her lay down at night to roost as usual though), and to start to put a bit of weight on her bad leg if she feels able.

A leg injury can take quite a while to heal - I had a bird that jumped and landed awkwardly, and she limped for at least a month, although I very (very) gradually saw improvements.

Let us know how your bird gets on - she is lucky to have someone like you who cares so much for her.

 

[chickymonkey]

Massaging her legs and doin P / T and she falls asleep. Lmbo!

 

[annaBsChick]

Have you tried the chicken symptom checker tool? Here is a link - http://www.poultrydvm.com/views/symptoms.php

It has been really helpful for me in ruling out the possibilities.