Dying chicken?

[MVazquez]

Hi, so I am new to backyard chickens and I just got two chickens last week. A couple of days after getting them, we noticed that one of the chickens didn't move around as much and just stayed in the group while the other two went up in the coop. Whenever she tried to walk, she would flap her wings and drag herself. When we picked her up to see what was going on, we noticed that one of her feet was significantly swollen. We thought she had bumblefoot so we put her in an Epsom salt bath but as I examined her feathers I notice that her left thigh ( same side as swollen foot) is hot, and yellow, had fewer feathers and had three different gross-looking scabs. She also had no scabs on her feet so she did not have bumblefoot. The next day we order antibiotics, Vetercyerin, and we put Neosporin on her thigh that we thought was infected. We planned to take out the scab and hopefully expel the puss from there. The thing is, after the Epsom salt bath her scabs fell off. She is still eating and drinking but can hardly walk and the other chickens step on top of her. Right now, she is sleeping in a dog carrier in the house because I noticed that she was cold outside as she would shiver. After all, she couldn't go up the stairs into the coop. She's also obviously in a lot of pain since she closes her eyes a lot and cries. I also wanted to mention we got her from a pretty not clean place, I didn't know that at the time, I thought all chicken places were supposed to smell really really bad.

Thank you so much if you've read this, I am very worried about my chicken. What should I do?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

Can you please post some photos of the hen, her legs/feet and her poop?
How old is she?
How much space do you have in your coop/run?
You mention you just got two chickens, but the later on, she's getting trampled by the others - did you introduce these two new ones to an existing flock? How many birds total do you have?

 

[MVazquez]

Thank you for responding so quickly!

I am sending a couple of pictures of what it looks like under her wings. She honestly seems to be getting better but she tried to walk today and fell over.
The first picture is of her swollen left foot, you can see one of her toes(?) is really swollen.
The second picture is her right foot for comparison.
The third is of her tail, it looks really red and inflamed today.
I took some pictures of her skin under her wings and different angles of her feet.

Thank you so much again, I am really worried and I hope she can walk again.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Poor girl... It looks like parts of both her feet are swollen? If it was just one I'd think a foot/leg injury the most likely cause, but if it's both I'm thinking it's an infection, either an infection that spread from the old wounds on her thigh or some respiratory disease like Mycoplasma Synoviae which can cause swelling of the joints. Any chance there is an avian vet nearby? They could at least rule out injury and if she needs antibiotics they would hopefully be able to determine the best one (a staph infection requires different antibiotics than mycoplasma).

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for responding so quickly!

I am sending a couple of pictures of what it looks like under her wings. She honestly seems to be getting better but she tried to walk today and fell over.
The first picture is of her swollen left foot, you can see one of her toes(?) is really swollen.
The second picture is her right foot for comparison.
The third is of her tail, it looks really red and inflamed today.
I took some pictures of her skin under her wings and different angles of her feet.

Thank you so much again, I am really worried and I hope she can walk again.

Do you have an existing flock?

How old is she supposed to be?

Looks like she may have some swelling or bloat in the abdomen. Hard to tell.
Reproductive problems come to mind along with Gout due to the way the feet are swollen. It could be infection due to something else.

Seeking vet care for a diagnosis is best. If you have an existing flock, I would consider whether or not you want to keep her an eventually introduce her.

Can you please post some photos of the hen, her legs/feet and her poop?
How old is she?
How much space do you have in your coop/run?
You mention you just got two chickens, but the later on, she's getting trampled by the others - did you introduce these two new ones to an existing flock? How many birds total do you have?

 

[gtaus]

Right now, she is sleeping in a dog carrier in the house because I noticed that she was cold outside as she would shiver. After all, she couldn't go up the stairs into the coop. She's also obviously in a lot of pain since she closes her eyes a lot and cries. I also wanted to mention we got her from a pretty not clean place, I didn't know that at the time, I thought all chicken places were supposed to smell really really bad.

I would suggest keeping her separated from the flock for a number of days, watching to see if she recovers with some TLC and not having to compete for food and water with the other birds in the flock. Nothing wrong with keeping her in a chicken hospital for recovery.

Sounds like she was not kept in a very clean place. Another good reason to separate her from the others until she recovers and is well enough to run with the flock. A small backyard flock coop should not smell bad if properly maintained. I don't know what a commercial enterprise smells like.

OK, my contrary opinion to what others have offered. I don't ever bring any of my sick chickens to a vet. For the cost of one vet visit, I could replace my entire backyard flock 2X-3X over. I am the vet for my chickens. I am willing to lose a chicken or two, rather than spending all that money on a vet visit. Sometimes I can nurse a sick chicken back to health, sometimes I lose the chicken and it dies, and sometimes I decided to cull the sick chicken so to end its suffering. For me, it's all part of raising small animals and my responsibility to them. My chickens are not my pets, but I do take care of them that very best I can. You should not have to feel guilty about not bringing your sick chicken to a vet. I certainly don't. My limited money is better spent caring for the entire flock, not just one or two sick chickens.

If you decide to take your chicken to a vet, then I'm OK with that decision, too. It's just not what I personally would do.

Anyways, I hope your sick chicken recovers. Best wishes.

 

[MVazquez]

I apologize for not being very active. Unfortunately, our chicken passed in the morning before we could take her to the vet. Thank you for all your responses!

 

[MVazquez]

Do you have an existing flock?

How old is she supposed to be?

Looks like she may have some swelling or bloat in the abdomen. Hard to tell.
Reproductive problems come to mind along with Gout due to the way the feet are swollen. It could be infection due to something else.

Seeking vet care for a diagnosis is best. If you have an existing flock, I would consider whether or not you want to keep her an eventually introduce her.

We had a guinea fowl a day before we got two new chickens. The guy who sold her to us said she was "young."

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I apologize for not being very active. Unfortunately, our chicken passed in the morning before we could take her to the vet. Thank you for all your responses!

I'm sorry to hear that she died

Thank you for the update.

 

[gtaus]

I apologize for not being very active. Unfortunately, our chicken passed in the morning before we could take her to the vet. Thank you for all your responses!

Thanks for the update. I see you have only made a few posts on BYC forums. I hope to hear more from you in the future on other threads. Lots of good things to discuss here.