Foot Problems

[Wyorp Rock]

Lately I’ve been mixing those with oatmeal so she eats more.

One thing I just realized is that the swelling isn’t around joints, which is where the swelling for articular gout is supposed to be, correct?

My original question was that, if she has gout, and she already needs extra protein to keep her weight up, then how am I supposed to reduce the protein in her diet without causing her to lose more weight? Would I just ignore that step and do everything else? Ofc this depends on whether she has (articular) gout, which I’m not sure of.

Generally the swelling is around the joint. You are right....it depends on if Gout is the cause of the swelling. Vet care is best. With what you feed, I don't really see how she could have been given much excess protein, gout does not happen overnight and of course, there are other causes of gout as well.

Personally, I would cut out the oatmeal, I understand that at times you may want to add something to entice them to eat, but oatmeal is not that nutritious.
The losing weight could be from many different things - getting a fecal float to rule out worms is something to consider. It could be related to her age - sometimes older hen are beginning to have reproductive problems and weight loss is part of that too.
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/gout
https://thepoultrysite.com/articles/gout-management-in-poultry

 

[slukeplass22]

Yeah it could be any number of things. She's 3 1/2 years old (I've been fortunate that all of her generation has survived thus far) so she could be developing something that I don't have much control over. She hasn't laid an egg in a while.

I might get a float done.

I've also started giving her a small amount of multivitamin (I've used this before to help one of my EE's earlier this year: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ow-has-dislocated-beak.1321739/#post-21550889)

I can definitely reduce the amount of oatmeal in the eggs.

Thanks for the help on both the forums, I'll update if anything significant happens.