Hen having issues with walking

[angelmpalmer]

Our hen Fenx hasn’t been able to walk she started acting weird about two weeks ago she was off by herself away from her sister Jen, which at the time I didn’t really think much of it because Jen is a bit of a bully so we just thought she was tired of being picked on. Then a couple days later in one of the pictures she was just sitting in the grass. My mom picked her up and gave her a bath with some dawn cause she had poo in her feathers, she went back into the coop and then the next day she didn’t look ok. She wouldn’t walk out and free range like she normally does. We thought maybe she hurt leg leg jumping down in the run because she was favoring the left leg like it was ok just not strong enough to hold her up. Now she’s been inside since and we just take her out for a couple of hours a day in a little pen so her sister Jen won’t bully her. After researching and reading other people threads. We splinted her right leg, which we thought was hurt possible and gave her some baby aspirin. Next, I thought maybe vitamin deficiency so we got some poultry cell and oyster shell. The poultry cell she did take for the first couple days no issues now it’s getting a lot more tricky to get her to take it. The oyster shells I just left out in a separate bowl for her to eat, since I read they know when they need calcium. She will still eat and drink on her own but not nearly enough food so if we hold the bowls for her she will drink more probably cause she’s getting attention lol. I tried to give her some yogurt for some protein, she seemed to like it but it made her poo runny so haven’t done that since. We soaked her in epson salt in one of the earlier days too to make sure it wasn’t because she was egg bound. Her wings are still functioning fine she moves them out to her sides to cool down I believe, she will also use them to move around in the little bed we made for her in the house. She also was panting bad about a week I and I thought she could breath she was making weird noises, so tried apple cider vinegar in her water and got some Vet Rx to put on her comb. One day later she wasn’t panting anymore so I figure that she felt better. About 2 days ago we noticed she has yellowish white spots on her comb that weren’t there before and today I noticed a spot near her leg that looked red and the feathers look like pins which I know may just be the molting. She’s the sweet one and I just want to help her. My mom said her poop looks normal for the green she’s been eating it was running when we first brought her in the house but since she got the poultry cell we think it’s ok (I can upload some images if needed). My mom grew up with chickens and we’ve had them for the last 3 years and have had nothing like this happen. Her sister Jen is completely fine and the stayed in the same coup/run. We don’t have money for a vet currently and there isn’t many in the area that will help with chickens the one we did know passed away a few years ago, so any help or suggestions would be so appreciated I’m sure I forgot some things so feel free to ask any questions.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

How old is she and is she laying/when was her last egg? How long has she been inside and have you noticed any change for better or worse? In one picture her left foot is curled--is it always like that? It looks like maybe the left leg is the problem and the right one is ok? Where are you located? Poop pictures can't hurt

Can you gently palpate her belly and vent areas and see if you feel any lumps or swelling?

The yellow spots on her comb are probably a fungal infection called favus. You can try cleaning the area once a day with iodine to see if it improves (be careful not to get any in her eye) or applying an antifungal cream (miconazole) twice a day.

Poultry cell has a good dose of a lot of vitamins, but shouldn't be used for more than week as that can be too much. If she's not wanting to eat it I'd take that as a sign. If you want to continue with vitamin therapy I would switch to giving 1/4 of a B-complex tablet daily. (B vitamins are water soluble and excess is flushed from the body so it's harder to overdose.)

 

[angelmpalmer]

How old is she and is she laying/when was her last egg? How long has she been inside and have you noticed any change for better or worse? In one picture her left foot is curled--is it always like that? It looks like maybe the left leg is the problem and the right one is ok? Where are you located? Poop pictures can't hurt

Can you gently palpate her belly and vent areas and see if you feel any lumps or swelling?

The yellow spots on her comb are probably a fungal infection called favus. You can try cleaning the area once a day with iodine to see if it improves (be careful not to get any in her eye) or applying an antifungal cream (miconazole) twice a day.

Poultry cell has a good dose of a lot of vitamins, but shouldn't be used for more than week as that can be too much. If she's not wanting to eat it I'd take that as a sign. If you want to continue with vitamin therapy I would switch to giving 1/4 of a B-complex tablet daily. (B vitamins are water soluble and excess is flushed from the body so it's harder to overdose.)

Thanks for the reply! We got her and her sister at the end of last March so she’s probably about 10-11months, i’m not sure how old they are when you get them. My mom would know so I’ll ask her when she gets home to confirm. She was laying both her and her sister started late and then they laid for couple of weeks and then stopped again which we thought was just stress because they cut all the trees behind our backyard down and the road is right there now so it’s a lot louder and we had to move their coup/run. We think she started laying again because when we brought her in we didn’t have any eggs for a few days, but now the other one Jen has been laying the last week or so. She’s been inside for I believe 2 weeks (My mind is mush worrying about her lol) she did she to perk up when we brought her inside but I dont know if that’s just cause she was getting all of our attention lol. Her foot curls and straightens sometimes. Like last night her foot was straight, we kinda propped her up on towels so her feet don’t have as much pressure on them. She did seem like she was trying to stand up or move on her legs after a few days of resting inside. She will kinda rotate sides though to when we put in the the little pin outside she will switch sides. I will attach some poo pictures too.

When we first brought her inside my mom felt her and our other girl Jen and she said they felt the same on the belly and back. She did say under her vent area was hard like maybe there was an egg but she wasn’t completely sure cause she doesn’t know what it feels like. We gave her an epson salt soak she seemed to like it went right to sleep after and seemed more relaxed no panting. But from what I read she would be in heaven by now if she was egg bound. We’ve never had a chicken with any issues before so i’m not sure what swelling would be like. I’m super paranoid so the littlest thing i’m like she’s dying and my m says i’m overreacting she’s ok lol. She will pur when my mom comes home from work so she does seem like she’s happy.

Where would the fungal infection come from since she’s been inside most of the time and her sister is fine? What kind of iodine should we get does strength or anything matter? I do have a tri-iodine supplement I take in a dropper could I give that to her? Or is it like an iodine cream?

Ok that’s good to know that’s probably why she doesn’t want it anymore lol she’s like I’m good. I read the know when they are deficient in calcium for the oyster shells, so I figured it was something similar. We did get b-complex before the poultry cell so I will switch back to that and see that helps.

She is still eating/drinking on her own. She drank almost the whole cup of water over night she seems to like it cold a lot better. Her eating she is still picking but it’s not the 4oz she suppose to eat that I read. She’s maybe eating 2oz, she likes bread so I’ve been breaking that up to try and get some more food in her.

Could she have worms or scaly leg mites?

 

[angelmpalmer]

Updated:

I can’t tell if this is a worm or piece of grass in her poo (I’ll attached a photo).

I also gave her another bath to clean her off and she seems to enjoy it rather than freak out like I’ve read chickens do, i’m wonder if this has to do with the pressure being off her legs cause she floats alittle. When I was drying her off, I also noticed her skin isn’t as red by her leg now anymore it’s the pinkish color again. I’m not sure if this was just from relieve pressure if it is swelling? I did use alittle epson salt and let her sit in the water a bit cause she seemed happy, so may have been this?

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hi! Can you give her a calcium citrate pill? This did wonders for my sick hen. How does she feel weight wise as compared to her sister? Instead of bread can you offer her raw yolk and meat, need to get quality food into her.

 

[angelmpalmer]

Hi! Can you give her a calcium citrate pill? This did wonders for my sick hen. How does she feel weight wise as compared to her sister? Instead of bread can you offer her raw yolk and meat, need to get quality food into her.

How many mg of calcium citrate should I give her and how often? She is smaller than her sister for sure but she has always been smaller and her sister is a bit of a bully I noticed about a week before she got sick. Her sister pecked at her when she was eating like she couldn’t eat till she was done with the food so we started feeding them separate away from each other.

 

[angelmpalmer]

How many mg of calcium citrate should I give her and how often? She is smaller than her sister for sure but she has always been smaller and her sister is a bit of a bully I noticed about a week before she got sick. Her sister pecked at her when she was eating like she couldn’t eat till she was done with the food so we started feeding them separate away from each other.

Hi! Can you give her a calcium citrate pill? This did wonders for my sick hen. How does she feel weight wise as compared to her sister? Instead of bread can you offer her raw yolk and meat, need to get quality food into her.

Oh and I did try the egg she didn’t seem to like it I also tried scrambling it up too. She does like hamburger meat so I can try that or like a can of tuna?

 

[SmiYa0126]

Oh and I did try the egg she didn’t seem to like it I also tried scrambling it up too. She does like hamburger meat so I can try that or like a can of tuna?

Whatever she likes would you say she's smaller then standard?

 

[SmiYa0126]

You can split the dose, give her half in the morning and half in the evening.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

She did say under her vent area was hard like maybe there was an egg

This isn't a good sign. I'd feel your other hen to see what a vent area should feel like and compare it to Fenx. If Fenx does have a hard lump(s) it could indicate a reproductive disorder like internal laying or perhaps a tumor-causing disease. Particularly with her inability to walk it would be a bad sign as birds can become lame from internal masses pressing on the sciatic nerve. *If* she has a reproductive disorder then an antibiotic *might* help her, but it's really hard to know for sure what is going on.

Where would the fungal infection come from since she’s been inside most of the time and her sister is fine? What kind of iodine should we get does strength or anything matter?

There is fungus pretty much every where in the environment... She could have gotten a scrape infected or she may just have a weaker immune system than her sister. Fungus prefer warm, moist and dark places which might be why it's on the underside of her comb and getting worse inside. You need to treat it with the antiseptic type of iodine, either the 2% iodine tincture or the povidone-iodine you can get at most pharmacies.

Could she have worms or scaly leg mites?

No sign of scaly leg mites or worms in the pics, though you usually won't see worms in the poop until they have a very heavy load.

How many mg of calcium citrate should I give her and how often?

You can give a whole calcium citrate pill a day (most are about 600mg). If you start noticing her having a lot of urates in her poop (the white caps) it could be due to excess calcium so I'd stop at that point.

I also noticed her skin isn’t as red by her leg now anymore it’s the pinkish color again. I’m not sure if this was just from relieve pressure if it is swelling? I did use alittle epson salt and let her sit in the water a bit cause she seemed happy, so may have been this?

I'm really not sure what to make of the bald spots on her leg, but if she likes epsom salt baths by all means let her soak.