Hen is STILL limping

[JPoe]

Hi All,

I have a ~1 year old Light Brahma that began limping about a month ago. As soon as I realized she had a problem, I brought her inside and have been doing what I can to help her. I went over the injured leg with a fine tooth comb and can find no problems at all with it. I move the injured leg by hand daily and she is getting ACV in her water and plenty of layer mash and veggies. After a month of rest and care there is zero improvement in her limp. She gets around well and eats and drinks normally but has not layed an egg for about three weeks.

Should I accept that she is not going to get any better at this point and go ahead and reintroduce her to the rest of the flock? Any suggestions would be helpful!

 

[gritsar]

Have you checked her feet over well for bumblefoot?
Otherwise, if she's not picked on and able to get her fair share of food and water, I would introduce her back into the flock. Do it carefully and observe often. After a month's absence she'll likely have to start all over again at the bottom of the pecking order.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Any chance her Achilles Tendon has slipped out of the groove in her hock joint? There's info on the Poultry Podiatry page on my site linked in my sig.
Best wishes!

 

[JPoe]

Thanks for your replies!
I have checked her foot pretty thoroughly and I don't see any signs of bumblefoot (although I've never seen a case of bumblefoot in person). Compared to her good foot, the toes of her injured foot are limp and she can't seem to grab with that foot at all when I place a finger under the toes.

A slipped tendon hadn't occurred to me so thank you so much for your helpful website, SpeckledHills! I just ran to check her hock joints but, unfortunately?, there doesn't seem to be any swelling and her hocks appear normal. She is awfully feathery so I hope I'm seeing things right under there. Beside swelling and a flat-looking hock, are there other signs/symptoms to look for? Perhaps I waited too long and the swelling of the misplaced tendon has subsided? If it has been a month, wouldn't it be terribly painful to move a tendon back in place at this point? She is (sort of) able to scratch her face with her bad foot and hobble along pretty well on it, but it does appear to be uncomfortable for her.

I'm not sure what else to do for her but I'm sure she is lonely and I need to make some space for a brooder for some new chicks at the end of the month. Do you think more exercise and the ability to move around more freely could help? Could it hurt?

 

[PoultryPedia]

My intuition would also be that a slipped tendon would be very painful to try to put back after a month. It also would have shortened enough that you almost certainly wouldn't be able to.
I think if it was a slipped tendon, you would see a deep indent between the back of the hock bones, where the tendon used to be. But I have not personally gotten to knowledgeably examine birds with the condition, so I am only guessing based on things I've read.

If she does have a slipped tendon, my guess would that moving around more (within moderate limits) probably wouldn't make things worse--though she could get bruises in a less protected environment.

I don't know what would work as the best arrangement for her to live in?? I'm guessing most other adult birds would be likely to hurt her.

I'm very sorry for the problems you & she are having to deal with. It is very good of you to try to help her.