Hen limp on one foot, blackish-yellow poop, little movement in 4 days

[joelmcb]

One of my hens was out of her coop a bunch for two days last week. On Sunday, I started to notice that she wasn’t moving from one spot, and I assumed that was resting in a shady spot as she often does. On Monday or Tuesday though, I noticed that she was actually very limp in one leg and her wing on the same side was very droopy. She would hop on one leg to get to the food, but generally not going very far. She does not seem to be in any pain, she does not fuss when I move her around (I have been picking her up myself and putting her in her coop at night, and then taking her out in the day) and I cannot find any visible wounds on her. I think she may have gotten in a fight with a stray cat or something, but I’m not sure. Her appetite has been fine and today I fed her yogurt in case she has some kind of infection. Her poop has also been blackish and a little runny, but today I noticed it was a little more yellow though. She has not been laying.

Today, her wing seemed a little less droopy and still seems to be very alert, but I’m still worried about her. She still has one leg curled up to her breast and obviously doesn’t want to use it. Does anyone have any advice? I’d really appreciate it! Thanks!

-Joel (Philadelphia, PA)

 

[Tanichca]

Ok, first quarantine her. It may be contagious. Give her her own feed and water, and make sure the other birds cannot reach her. Just keep an eye on her, check for symptoms such as loss of appetite, even more discoloration in the poop, droopy head, etc. And then wait for some much smarter BYC member than me to help out...