hen limping

[mom2jedi]

My 10 month old brown leghorn is limping. Noticed it when I was feeding them treats from the garden. Caught her, checked her over thoroughly and can't find anything physically wrong with her. No punctures, broken bones missing feathers nothing. After putting her back down, the limping was worse to the point that she would hobble a few steps then lay down. I am planning on watching her for the next 24 hours very closely but am at a loss as to what happened. No commotion either like a hawk tried to get her or anything. What I'm wondering is has anyone had a chicken sprain a leg? Does that happen with birds? (Figured it can happen with anything but still thought I'd ask.) It is not likely that a vet would be willing to look at her much less do anything since we are not in farm country, plus it is simply not in the budget to spend hundreds of dollars trying to figure out why she's limping. I am prepared to cull her if necessary but I would rather see if she improves before making that decision.

 

[Matt A NC]

I have several hens and roos get limps over the years. Most recover within a couple weeks. Most sprains happened when another hen pushed them off the roost for the spot. Even though there is enough space for 4 times as many birds, they all want the same spots.

Currently I have had 2 roosters limping. Both are bantam cochins.

I think Tuffy got caught while fighting through the fence and pulled something. His limp was really bad. It took 3 weeks for him to start getting well. I think he kept hurting it when dismounting his hen. When Gabbi went broody he started recovering.

With Chitter Butt, him and his girls walked around a building and I heard one screech. Then they all came running back to me in a hurry. Chitter was limping. That was 5 days ago. He is slowly getting better. There is a Goshawk around that keeps catching sparrows. It doesn't go for chickens, but it does freak them out when it zips across. I figure they got in a panic and chitter tripped or something.

Both were checked thoroughly several times and nothing was found. Not even a hot spot(sign of internal infection). As far as I could tell there was no choice but a sprain or pull.

Nothing to do but make sure they have access to food and water and wait. I also sit Chitter off his roost in the mornings. He roosts about 2.5 feet up and I don't want him to keep reinjuring like Tuffy did. Chitter is an older rooster and doesn't bother with the girls while he is healing. Tuffy is young and hormone driven.

Matt