Hen not moving

[Mark94]

Hello
Yesterday I saw her sitting in the coop, thought she was going to lay an egg so I let her be. This morning I noticed she was in the same position but outside the coop, I tried making her move but she didn't want to, I lifted her up and landed her on her feet but she simply does not want to put the pressure on them... Checked to see if she has any injuries but nope... I took her out of the run from the others to the yard, she was eating the grass, cleaning her feathers, even chatting with the others. Her tail is up, she acts totally normal... I just came back to check on her and she moved from the space I left her to another (short distance) she literally hobbles, limps when she moves...

 

[LaFleche]

Sorry that your hen is unwell. We need some information to get an idea of what might be wrong with her:

• Which leg is the bad one, left or right?
• How old is your hen?
• When did she last lay an egg?
• How do her droppings look?
• When did you last deworm your flock?
• How does her crop look and feel? Bif or small, hard, squishy or like a balloon?
• Did you add any new birds to your flock recently?
• Did you check thoroughly for lice/mites on her and in the coop?
• What exactly are you feeding and did you check your feed for mold or parasite infestation? Any strange odour or weblike stuff in the bag? Could it have gotten wet and start to mold?
• Do you have a rooster/cockerel?
• Did you check her foot plants for injuries)

 

[Mark94]

She's around 8 months old, she couldn't move at all, after 2 days she got back on her feet but she's still moving in a weird way, like she charges and flaps with her wings in a happy motion but moves weird, she's still a bit unstable on her feet but she's moving a lot better now. I've put her back in with the others cause she wqs kind of lonely. She eats here and there, pecks around, chats, I have 4 roosters... I'm going to move away 2 of them, I feed them pellets, crumbles, wheat, barley, greens etc. food is not mouldy or bad in any way. My flock is closed, no new birds will ever be introduced. I did notice last year in late summer worms in the poop, but I didn't deworm them because they were molting, didn't want to put an extra stress to their bodies... Her poop looks stiff, normal. Still, I don't think she eats enough, her crop is not bulged like in the others, kind of empty-ish, but she moves around, pecks, flaps her wings. I checked on her tonight, she's not on the perch with the others, she's perching on the nesting box. No lice/mites, no injuries on her feet. So far in those 2 days of being isolated I haven't seen an egg from her.

 

[LaFleche]

Keeping multiple roosters together with the flock will often have them fiercely kicking one another off the hens when the rival is trying to mate.
This can lead to severe injuries of then hen as the sudden impact plus additional weight of the attacking rooster puts enormous strain on her already very delicate lumbar part of the spine, which can lead to severe injury as this part breaks easily.

Usually, after a few days of being inactive and unable to walk properly, they will start to heal (chicken bones heal up very quickly), but they might be left with a limp for the rest of their lives.

Other causes might be an avian virus such as Avian Lymphoid Leukosis or Marek's Disease:

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/lymphoid-leukosis-in-poultry?query=avian leukosis

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-s-disease-in-poultry?query=Marek's disease

As a first step I would deworm her thoroughly, sometimes this already helps a lot.

And add poultry vitamin to the drinking water for a week, vitamin E and selenium.

 

[Mark94]

Keeping multiple roosters together with the flock will often have them fiercely kicking one another off the hens when the rival is trying to mate.
This can lead to severe injuries of then hen as the sudden impact plus additional weight of the attacking rooster puts enormous strain on her already very delicate lumbar part of the spine, which can lead to severe injury as this part breaks easily.

Usually, after a few days of being inactive and unable to walk properly, they will start to heal (chicken bones heal up very quickly), but they might be left with a limp for the rest of their lives.

Other causes might be an avian virus such as Avian Lymphoid Leukosis or Marek's Disease:

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/lymphoid-leukosis-in-poultry?query=avian leukosis

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-s-disease-in-poultry?query=Marek's disease

As a first step I would deworm her thoroughly, sometimes this already helps a lot.

And add poultry vitamin to the drinking water for a week, vitamin E and selenium.

She's a lot better now! I'm so glad it wasn't anything serious, when the spring kicks in I will definitely deworm them. Thanks a lot! One more question, do you happen to know if letting them free range would pose any threat if they come in contact with the soil where my previous chickens' run used to be a year and half ago (I suspect they had MG because of the bubbly eyes and swollen eyelids). It's been 1 year and half since I removed them, would that period be enough for my current hens to be safe not to catch anything?

 

[LaFleche]

As the MG pathogens are only able to survive for a few days outside their host (also depending on the temperatures and the actual medium such as droppings or feathers etc.), your actual flock should be fine free-ranging after one and a half year.

 

[Mark94]

As the MG pathogens are only able to survive for a few days outside their host (also depending on the temperatures and the actual medium such as droppings or feathers etc.), your actual flock should be fine free-ranging after one and a half year.

Thanks a lot for the effort! You are too kind.

 

[LaFleche]

You're welcome!

Maybe reduce the amount of roosters for the sake of your hens. They will show you which one they like best, just observe for some days and you will see the hens preferring to stay near him or run to him for protection when feeling threatened by the other roosters.

 

[Mark94]

You're welcome!

Maybe reduce the amount of roosters for the sake of your hens. They will show you which one they like best, just observe for some days and you will see the hens preferring to stay near him or run to him for protection when feeling threatened by the other roosters.

You're totally right! My 2 yr rooster is the boss, he's calm, over protective and really sweet to hens, the younger one is so too, they always split the number of hens in half and take them with them and go different sides to explore lol. but his 2 other brothers are pretty much rude, way too protective and fight for girls attention. I already gave 1 away so I'm definitely giving these 2 to my neighbors, they've been putting too much stress on hens. I was told to cull them but I really have no heart to kill an animal...