Hen not standing

[CollieBirds]

I am fairly new to raising chickens. I have 6 girls who are approximately 7 months old. They started laying in November. This last couple of weeks have been very cold. On Saturday, all of the girls were active in the run and eating well. Toward dusk, they went into the coop and I noticed one of them sitting in the nest box. We had a heated waterer in the coop near that box (that box was rarely used due to the placement of the waterer. She was leaning out of the box and drinking. I went back a 1/2 hour later and she had not moved. She was weak and would not stand. I brought her into the house, thinking maybe the cold had gotten to her. She has now been in the house for a couple of days. She is eating well and drinking plenty. I gave her a bath to clean a very messy vent area. She laid an egg within an hour after getting the bath. She has laid an additional egg today. She seems to be getting stronger. However, she still will not stand. I checked her feet and does not appear to have bumblefoot. She has a good grip. Any suggestions?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Could be she was egg bound. Sometimes that can cause problems as the eggs can push on the nerve running to the legs. Hopefully she will continue to improve. Some people will use a sling to help get their legs stronger.

 

[CollieBirds]

That is something that I had not considered. How would you set up a sling?

 

[micstrachan]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-sling-for-injured-bird.962625/#post-14988863

 

[Eggcessive]

Google chicken slings, and look at images—there are many that can be made easily at home. I would also pick her up a couple of times daily to see if she can walk. Start some poultry vitamins in her water, or give her 2 ml of Poultry Cell vitamins daily. Or you can use Vitamin B complex 1/2 tablet daily crushed in food, or some chopped beef liver would be good. Let us know if it does not improve, since that could be something more serious.

 

[TexasSam]

Could be she was egg bound. Sometimes that can cause problems as the eggs can push on the nerve running to the legs. Hopefully she will continue to improve. Some people will use a sling to help get their legs stronger.

Exactly what oldhens said

 

[CollieBirds]

thank you will reply more asap.

 

[CollieBirds]

Will be trying the sling today and let you know how it goes. Thank you for the tips.

 

[CollieBirds]

Google chicken slings, and look at images—there are many that can be made easily at home. I would also pick her up a couple of times daily to see if she can walk. Start some poultry vitamins in her water, or give her 2 ml of Poultry Cell vitamins daily. Or you can use Vitamin B complex 1/2 tablet daily crushed in food, or some chopped beef liver would be good. Let us know if it does not improve, since that could be something more serious.

Gave her some beef liver tonight - she gobbled it up. She is eating and drinking well. She stood for about 3 seconds after eating the liver.

 

[zdb]

hi, i'm with colliebirds. i'm her engineer. think we got a rough draft of our first chicken sling worked out tonight. please help me with the next iteration. what's the goal by getting our girl in the sling? thank you, zdb