Hen Sitting Funny

[Aaron]

One of my hens recently starting sitting down in a strange way. Instead of just lowering herself like she usually would, she sort of leans far back (you can easily see her feet awkwardly sitting out near the front of her).

She is molting at the moment (but so are some of my other chickens, and she is the only one showing this behavior.)

What is causing her to do this?

 

[emys]

Have you checked her over for cuts/wounds very carefully...seems like a possible injury. Maybe she landed wrong coming off roost and is very bruised?

 

[Aaron]

After doing a bit of investigating, I've found some growths on her feet. These seem to be the only obvious ailment. Any ideas?

Click on the pictures to see large versions of them.

 

[sharol]

bumblefoot? Can you get a picture of the bottom of her feet?

 

[Aaron]

Here are pictures of the bottoms of both of her feet:

 

[sharol]

I don't see any dark spots that might indicate bumblefoot, but I'm REALLY new at this. Maybe someone else can chime in. In the meantime, you might run a search for bumblefoot (in this forum) and see if anything looks familiar. Maybe this will bump it up to the top of the list.

 

[emys]

It certainly looks like she has an infection in both feet. Here is a non-invasive treatment for you to try.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=303829

 

[kmwright]

My hen is doing the same thing, with the sitting. She walks fine, but once its time to stand still, she goes down like that. Any luck? I am really worried about my little girl. She's eating and drinking fine, but she's really off balance and has a hard time walking.

 

[chkn]

It doesn't look like anything's wrong with her feet. Someone here had a thread awhile back with the awkward sitting and it seemed like it was a vitamin deficiency, like vitamin B? I don't recall, but maybe gives you a place to start.

 

[chkn]

You might want to spray the legs and feet with the scaley leg mite treatment though. I do see the raised scales. Also, look at her knees (the inside or front is what I mean). Lift the feathers there at the featherline a bit, do the knees look clean (i.e., no scabs or dark spots or redness)? Anyway, do get the scarlet spray down at the feed for those scales because the scaley leg mite can cause infection.