MyChickenShack
Songster
I had 27 hens (down to 26) that were a year old this past June, all mail order as chicks from hatchery and vaccinated. Maybe 2 months ago, I noticed 1 with a limp. She would walk with a sway and limp, more noticeable on the left, but then could take off in a second in a run without any issue and as fast as any other hen. I have kept an eye on her and at times thought it looked like it was getting better, thinking maybe it was an injury. About 2 weeks ago I discovered a hen dead in the coop, in the floor under the roost furthest back in the coop. I buried her and decided maybe it was an injury or broken neck based on an observation I made a few days later...I was out in the coop and my 2018 May hatchlings (4 of them being roosters) are trying to find there spots on the roosts at night and there is a lot of rustling around, sometimes birds jumping down from the roosts only to try to find another spot. So I thought maybe she had jumped down and injured herself. This was just a guess. Then last night I see another hen walking peculiar, almost like in a circle with a sway. My chickens are free range from about 8 til they roost at dark when I lock them up. We hatched out chicks this past May and June and they have not been vaccinated and none of them have demonstrated any issue as of yet. I don't know if this is all coincidental or if they are related and what I should do next. Can anyone advise me. And yes, I am working on finding someone to take these 4 roosters from me, as I have 2 from my original flock that I am keeping and the 4 hatched this past May I wish to move on...Thanks