Hoppy Jr...damaged or injured leg..update Had to Euth :(

[arlee453]

This is one of my barred rock chicks hatched 2 weeks ago. She started favoring this leg about a week ago. I tried bracing but it didn't seem to help. She is eating and drinking OK, but like Hoppy the one legged silkie, seems smaller than the others like it is hard for her to get to the food.

I checked her today and saw this large lump with swelling on the joint. Anyone seen this before? Any ideas or possible treatments? I don't want to euth unless I just have to as I'm 90% sure this one is a girl and I have no problem keeping a one legged chicken if she can get around OK and feed herself.

The lump seems to have a scab that has formed or is/was oozing some. It looks like a scab has pulled off recently and is stuck to the fuzz on her leg. I should add that I don't think this is any kind of puncture injury as there is absolutely nothing sharp in the brooder and the other chicks aren't messing with this girl at all.

Further away so you can see how she holds the leg:

 

[SpottedCrow]

Is the "knee" feel out of place to you? It almost looks like she's gotta water on the knee...
I've never seen this before...hmmm...

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

would it be safe to try and lance it ? to see if there is water or pus in there ? poor little girl looks awful holding that leg that way.
hope she gets better soon

Julie

 

[Pine Grove]

Looks like staph infection to me

 

[arlee453]

any treatment suggestions? She is eating and drinking fine and acting OK. Doesn't feel any warmer than the other chicks or cooler... no sign of any issues other than the leg.

My hubby says it looks like a furuncle to him - a staph infection - too. I just like saying 'furuncle'...

 

[Pine Grove]

The toes on the right foot are crooked, right? If so Im thinking the misalignment of the hock while kneeling or sleeping has caused bruising or scuffing allowing the staph to set in..just my guess..Do a search on bumble foot, the meds used will be the same

 

[leslie0815]

I had 2 born with that same ailment, couldn't figure it out for the life of me. Tried vitamins and supliments. The one is doing good just hopping around and uses her wing to balance. The other died when we had a real bad storm on Christmas and it blew te roof off my brooder pen. I will stay posted to see if anyone figures it out. Even though it is probably too late for mine but I sure am curious to the cause.

 

[pollysmum]

If she was mine I would get her onto meds for staph and also try to remove the plug in the swelling and clean it out, it may be something has entered and causing irritation to the area

I've never seen this before either

 

[arlee453]

Just to update...I had to euthanize Hoppy Jr today. She WAS getting along fine on one leg for a while, but had gotten to the point where neither leg was working right. I don't know if the 'good' leg gave out due to over use, under use OR just some underlying problem with the legs in general.

She had gotten to the point where she wouldn't use either leg and was gettting around by scooting on her breastbone and flapping around. I felt the best thing to do was to go ahead and end her suffering rather than have her pecked to death or waste away.

After having two chicks with this type of problem come to a bad end, I will probably be quicker to euthanize when the problem presents itself. I think if the chicken had two good legs and then had one go 'bad' for whatever reason (injury, etc) then the chicken has a pretty good chance of doing OK on one leg. Seems that if they only have one good leg from the beginning their chances of learing to walk well with only one leg isn't very good as they get bigger...

 

[SpottedCrow]

I'm so sorry...