hundreds of tiny air bubbles?

[sheeshshe]

Yes, she's gross. She's been in a rabbit cage for 4 weeks

 

[chooks4life]

The heel and base of the outer toe on her 'good' foot are swollen, and the 'bad' foot has the base of the outer toe (and maybe the main toe) swollen but it looks like she's not been putting weight on that heel for a long time, possibly her whole life. It could be bumblefoot but it could be something else. The joint could be the issue. If it feels like it's hot or has fluid in it, compared to the other, then it's a good bet.

One thing I noticed is the positioning of the extra toes. This particular 'style' is almost always accompanied by leg bone deformity. I think this bird is pretty much guaranteed to have malformed leg bones and this could be causing her to not walk on one leg normally. This could account for her not having a developed heel on one foot, but an overdeveloped heel on the 'good' one. If you look at her lame foot, you can see the scaling indicates that the 'sole' continues all the way up to the extra toes, whereas on the other foot it has a distinct separation point between heel and extra toes. I think it's highly likely she's deformed to the point where one leg has been taking most of her weight for most of her life and it's starting to take a toll on her now.

Scales indicate the underlying structures and this is why old breed books always used to say to "discard all chicks without straight leg scaling". Modern hatcheries have mostly forgotten this, especially since the reasons for doing it were rarely mentioned, and they're breeding birds with deformed feet and legs, but they don't see it. Others do see it but they don't tell you why they selected these particular birds to be sold off, compared to those they kept.

If you look at my profile page or gallery, you can see some images of bad scaling that I drew on and wrote notes on. They're as clear as mud to some folks but you might get what I mean. I had to find all that out the hard way.

These deformed leg and feet problems are common issues especially with extra-toe genetics but can also happen to normal 4-toed genes. It's not usually a life threatening issue but often causes spraddled chicks, because the leg bones are shaped wrong and everything that relates to them is also wrong --- tendons, muscles, etc, all subtly malconfigured. The chicks usually recover from genetic spraddling just like they do deficiency or injury-caused spraddling, but it takes longer and it's a very heritable trait.

I ended up with some so bad that they suffered with every step, so I am still culling this out of my flock. It would take too long to breed it out. I can tell from the leg scaling of a chick that's still wet from hatching whether or not I'll need to cull it as an adult. Not a cheery prospect. But I always give a "pass" to any bird that makes a pet of itself, and I can often sell them to people who won't breed them, who just want a pet chook, or keep them as a foster mother.

It's very possible she's always had an issue there and only recently has it done enough damage to cause lameness... But I would treat as though for bumblefoot just in case. Stockholm tar (pine tar) is helpful for infections and things you can't identify or drain easily. I don't see any rampant infections though.

How long have you had this bird?

Best wishes.

 

[sheeshshe]

thank you so much!

She is just one year old. My friend got her at a breeder that I didn't feel good about. When my friend moved, she gave me her two silkies. The rooster had a slightly crooked beak, and somewhere within the two, they carry a no-pigment gene. They were breeding together, because my other hen didn't like him. I tried hatching a few of the chicks, but most wouldn't hatch, and the couple that finally did, they had no pigment. 1 had pigment, out of the 3. the third died, and it had the spraddle leg. and curled toes. it had problems hatching out. I got rid of the rooster, because I felt like he may be the one carrying the gene, I heard if both carried the copy of the gene, that all chicks would lack pigment. plus, he kept attacking me and my daughter. so I kept her, because she is sweet. But, now she has this problem. I thought she developed this problem from my rooster loving her SOOO much. could that be the case, if her bones weren't correct in the first place? could it have been enough to weaken her?

I'm not sure what to do. I don't see anything that resembles bumblefoot. I don't know where I would put the pine. should I list her on craigslist as a foster home type chicken?? she probably has bad genes anyways. I guess she wouldn't be good breeding stock. my son would be sad though, and it would make me sad too. But, what are my choices, really?

 

[chooks4life]

From the sounds of her, I wouldn't breed her, but a good foster mother is valuable, and a pet always gets a free pass.

The rooster paying her too much attention with abnormal bone structure can exacerbate things, for sure. If he's the sort that jumps on a hen who's not cooperating, then he's the sort that risks harming a hen. Injuries often occur to hens that are kept with that sort of rooster.

With these deformed-legged chickens, we don't see the severe leg bending/bowing in most, but it's there and making its presence felt by the abnormally placed tendons and muscles. Even a slight misplacement of these structures can make walking painful, though I'd think she's not usually in pain. Their muscles would have compensated by adulthood.

Sometimes it's only one leg. Their feet often curl to the outside or inside depending on which way the scales twist, but she's not a severe enough case for that; generally when the degree of deformity is that bad it happens very noticeably in the same day or week that they hatch. Sounds like (and looks like) in this case it's a one-leg affair.

I only breed males who let a female be if she protests, because if a hen's hurt or doesn't want to mate for any reason, a male pushing the issue can hurt or even kill her accidentally. Your hen's possibly a good example of why this is necessary. I've almost lost some of my best hens before I started culling roosters for being overbearing and refusing to let a hen go if she resisted. But some hens don't protest no matter what, which is another issue. If she keeps mating despite being hurt you may need to separate her, or him.

If you're attached to her, then keep her. I have faulty animals that I keep despite their non-value as breeders. Even if all she's contributing is a smile to your kid's face, I'd consider that 'paying her way'.

As for treating her... Does she rest unmolested throughout the day whenever she needs to? If she is able to rest and heal, then I'd let her be without separating her. As for pine tar, I would use it if a rest didn't fix up her lameness; I'd just coat her legs and feet. It absorbs completely over an hour to a day or so, depending on the animal. If she's spending a lot of time lying down I'd make sure food and water are within easy reach. Sometimes something as little as a broken toe can precipitate a downward slide to anorexia.

Best wishes.

 

[sheeshshe]

she's been separated for 4 weeks now. that is why she is so nasty, she is in a rabbit cage and getting filthy. I'd like to put her back with the others. But, I am afraid that the rooster won't leave her alone. see, she would lay down in the run and the rooster would just hop right on her and do his thin.g ugh.

he does just "do his thing" whenever he pleases, but then again, I had another rooster and my resistant hen would resist him and she was never fertile. at least now she is fertile. but, yeah.. he really finds my bad legged hen, beautiful LOl. I take them out in the yard as a group every week, so they dont' forget each other, and as soon as he sees her, he runs over as fast as he can, and mates with her. he just LOVES her.

 

[Kyzmette]

I've been reading random threads to familiarize myself with potential hatching issues, and I'm so glad I read this thread. I try to raise my animals in an organic, natural environment, and I plan on adding the Levy book to my shelves immediately. I have tons of garlic that grows wild on my property, and i never would have thought of giving it to my chickens. Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: There sure is a lot to learn, nobody in their right mind ever thinks they've learnt it all.

It's great you've got wild garlic. It's possible they may self medicate and save you the effort. You may need to introduce it to them in a form they can easily eat and identify so they learn to, though. I hope the Levy book helps you, and best wishes with your flock keeping.