Thank you all so much. I feel like I should have a bed in the coop. These babies have been a full time job. I m re-posting this here just in case someone can help. I posted this in another thread but haven't gotten any responses:
I am having a similar problem. I know I am going to sound extremely ignorant as I am a VERY new chicken owner, but I really need help. First of all, I don't know whether 4 of my 12 birds are hens or roosters. They are now 10 weeks old, all muts, and I keep going back and forth. Yesterday, one chicken, who doesn't have much of a social role in the group, got up limping. His left leg seemed to be "asleep" looked like he had "pins-n-needles". I picked him/her up and examined her physically with no signs of swelling, sores, or injury of any kind. He/she ate and drank normally (maybe a little more aggressively than normal from my hand), and as the day went on, I noticed improvement. I researched about an hour and saw that "wait and watch" was the best thing to do. I checked the coop for poop anomalies and found 1 bloody stool. It was only one and it's not alarming according to a "poop chart" I used.
This particular chicken doesn't really "like" to be held, so when I tried to pick her/him up again later for a check and she/he ran away twice, I believed it to be a fluke and that maybe her leg was just "asleep"
This afternoon, I went out to let them "free range" for the afternoon (they only can range supervised), and the runt, who is by FAR the most aggressive and even fights, came out limping. His left leg was completely useless. It would barely keep him balanced and looked limp and lifeless (the leg).
I feel like I have made a huge mistake taking on these sweet babies without knowing anything about the care for them. I feel like a horrible Mommy and I just want to cry. I spend so much time reading these threads and researching and I still feel like I know nothing.
This particular baby is the meanest one of the bunch. He/she absolutely HATES to be held. I spent quite a bit of time with him a couple of weeks ago to tame his aggressive mean streak and he didn't like any of it one bit. He either calmed down, or realized he better only be ugly when no humans are around (not often). Now that I have him being sweet to the flock, this happens. Normally, he would do anything he could to get away from me. Now, he is sitting on my lap by choice and singing to me when he wants to be hand fed and syringe watered...lol.
I know wait and watch is the prognosis, but OMG, I am really afraid right now.
I will post some pics shortly!
Thanks in advance for any help and sorry for the long winded request!
and Welcome To BYC!
