Injured Hen with No Obvious Trauma

[HilaryAkin]

Hi all,

I have a two year old hen that started limping yesterday. There are no obvious signs of trauma, but it looks like her leg is crooked now?? She has been fine until yesterday but she did spend more time in the coop with the other chickens instead of going outside as we are in the middle of a blizzard. Maybe she jumped off roosting bar and hurt herself? The thing is, when I move her leg and foot around it doesn't seem to bother her at all. She doesn't seem to want to put pressure on it but if I put pressure on it it doesn't seem to bother her either. Is this a calcium issue and her leg is now growing wrong? She eats Purina Flock Raiser and has oyster shells and grit to eat as wanted. I am confused. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Eggcessive]

Poor thing. Yes, it is probably an injury, sprain or a fracture. She needs to be kept from jumping with limited activity. Keeping her with her flock is important if you can keep her separated near food and water. Have you added any birds to your flock recently in the last couple of months? Was she vaccinated for Mareks? You might want to supplement her food with 1/4-1/2 tablet of human vitamin B complex crushed daily. Look over her entire left leg and foot for any swelling, green bruising or redness.

 

[HilaryAkin]

Poor thing. Yes, it is probably an injury, sprain or a fracture. She needs to be kept from jumping with limited activity. Keeping her with her flock is important if you can keep her separated near food and water. Have you added any birds to your flock recently in the last couple of months? Was she vaccinated for Mareks? You might want to supplement her food with 1/4-1/2 tablet of human vitamin B complex crushed daily. Look over her entire left leg and foot for any swelling, green bruising or redness.

We did add some new birds to the flock about a month or two ago. We had gotten them as chicks and added them at about 10 weeks. They were vaccinated from the breeder (I believe...) but this hen was not vaccinated for Mareks. I will look over her leg again, but really didn't notice anything the first time I looked it over. And, yes, I am planning on adding her into the smaller dog cage in the coop today. I kept her in the garage yesterday so I could check on her easier with the blizzard and all, but I totally get the importance of keeping her around the flock. She's the head lady too.

 

[HilaryAkin]

Poor thing. Yes, it is probably an injury, sprain or a fracture. She needs to be kept from jumping with limited activity. Keeping her with her flock is important if you can keep her separated near food and water. Have you added any birds to your flock recently in the last couple of months? Was she vaccinated for Mareks? You might want to supplement her food with 1/4-1/2 tablet of human vitamin B complex crushed daily. Look over her entire left leg and foot for any swelling, green bruising or redness.

If it’s sprained, I imagine it’ll get better in some time, but if it’s fractured, what would I do for that? Would I know which it is just by healing time? The way it heals? It’s just odd it doesn’t seem to bother her at all when I move the leg and foot around. Hopefully that indicates that it’s a sprain

 

[Eggcessive]

Is the ankle swollen? An xray would be the only way you would know if it was fractured unless there is a deformity seen. Swelling would probably be present if a sprain. If you can locate the site of the injury, it might be splinted.