NJisBearCountry
In the Brooder
- Aug 24, 2022
- 10
- 20
- 41
My 17 week old Polish pullet has been displaying some interesting symptoms for a couple of weeks now. She seems to be improving but isn't quite getting better.
It started off with refusing to put any weight on her right foot. Her foot looked a little swollen so I did an epsom salt soak and looked for any evidence of bumblefoot but the foot looked otherwise uninjured so I just bandaged it for a few days and hoped that keeping the bandaging clean would help whatever was causing the swelling to run its course and made sure she had easy access to food and water and didn't need to get around on it. She started trying to put weight on the foot and stumble around on it and the bandage looked like it might be getting in her way so I took it off about a week ago but she hasn't really improved much since then. She lays with her right leg stuck out and her toes together most of the day but will pull the leg under her to launch herself forward to get around the coop. She can get down the ramp from the hen house into the run in the morning but doesn't try to get back up the ramp at night so I have to scoop her up and put her to bed at sunset so she doesn't become fox food.
Her right wing is starting to look a bit threadbare too but I'm not sure if that's from rubbing against the wire of the run as she lurches against it repeatedly to move around. She does seem to lean a bit to the side and have trouble balancing but that could just be the foot/leg trouble.
She was vaxxed for Mareks and her legs and wings aren't paralyzed, she is capable of moving them, so I'm reasonably certain it isn't that. I've added NutriDrench and Poultry Cell to their water in case it's a B2 deficiency. I have a chicken foot splint and plenty more vetwrap I can use if splinting the foot might be effective.
Our regular vet doesn't normally see chickens but would happily take our money to see yet another one of our animals but we'd like to avoid spending hundreds of dollars on something that isn't life-threatening or only solved with euthanasia.
It started off with refusing to put any weight on her right foot. Her foot looked a little swollen so I did an epsom salt soak and looked for any evidence of bumblefoot but the foot looked otherwise uninjured so I just bandaged it for a few days and hoped that keeping the bandaging clean would help whatever was causing the swelling to run its course and made sure she had easy access to food and water and didn't need to get around on it. She started trying to put weight on the foot and stumble around on it and the bandage looked like it might be getting in her way so I took it off about a week ago but she hasn't really improved much since then. She lays with her right leg stuck out and her toes together most of the day but will pull the leg under her to launch herself forward to get around the coop. She can get down the ramp from the hen house into the run in the morning but doesn't try to get back up the ramp at night so I have to scoop her up and put her to bed at sunset so she doesn't become fox food.
Her right wing is starting to look a bit threadbare too but I'm not sure if that's from rubbing against the wire of the run as she lurches against it repeatedly to move around. She does seem to lean a bit to the side and have trouble balancing but that could just be the foot/leg trouble.
She was vaxxed for Mareks and her legs and wings aren't paralyzed, she is capable of moving them, so I'm reasonably certain it isn't that. I've added NutriDrench and Poultry Cell to their water in case it's a B2 deficiency. I have a chicken foot splint and plenty more vetwrap I can use if splinting the foot might be effective.
Our regular vet doesn't normally see chickens but would happily take our money to see yet another one of our animals but we'd like to avoid spending hundreds of dollars on something that isn't life-threatening or only solved with euthanasia.
