Lame hen

[chicknmania]

We have a Mille Fleur hen who is very big and fat. Last year she started limping and it became progressively worse. We confined her in a small pen for a while and she got better; then she got mixed up in a fight between other hens about two months ago, and she got knocked down and started limping again. This time she is not getting better; we have been letting her out a few hours each day hoping the leg might just be stiff and weak and that it would improve with a little excercise. Problem seems to be in her hip really more than her leg, but we're not sure; maybe a torn ligament? She seems cheerful and healthy otherwise, and is eating well, as always. What can we do?

 

[dlhunicorn]

It sounds like your hen may have a condition known as "cage layer fatigue"
Here is an article about it and the second link is a product used to treat it :
http://www.avian.uga.edu/documents/pip/2002/0602.pdf

http://www.varshagroup.com/orthocare.htm

 

[chicknmania]

That's interesting as my son said when she had it before he began giving all the hens oyster shell as some of the hens had soft shelled eggs; he remembers that the problem seemed to go away when he gave her the oyster shell for a while. She doesn't lay much, if at all. Will see if we can find some ot that supplement stuff. Thank you!

 

[dlhunicorn]

There is also a very good COMPLETE supplement formulated to the NRC minimum requirements called Avia Charge 2000 and you can order it from McMurry or Strombergs...this would be a good addition to the product you saw above.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
I had one young chicken that had a slight leg injury and I believe the oyster shell we fed her helped. Today you would never know she had a limp at one time.

 

[aggiemae]

This past spring our Wellsummer injured one leg and the other foot coming down the ramp (She is a spaz) The leg was bent in the middle so I am pretty sure she broke it. I couldn't figure out what to do with the "toe" but I splinted her leg with two flat toothpicks and some coban and she started to walk on it immediately. We took the bandage off after 5 weeks.