Leg Injury or something else?

[TLM72]

Hello,
I have a 3.5 yr old hen who started limping, it has progressed to the point that if she puts weight on that leg, she will drop onto her hock. The leg in question has been warm to the touch, there is no obvious swelling or injury. Sometimes when I pick her up and she moves her leg, I swear I hear something pop. That foot/leg does point inward slightly, and she will step on it with her other foot. She is eating and drinking normally. We have a vet appt in another week. I’m wondering if anyone has any idea what we might be dealing with?

 

[Anon112]

It's good that you have a vet appointment. It's also good that she's still eating and drinking normally.

I hope that it might just be a slipped tendon and that there might be some treatment plan.

I had a hen with leg issues similar to what you're describing (though not the thing of stepping on her own foot---she would keep hers a little lifted off of the ground). Unfortunately, when the vet did an x-ray she had some sort of cancer or serious bone degeneration in the leg. It wasn't something the vet thought would get better, and so unfortunately we euthanized her. (At the point I got her to the vet---about a week of having her inside because I thought she had a sprain that just needed rest---she had lost some of her appetite).