Limping 7 week old chicken! Help us make her feel better!

[Frankie619]

We are first time backyard chicken raisers, and we just moved our chicks outside into their coop a week ago. We have been letting them run around in the yard for the last couple days, but today we noticed our red sex link Frankie was limping and did not want to come out to roam. After looking at her foot, it looks like there is either a cut or a burn. There is some sharp mulch outside that could be the culprit. Also, we set up the heat lamp in the coop so they could transition to the cold, but I am worried she perched on top of the heat lamp and was burned. We want to clean the wound, but would love to have some advice! What do you use? Does it look like a burn or a cut? Will it heal on its own? Should we separate her from the other two chickens? Thank you for your help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome to BYC!

How cold is it in California?
How old are the chicks?

If they are fully feathered they really should not need supplemental heat depending on your temperatures.

It does look like it may be a burn on the foot. You can soak it in some epsom salts or betadine, then apply some plain neosporin or vetericyn.
You can wrap the foot if you feel like you need to but, ideally keep her in a kennel for a couple of days outside in the run to limit activity - keep her on clean, dry bedding. Hopefully it will heal no problem, but keep watch for pus, oozing, inflammation or odors.

If you think she was able to jump on the heat lamp then you will need to re-evaluate your setup to ensure no one else is able to do the same thing.

 

[Frankie619]

Thank you so much for your very helpful reply!

She is still limping a little, but somehow her foot looks almost totally better today. Is that even possible? We put on some neosporin just in case, and we will keep an eye on her. The chicks are about 7 weeks old, and I think they do have all their feathers. We are going to take the heat lamp out of the coop. It only gets down to about 65°F coldest at night here in San Diego.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you so much for your very helpful reply!

She is still limping a little, but somehow her foot looks almost totally better today. Is that even possible? We put on some neosporin just in case, and we will keep an eye on her. The chicks are about 7 weeks old, and I think they do have all their feathers. We are going to take the heat lamp out of the coop. It only gets down to about 65°F coldest at night here in San Diego.

You have some lovely little girls there!
Glad to see the foot looks much better. If she is still limping try to restrict her activity level, she may have sprained her leg/foot while jumping from the roost, etc. This is fairly common in chickens, all that jumping they do sometimes they get sprains.

They look fully feathered to me, so should be fine without any supplemental heat at 7weeks. They will huddle together at night (and sometimes during the day) to stay warm and for comfort (like they are doing in your photo).

Let us know how she gets along