Limping Chick

[Suzie]

I cannot express my happiness at the progress you are making with this little one..it has made my day worthwhile...keep up the excellent work!!!!!

 

[lablover]

Thank you Suzie! It's amazing at how fast things have seemed to turn around. Makes me anxious to see her everyday because I'm worried now about things going backwards.
Today though, a lot of her food was gone this morning and she was walking on her hocks like a duck to get where she wanted. I'm thinking she was able to get to her food last night and eat what she wanted because she was not super hungry this morning.

 

[lablover]

Correction: She's how putting weight on both legs. That last post was from what someone said they saw when feeding her this morning. (I'm not able to check on her all throughout the day). This evening, she's definitely putting weight on both legs and is able to place them. She's stomping around though, still walking like a duck. Hoping this is just a process of getting the coordination back.

 

[Eggcessive]

Correction: She's how putting weight on both legs. That last post was from what someone said they saw when feeding her this morning. (I'm not able to check on her all throughout the day). This evening, she's definitely putting weight on both legs and is able to place them. She's stomping around though, still walking like a duck. Hoping this is just a process of getting the coordination back.

Very good news! Any improvement may be a sign that she may be getting better. Please keep us updated on your chicken.

 

[lablover]

Wow, it seems like such a long road, but it's just been about a month and a half!
Picking up from my last post:
The chick continued to progress and was able to get out for exercise within a few days. However, within a few minutes of being turned out, I noticed something was not right. The leg that was originally "good" (the right leg) was now showing problems. So back on box rest to see what the next step was. At this point, I had Hypericum and was giving a strong dose. The chick went downhill a bit with only being able to move around on the hocks again. That went on for a short while and slowly progressed back up to being able to stand and stomp around again. (At this point I'm thinking that this will be a continuous cycle.) Slow and steady progress over a couple of weeks allowed the chick to be able to be turned out once more. First thing it wanted was a dust bath. It has since had several afternoons in the coop alone. It has explored different heights, picked fights through the fence with the rest of the flock, and discovered the sky again lol! (You know, like when chicks are in that wild stage of testing their wings and noticing things above them.) The only thing I noticed is that the toes curled on the right foot. I couldn't really tell if this only happened as it got tired or if it just didn't have the control over them. I noticed it most as the chick scratched the ground. One evening, I was pleasantly surprised to walk in and see the chick up on the high roost that the flock uses. So I fixed a sturdy roost in the brooder box to see if it would roost at night. I keep a heat lamp on when the chick is in there, but if I leave it off as the sun goes down, the chick will roost. It's been too cold/rainy lately to let it out everyday, but if things are still good when I do, I guess it's time to start the introduction back into the flock. I still give the rooster booster vitamins, but not sure if I should be doing anything else. I stopped the Hypericum over a week a go at least.

 

[lablover]

I should also add that we found out today that this chick is definitely a hen. She had an egg in her box today... Still unsure about the legs. They still seem weak/uncoordinated, but she headed straight for the oyster shells when I let her out today.

 

[mom98312]

I too have a limping chick that at first.. was LEGS up out in the run.. I isolated her. she is eating and drinking. on medicated food and a pro-biotic but I'm seeing no improvement. She is as active as the limp allows.. but is lonesome being isolated. Suggestions ?