Limping chicken Help

[lissalischicks]

I have a barred rock who is almost 2 years old and is going through a horrendous molt. On top of that she is limping and having a hard time walking. I did my research and tried to follow all the advice out there but I'm a little concerned.

The symptoms of the leg started about a week ago. The leg she is babying is hotter than her older leg. I checked her out and she does not have bumblefoot and when I feel her leg it doesn't feel broken or no open gashes seen. It was a little more swollen when compared to her unaffected leg. I checked for mites and lice and do not seen anything.

I soaked her in warm water with epsom salt with no visible relief. We have been giving her more protein and I even drove an hour away to buy her live meal worms so she can have some fresh stuff. I put some vitamin and electrolytes in her water. She has access to fresh greens but just sits around most of the time. The last few days I gave her some rooster booster. Yesterday she was looking bad and had no energy so I have her some nutri drench and she perked up today. For her pain I gave her a half of baby aspirin and she actually walks around and barely limps with the aspirin. I give the aspirin sparingly but I don't want to give her that forever.

Her swollen leg and heat seem to be better but she is still limping and honestly looks sad (but it could be worse because she is molting so bad). So my questions are:

1. Can I do anything else for her (really don't want to take her to the vet. The only place I can go to for my chicken costs an arm and a leg since they consider a chicken an exotic animal I have to pay extra)
2. How frequent can I give her the nutri drench
3. OR .... am I just a freak and over thinking it....

Thanks for any suggestions!!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My guess would be a sprain or strain. She will improve slowly. I wouldn't worry unless it gets worse. Sometimes molting chickens don't feel well. Too much messing with her can cause more stress, so I would leave her be unless she's being picked on.

 

[lissalischicks]

You have a good point. I was worried about stressing her out.
On a funny side note: the little youngest girls I have must think her butt looks funny because they were picking on her but today she got EXTREMELY MADE and chased them down. They haven't bothered her since.

 

[micstrachan]

I highly recommend forced rest. It did wonders for my limping pullet. Do you have some sort of dog crate you can put in tbe run to limit her mobility while keepiing her with the flock? At roosting time, you could either let her out or put the pcrate in the coop, depending on your set up. Just take care she is not tempted to roost up high and injure herself further if she were to jump down in the morning. Also, a bit of protein treat like fish, egg, or mealworms might help her repair the damaged tissue.