limping chicken

[karenvalls]

I received two 11 month old hens from a friend and added them to my flock of 4 on Tuesday. 3 grew up together and are the same age as the two new ones. The 4th was added 2 months ago appears to be about 5 months old. She does not lay yet. Wednesday when I arrived home I realized one of the newbies was limping. I checked for injuries to her foot, leg, wing and can find no indication. Could it be sprained? How do I treat it?

 

[Wynette]

Karenvalls - I'm VERY curious to see responses to this - I have an EE girl who is about 10 months that began to limp about 2 weeks ago. I checked her and found nothing amiss. After 3 days of her limping and me watching her carefully, I found her sitting on the coop floor, unable to walk. I removed her and she has been in a dog crate ever since...she's eating, drinking, poop looks normal...and does have good strength in her legs - whenI pick her up, she paddles the air furiously. But, when I set her down, she cannot walk & will either just sit there or try to fly & flops over.

I'm curious to see how your girl progresses, and if she gets worse as mine did. I have found nothing in my Chicken Health Handbook that seems to fit her symptom.

For your girl, what breed is she? Also, is it possible she's injured her leg or foot from jumping down from a roost or something?

OH! WELCOME TO BYC!!!

 

[Heidi]

I wish I could help - I'll bump this up and see if one of the mod's or something can give you both an idea what might be going on.

 

[Wynette]

Thanks, Heidi...no one out there with feedback??

 

[Wynette]

Karenvalls, how is you limping girl doing?

 

[shepan2]

I just logged on to see what I could do about one of my girls that just started to limp. She was fine and dandy yesterday and this afternoon, I let them out to graze and she was limping. Nothing looks amiss with her leg.

I only have two chickens and Daisy (the one limping) is my only layer...She's a plymouth rock...

Your idea about jumping up or down from the roost may be correct, but what does one do ... just wait and see?

Poor little thing - she's eating, pooping etc. just fine.

Any input with others experience would be appreciated!

 

[chickabator]

We had a barred rock rooster BERTRUM a year ago and we had our roost up pretty high one morning he started limping. dh checked him no sign of injury so he lowered the roos down about a week later he was fine so we figured it was the roost being too high and him landing funny on his feet.

 

[tykris99]

My little bantam silkie rooster used to think he was protecting the rabbits when he was about 3 - 4 months old and I can only assume he got his foot hurt in the wire on the bottom of their cage. He limped for about a week and than appeared fine ( the weather was warm). Now the poor guy 9 months old with the cold weather has been limping and favoring for the past month or two with the weather. His foot is stiff like arthritis and I've been unable to help him. He does just fine and adapted well,however I do have to help him on the roost at night. We do laugh because he hops like the rabbits most of the time Hope yours are okay.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Sounds like your hen may just have a sprain or a pulled muscle. Provided there is no internal injury, with restricted movement, the leg should heal in less that a month. However, if there has been some sort of internal injury (I.E. broken bone, torn muscle/ligament, etc.) then the leg may not heal on it's own, or if it does, the leg may not heal correctly.

Does she put weight on the leg? Can she move all parts of it? Does she have feeling in her toes? Good blood flow? If so, then it is probably not broken. Typically a bird can receive this sort of injury from landing wrong off a perch, being jumped on by another bird, or just moving it the wrong way while running.

Should the leg get worse, there may be an injury that is not visible, or it may not be an injury at all, but rather a nerve or deficiency issue. Just make sure the bird has access to a good adult layer feed and you can supplement with lots of green veggies and fruits of all kinds. Be sure to monitor the leg and watch that it does not get worse.

 

[shepan2]

Thank you all so much for your feedback - She's walking normally now, the limp lasted for about 4 days.

I think the roost may be too high and in a location that needs to be adjusted...We'll get right on it!

Again - Nice to know there is the calm, sensible, voice of experience out there. Thank you!