ShrekDawg

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Jan 18, 2008
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One of my chickens appears to have a bit of a limp and seems to be resting more. She even let me catch her and pick her up easily which she usually doesn’t really do so I’m a little bit worried.

I just noticed it when I let them out to free range a couple hours ago.

At first she seemed fine, they all came running across the yard to see me, but then I noticed shortly after she seemed to be stopping to rest a lot more and kind of separating herself a little bit until I would go get her and put her with the others. I also noticed the limp around that time. But she seems like she can still use the leg and put weight on it. She does seem to walk on it sometimes but when she does, she has the limp. And when she is not, she holds it up tight against her body. And also seems to lay down and rest quite a bit. But she also seems to be interested in foraging still and tried a little bit but not as much as usual. Usually she doesn’t rest at all unless they’re all dust bathing. She does sometimes get separated from the group anyway though when free ranging cause she and her sister get so fixated on the food and lose sight of the flock so I didn’t think the separation but was so weird but more so the resting and not really wanting to keep up or maybe not able.

She doesn’t appear to be fluffed up or sick or anything at all except I did notice she appears to have runny poop. Saw some pretty liquedy poop run down her butt when she was outside. It looked to be kind of a light brown color. I think she is still eating and drinking so that and the limp are really the only “symptoms.”

I have read about bumblefoot so that was the first thing I checked for but I didn’t see any scabs or anything on her feet and it didn’t look like she had it. The only thing is a couple of her toes looked a little bit red?? But I didn’t know if that was normal.

I’m not sure how long she has had this problem as I was gone from Saturday through Tuesday night (yesterday) and my dad was watching them but he says he didn’t notice any limp or anything. Not sure if he would have anyway though but he says she was running around and tearing all over just fine. I think he let them free range when I was gone too. Which I do too but not that often lately. So is it possible she just tore a muscle or something??

I just want her to be okay.

Oh and she is a 3 1/2 year old Buff Orpington (they will all be 4 in October) and as far as I know is still laying eggs of that is relevant. Any information and/or help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Oh and here is a video of the limp and some pictures. It’s not the best video cause she wouldn’t really move and I was pretty close to her but I will try to get a better one tomorrow.

Sorry, ignore the talking. Was responding to my dad who didn’t know I was recording a video.

But anyway here is the video and some pictures.


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It appears to be a little swollen. She may have jumped off of the roost or some other thing or place and sprain her foot/leg. It's obvious she's feeling some pain.
I don't believe it's anything to get all worried about at this time. If she continues for a couple days or if it gets worse, than I'd be concerned.
 
It appears to be a little swollen. She may have jumped off of the roost or some other thing or place and sprain her foot/leg. It's obvious she's feeling some pain.
I don't believe it's anything to get all worried about at this time. If she continues for a couple days or if it gets worse, than I'd be concerned.

Okay thank you so much Sean!! That is a relief! Is there anything I can do for the swelling and pain or do you think I should just leave her alone for now and see if she improves??
 
OH!! And I just realized something that might be relevant. I recently (about a month ago) cleaned out the coop and put down pine pellets instead of shavings before I moved the littles out. They had had a really thick layer of shavings and hay until then. They went from that to a pretty thin layer of pellets on top of a linoleum covered plywood floor. I did mix a little bit of shavings on top and they have also kicked some from the nest boxes into the coop so there’s a fair amount of shavings on top now but still nowhere near as thick of a layer as before. So could that have contributed?? Like if she landed on the hard floor?? Although none of the other chickens have injuries and I would think it would have happened at the beginning instead of a month in and with more shavings under there now??
 
There's no real way to know without actually seeing it happen. My pheasants do that every once in awhile, I don't know how, had one the other day that really had me worried, she could hardly walk and when she did she'd be unbalanced and fall over...I suspected the worse but today she's just fine, like nothing was ever wrong.
I did loose a Red Golden hen 2 days ago, she died from natural causes, old age, she was 12 years old.
 
There's no real way to know without actually seeing it happen. My pheasants do that every once in awhile, I don't know how, had one the other day that really had me worried, she could hardly walk and when she did she'd be unbalanced and fall over...I suspected the worse but today she's just fine, like nothing was ever wrong.
I did loose a Red Golden hen 2 days ago, she died from natural causes, old age, she was 12 years old.

Oh wow glad she is feeling better!! But sorry about your other hen :hit :hugs

Anyway, thank you for all your help
 
I would watch her to see if it gets worse, but injuries and sprains can be common. If it gets worse, she might need to be confined to force rest, but she looks pretty active in the video as though it isn’t slowing her down.

Thank you for the help!! Yeah, she gets all around just fine, she just seems to have to stop and rest more often and kind of stays in one place for a while. Which obviously isn’t conducive to free ranging so I may keep her confined to the coop and run for a bit. Glad it’s pretty common though and possibly not a huge issue. That’s good to know. I’ve just never had a sick or injured hen before so I think I am a little bit paranoid haha
 
Good documentation!
The video shows your hen spreading her toes and putting her weight on her foot....even with the limp.
Would think a sprain or hard landing like others have voiced.
You could let her soak her foot in Epsom salt. May even give her a baby aspirin for her pain.
The liquid poop could be a relation to her current stress.
 

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