Limping gagging chicken

[jojo54]

We have an 8 week old chicken who is limping on one of her legs. She keeps to herself quite a bit and away from the flock lying in the shade. She akso seems to make a gagging motion (opening mouth not making any sound) after eating on a number of occasions. We are very new to chickens. We have 31 8 week old girls. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Well this could be a number of things. First thing I would do would be rule our injuries since at that age the girls are really picking on one another.

You didn't mention breed; could this possibly be a meat bird? What are they being fed? Are these birds free range?

I would also want to see gapeworm ruled out, and respiratory illness. So I'd pick her up, give her a very thorough look-over. Check her legs for heat or twisting, etc. Check her foot where she's limping for injury, particularly to the bottom of the foot. Check her weight - if she's heavy and a meat bird cross, she might be too heavy. Listen to hear breathing - at her head, at her throat, and near her back/ribs. See if you hear wheezing.

Does she ever fling her head like she's trying to get something out of her throat?

When she makes the gagging motion, does she also wiggle her throat around?

 

[jojo54]

She is a Bovan Brown also called Golden Sex Link. She is also the runt of the litter. We caught her and checked her over but can't see that her legs look twisted, etc. She doesn't shake her head or wriggle her throat as far as I can see. We feed grow pellets (next step up from chick pellets) and they are free range with lawn and dirt. They have an area approx 25 feet by 150 feet. We also feed them tomato, corn, melon, etc from the garden. I this info helps. Thanks.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Well she isn't a really heavy breed, so I wouldn't think it's the type of problem you see in cornish x's for example. One thing that you're probably already doing but I'd be amiss if I didn't mention it: make sure that they all have grit, chick sized grit, no matter if there seem to be a lot of pebbles in the area. That really helps the digesti tract keep up to speed and has been shown to increase healthy weight gain.

Well one other thing - did you happen to check her crop? I doubt it's a crop issue, but...

Really I'd just watch her carefully for respiratory symptoms. Also check her throat (her gullet by opening her mouth) every couple of days while this is happening to see if you can see any reddening, white nodules, etc - compared to the other birds her age. I wonder if she just doesn't have something physically congenitally wrong with her.

Otherwise, I'd do the usual scattershot type treatment that I do for any bird that makes me wonder - give vitamins in the water a few times in the week, watch them, etc. Maybe put a couple of drops of VetRx down that one's throat. It's not medicinal but it does seem to straighten out some issues where there's no real good clear explaination yet.

 

[jojo54]

Thanks for your advice. We separated her any another chicken that was also limping. They were the two smallest chickens and i think the others were too pushy and these girls didn't get another to eat. We are giving them vitamins and also supplimenting their foor with some milk and cooked eggs. They are eating well and moving better. The littlest one used to lay around alot but she moves around alot more. They have bonded and miss each other when they are not in sight. We have a small pen for them and put them in the shop at night so no predators can get them. When carrying one without the other, they both look for their friend. We will do this for a couple weeks to strengthen them up and then see if they can go back with the flock. I hope so, but we may still give them extra rations to make sure they are eating okay. Thanks again.

 

[threehorses]

Well that sounds hopeful at least. Perhaps it was just nutritional. There are other things that cause lameness, even respiratory illnesses that cause lameness and related bacterial illnesses, or virus. But there weren't any clear symptoms of anything more so I'm glad this is at least working. Sometimes it may stil be bacterial/viral but the boost in immune system food helps - which is why I like this type of program so much. It never hurts - it can always help.

I'll have my fingers crossed hoping.