limping hen, hardly walking, no signs of injury

[featheredbelles]

I'm so sorry to hear that, hopeful both of our hens pull through.. I've been mixing Durvet Vitamins and Electrolytes in the chicken water, and she seems to be up more often, although I'm not sure if that was why she improved. We also tried half of a baby Tylenol but it didn't seem to help. Best Wishes

i tried half a baby aspirin when she first started limping, but it didn't do anthing either. she still eats and drinks if i put it right in front of her. as long as she's eating, i'll let her live. now i have to leave town and a friend will look after her. i hope she'll have good news for me when im back :-/

 

[featheredbelles]

Hello again. I'm still in Europe and my chicken-sitter tells me my hen us still alive, woohooo! Still not doing great though. Sitting down all day. Maybe it was a stroke..? I hope she's still okay when I'm back. Amazingly tough creatures, these chickens! more help/advice still much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[h-kay]

Hello There!

Sorry to hear about your girl. I have the same issue. Seems to be some kind of injury. She's been hopping around on one leg for three months. She gets up to eat and drink but mostly just lays around. My other girls are very aggressive and gang up on her when she's left alone so I've put her up in her own pen. She still sleeps in the coop but I have to put her in and take her out.

I've read on some other posts about hens having leg injuries from tendons being out of place or pulled. ?? One guy claims he was able to put it back in place. I have not had that experience. I haven't been able to feel a difference between the two legs.

Another guy sadly said he accidentally injured one of his hens while treating for lice. She never healed. She hopped around on one leg for a year and then the good leg it gave out. He sadly put her down.

I have been periodically giving my hen, Mrs. Butterworth, a warm epsom salt bath. She just lays in the small tub I use. She seems to really like it. She's even fallen asleep in the bath. It doesn't change anything for her but she does like it. I also use bath time as a chance to clean her bum and treat for lice and mites. She can't dust bathe on her own anymore so I have to do it. I have to warn you that if you bathe her her feathers will be really heavy afterwards and you'll want to get her as dry as you can.

I use yellow sulfur powder and dish soap for lice and mites. Others may have better solutions but this seems to keep things under control.

I wish you the best of luck! Perhaps someone will have other suggestions for us.

Enjoy Europe!


Heather

 

[featheredbelles]

Hi Heather!

Thanks for your response! How is your hen doing now. I cam back from Europe a few days ago and my hen seems a little better. She still sits A LOT, but when she walks, she isn't limping that much anymore. I'm still puzzled about all this. No idea what's going on. But I'm glad she's still with us and eating, drinking, moving etc... Maybe she's just gonna sit around a lot for the rest of her life. As long as she's not in pain, I'm okay with that.
Another hen of mine, died while I was gone. My friend, who took good care of them, found her dead inside the coop one morning. I have had this happen before. So weird. No signs of injury or anything. She had pneumonia a few weeks ago and I nursed her back to health and now this! So weird. So now I'm down to 2 chickens. Oh well. The 2 get along great, no pecking at the limping one.
We shall see how this is gonna go on.
Best wishes!

 

[featheredbelles]

In case anybody comes across this, my hen recovered completely. Not sure what it was that actually helped her, but she lived. I gave her a dewormer and I think also antibiotics at some point. About 6 months later she died though, but she was pretty old. Thanks for everybody responding!

 

[Chickie Newbie]

So I realize this post is two years old, but I'm wondering if anyone came to any conclusions about your limping chicken? I have a Welsummer hen that has been limping for a week and I'm really getting worried about her. It seems to be getting worse. She can't get up to roost at night with the rest of the hens and is distressed about that. I will take her the vet this week if it doesn't improve, but just wondering if anyone figured out what was going on. She's almost two and has been vaccinated for Marek's.

 

[bucky52]

sounds familiar.I have one that started limping this morning.This evening she had no use of her leg.I had to put her up on the Roost.This will be my 3rd one .one died last year.and we put one down last month.Now I am dealing with another one.I purchased these hens at a tractor supply in 2015.They were suppose to be Isa Browns.I had to purchase a total of six.Store policy. I was told they were all hens. Not so.Two of them were Roosters. And meat birds at that.

 

[Chickie Newbie]

Wow, so sorry for your loss. I hope your latest chickie recovers. I'll post here if I find out anything new. I gave her half a baby aspirin as I read on this site that that helped with any swelling and pain. We will see.

 

[featheredbelles]

Just saw this. Like I mentioned above she did recover first and then died about 6 months later. She was in her nesting box and was all puffed up and had fluid coming from her beak. She also smelled pretty bad and soon lost consciousness. The strange thing is that my other hen had the same story about a year later! First limping, then hardly walking, then recovery and pretty much same kind of death some months later. No fluid from the beak though.
Very strange. They were both 5 years and older.

 

[featheredbelles]

Here's a link to that thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1053455/my-hen-just-died-from-what#post_17791070