Limping hen / holding up foot - in garage now - pics UPDATE...

[hennypennysmom]

Petunia is a barred cochin - one of our 7 seven month old hens. When she was 1 day old she came up lame - wouldn't even put weight on one foot. We built her a hospital room in brooder, gave her her own food/water and within 24 hrs she was flying over that hospital wall to rejoin her little friends.

Although Petunia recovered, she has always been slightly gimpy - she's grown normally and is nice and big. She walks, gets up on the roost, goes down the ramp, and even runs - with a funny, uneven gait. Eats & drinks. Super fluffy and feels like an angora - so soft! I believe she is laying. The cold weather seems to have exaggerated her limp though. Her feet appear normal - no sores, nothing unusual. She does put a little pressure on that foot - wondering if the problem is higher up. She's holding it up. I'm worried that because of this, she's actually NOT getting enough to eat or drink. She ate enthusiastically when I offered her a handful of pellets.

I noticed today while out in the coop visiting with the girls (one is broody right now - with no rooster in sight!)....I noticed Petunia was in the other nesting box - with her head sort of crammed into this space between the divider and the egg door. The others kept going in and pecking her -agressively. Seemed they were fairly consistently pecking her and it was just heartbreaking to watch.

Are they doing this because she is the weakest (limping) one?
Is there anything I can do?
Wondering if I should bring her in to see the vet...perhaps this is something simple that we can help Petunia with....?
Should I separate her and bring her in to the garage for a bit? Have no idea what I'd keep her in if I did.

Any advice? There is nothing visible on her legs (they both look the same, size wise and no scabs).

She's our favorite (isn't that always the way it goes?) - just about the nicest hen ever - very docile, easily handled and seems to like being around people. We really want to hep her. I'm guessing that the cold has exacerbated the problem - so maybe it's arthritis or some sort of structural issue.

Here's a pic of her from a few weeks ago before the blizzard...

Here she is peeking out from the egg door...she's the most beautiful girl!

THANK you!


Kara

 

[line-rat]

I have the same problem. I took the one being just about eaten alive and put her in a seperate coop. those girls can be mean to one of the flock who is injured. her feathers are coming back in, i think, and her leg is much better. i will keep her from the others for a while longer to make sure she can hold her own. when she rejoins the flock.

 

[hennypennysmom]

I have separated Petunia and have her in the garage with her friend, Aster, who is broody right now. She's limping pretty badly - but is eating, drinking, etc.

We have put her in a dog pen with a crate on the bottom so she's not on the cold concrete floor - she even flew up to the top of the pen and was balancing on it when my oldest daughter found her there. Guess her wings work great! So...am I overreacting by seperating her at this point? She's eating, drinking etc - I was just concerned that she's getting picked on - but I'm afraid that's the pecking order and there is not much that can be done about that....right? Are the others sensing that she's maybe the weakest one (she's always been very timid, although she's the easiest one to handle and seems to be very content to be picked up - she's very sweet)? She's always been a bit gimpy since she was little - we actually thought we were going to lose her when she was 1 day old and started to limp - but she recovered and started putting weight on the foot. Fast forward to the summer when she had a funny little gait, but got around just fine (even ran) - the cold weather seems to have increased the limp again. This makes me think it's something in the joint.

The girls are looking like they are waiting for the bus, out there in that cage in the garage. We feel bad for them! Wonder if I should just put her back in with the other girls...
Who knew having chickens would cause so much mental anguish!!

here are the two girls in their hospital / broody jail pen:

Any advice from others who have a funny-gaited or limping hen?

Kara