Limping Hen

[Wyorp Rock]

How do I post a video?

Pic of her poop below. This one is runny but saw a normal one this morning

For video, upload to Youtube and provide a link or you can upload to the BYC Gallery, this link shows you how.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-upload-videos-to-the-gallery.1631126/

 

[jslater14]

For video, upload to Youtube and provide a link or you can upload to the BYC Gallery, this link shows you how.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-upload-videos-to-the-gallery.1631126/

For video, upload to Youtube and provide a link or you can upload to the BYC Gallery, this link shows you how.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-upload-videos-to-the-gallery.163112

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/img_7548-mov.7967091/

Please bear with me, I don’t know what I’m doing!! Can you access the video above?

It shows her limp. This was a few days ago and since, I’ve been applying arnica gel 3 times a day and giving her a dissolved calcium pill in water. I don’t see any injuries but she definitely doesn’t like when I apply the gel up near the joint.

We were at a Christmas function yesterday and returned after dark. She made it into the coop but is sleeping on the wood shavings.

Today I brought a dog crate in the run and crated her with food and water so she can rest. She doesn’t seem to mind it. Just lays there and hangs out and drinks/eats when she wants. I’ve been physically putting her in and out of the coop. She’s not crated on the coop at night since she’s willingly sleeping on the floor.

I’ve also added in some turmeric and cinnamon to her food as an anti-inflammatory.

Any other recommendations?

 

[Shadrach]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/img_7548-mov.7967091/

Please bear with me, I don’t know what I’m doing!! Can you access the video above?

It shows her limp. This was a few days ago and since, I’ve been applying arnica gel 3 times a day and giving her a dissolved calcium pill in water. I don’t see any injuries but she definitely doesn’t like when I apply the gel up near the joint.

We were at a Christmas function yesterday and returned after dark. She made it into the coop but is sleeping on the wood shavings.

Today I brought a dog crate in the run and crated her with food and water so she can rest. She doesn’t seem to mind it. Just lays there and hangs out and drinks/eats when she wants. I’ve been physically putting her in and out of the coop. She’s not crated on the coop at night since she’s willingly sleeping on the floor.

I’ve also added in some turmeric and cinnamon to her food as an anti-inflammatory.

Any other recommendations?

What concerns me in your post is that it seems there may be digestive/internal organ problems. Regular poop checks as Wyorp Rock suggests would halp monitor what's going on.

Usually I would consider a muscle or tendon strain to be most likely and these can take weeks to months to repair enough for the chicken to walk normally. This hen for example strained one leg while sitting and hatching which while not giving a sever limp, gave a noticable one and then she got the same leg caught in some bird netting and really gave the leg a wrench. This was maybe six months ago and while she doesn't limp walking normally, if she turns suddenly you can see the leg isn't dependable and she's learned how to compensate.

You write you're applying arnica to her leg and she shows discomfort when you're near her knee joint. This is mainly what makes me think it's a sprain.
Fret, the hen above couldn't put her foot down for a couple of days and either lay resting or hopped from a to b. There was no option to confine her and she's the senior hen and nobody bothered her. After the two days I gave her childrens liquid Ibrufen for three days, mainly to see if her leg hurt less she would attempt to use it. She did but it was obviously still painfull.
My view is the absolute minimum giving of any kind of pain relief. The pain is the message to the brain to stop doing whatever hurts. Aleviate the pain and the hen may be tempted to more than the leg can cope with and matters will just get worse.

Some people will isolate a chicken with a bad limp. It sort of makes sense but with broken bones, torn/strained muscles and tendons the faster they get put back in use the better they repair so I want the chicken to move around as soon as it can bear the pain. Sounds a bit cruel I know but there is some truth in the saying, "if you don't use it you lose it."
You wrote she made it into the coop so she is still mobile. If she is not getting bullied by any ot the hens then leave her with her group.
If you have a cockerel, or rooster in the group, you may have to build her a temporary run for a while.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It shows her limp. This was a few days ago and since, I’ve been applying arnica gel 3 times a day and giving her a dissolved calcium pill in water. I don’t see any injuries but she definitely doesn’t like when I apply the gel up near the joint.

I agree, if she's indicating that the joint or leg is tender when applying the gel, I would lean toward a sprain/injury as well.

I too leave mine to move about with their flock and interact, even with injuries or when sick/not well, as long as everyone is agreeable no one is picking on them. I think it's good for them to just be with their flock even if they aren't moving about a lot.

If it's really cold, you can provide her with extra bedding since she is currently sleeping in the shavings. I had a hen with a fractured leg. I left her with her flock. She was splinted and wrapped, she was still able to get to food/water fine, no one picked at her and for weeks she slept in a wood box on the floor, then graduated to a low roost, then finally as she healed and tested her limits, she eventually began roosting in the rafters again. Chickens are pretty good about self-limiting activity, sort of like we are, if it hurts, rest it and see if it improves over time.

If she were mine, I'd still finish the Calcium out to a full 5 days, just to be sure the limping is not due to the need of expelling any egg material, etc., but with tenderness, she's probably sprained it.

 

[jslater14]

I agree, if she's indicating that the joint or leg is tender when applying the gel, I would lean toward a sprain/injury as well.

I too leave mine to move about with their flock and interact, even with injuries or when sick/not well, as long as everyone is agreeable no one is picking on them. I think it's good for them to just be with their flock even if they aren't moving about a lot.

If it's really cold, you can provide her with extra bedding since she is currently sleeping in the shavings. I had a hen with a fractured leg. I left her with her flock. She was splinted and wrapped, she was still able to get to food/water fine, no one picked at her and for weeks she slept in a wood box on the floor, then graduated to a low roost, then finally as she healed and tested her limits, she eventually began roosting in the rafters again. Chickens are pretty good about self-limiting activity, sort of like we are, if it hurts, rest it and see if it improves over time.

If she were mine, I'd still finish the Calcium out to a full 5 days, just to be sure the limping is not due to the need of expelling any egg material, etc., but with tenderness, she's probably sprained it.

Thank you! So new update/question… her poop is a little runny, like it’s on her butt feathers (not blocking). She’s eating and drinking so I assumed this is maybe due to stress from injury?

Also, she’s still limping today, although better. I put her in the coop to sleep on the wood shavings again but she immediately jumped up to roost. Should I take her down and put her in the crate in the coop?

I’ve kept her with the others since she’s not sick. She’s the bully so there’s peace but I just had to re-introduce a lower pecking order girl after an eye issue and they picked on her. I try to keep them together unless it’s contagious

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you! So new update/question… her poop is a little runny, like it’s on her butt feathers (not blocking). She’s eating and drinking so I assumed this is maybe due to stress from injury?

Also, she’s still limping today, although better. I put her in the coop to sleep on the wood shavings again but she immediately jumped up to roost. Should I take her down and put her in the crate in the coop?

I’ve kept her with the others since she’s not sick. She’s the bully so there’s peace but I just had to re-introduce a lower pecking order girl after an eye issue and they picked on her. I try to keep them together unless it’s contagious

If she feels like roosting, I'd let her.

Could be that the runny poop is due to stress.