Limping Lakenvelder - what's wrong w/ Luckey?

[Sunflower]

My Lakenvelder is about 10 weeks old. She was very small for a long time and then got big pretty fast. I noticed a while back that she looks funny when she runs, kind of waddles side to side.
Then two days ago, I thought I saw her limping a little.
Now today, she is limping really bad. And she can't really "fly" (they like to fly like 10-20 feet when they're excited.)
She looks good. She is not hurt. She is eating and drinking good. Not sure about the poopy. Someone has some runny brown poop - I'd have to watch them to see who.
She has always been delicate since day 1, lots of pasty butt, needed to be reminded to drink. Her sister or brother died at age 1 week, our only death so far.
Does anyone have any ideas?? Thanks so much

 

[dlhunicorn]

I would suggest you get some AviaCharge 2000 (can be purchased online from McMurry or Strombergs)...it is a complete poultry supplement with all the macro and micro nutrients necessary...several things can cause legproblems and mosttimes it is very difficult to figure out just where the problems lays but vitamins will often help...

 

[Sunflower]

Thanks I will work on getting some vitamins.

I was describing Luckey's problem to a co-worker that has lots of chickens and she said it sounds like she's a broiler-type, just born to be a cooked chicken. Luckey does just park herself in front of the feeder, she does have a wide body and thick legs. But her coloring is Lakenvelder and that's what the sign said when I purchased her. I got her at a farm store. I'll get a picture of her later.

I also gave her a little oyster shell last night.

Thanks again, it helps so much to have this website to turn to. I never, ever thought I'd care so much about a chicken!

 

[dlhunicorn]

if it is a broiler breed then you need to watch the amount of feed they eat...with all other chickens they must have feed "24/7" ...but a broiler will eat itself to death.

 

[tiffanyh]

Could she have been a mix?

 

[dlhunicorn]

possibly...
Now with summer heat coming on you need to take away their feed in the daytime when you know it is going to be above 85 (general rule) as this will help them keep themselves cool... frequent water changes ... a good supplement in the feed like AviaCharge 2000... you can set out a watermelon during the day or such (in the summer I will fill a small cavitiy I have made in it with yogurt tho be carefull it is not too much or it will sit and spoil in the sun... I advise this for your girl as it weems she may have an overload of almonella or e.coli and hopefully the yogurt organisms will help that... the wobbling walk may indicate a deficiency and you can give her three drops of polyvisol every day for a week and then slowly taper off to once a week and see if you do not see some improvement.

 

[Sunflower]

Very interesting posts. I started taking away their feed at night just recently.
She is still limping a lot but really seems happy and she knows her place (bottom rung).

I am not really familiar with breed specifics but this Lakenvelder has fatter legs than the other breeds I have, in addition it looks like one leg may be larger than the other. I know Lakenvelders aren't batams per say, but they are a smaller breed arent they?

I got her some chicken supplements at the farm store yesterday but have not mixed up a batch yet. I have tried to give them yogurt but they are not interested (yet). I had to dip bread in it to get them to eat it.
This lame/limping problem seems to be a pretty common thing.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Lakenvelders are considered a light breed, about the same size as Hamburgs or Polish, of course with the rooster always being bigger then the hen. Here are some pictures of my old Silver Lakenvelder pair for reference. Now that I'm looking at the pictures I'm regretting that I sold them.

8 month old pullet

8 month old cockerel

The pair together w/ my Japanese bantam just on the other side of the chicken
wire.

 

[Sunflower]

Angie, you did have some very nice looking Lakenvelders! It's a pity mine got lame.

Here are pictures of Luckey, in this one she is just a few days old

Just a few weeks here

This was on 6/25/07

Here is a shot of her feet. The whole leg on the left side of the picture seems bigger - that the side she can't walk on very well.