Limping young hen. Pictures. Any suggestions?

[Kitchenella]

Hi, I have a young hen that has been limping for about 2 weeks. As far as I know she has not been injured. I'm not sure how old she is. We have had her for about 8 weeks and she was pretty small when we got her.

She is the smallest of our 4 hens and seems to be fine other than the limp.

I am enclosing some pictures of her and of the 'bruise'? I found on her leg.

Any suggestions?

Peggy

PS. Does anyone know what kind of chicken Goldie could be? I have no clue.

Goldie

All the girls: Rex, Sambo, Sarge and Goldie

 

[Kitchenella]

I messed up and posted one picture twice. Here is the close up of the affected leg. The 'bruise' is quite dark but not swollen.

 

[Jenski]

Are you sure it's a bruise? I wonder if she could have a staph infection. That can travel to the joints and cause arthritic conditions.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/204200.htm


I cannot tell if it's staph or not, but a vet can. Staph is tricky and difficult to treat, so you might read up before starting any treatment. Can you take her to a vet for testing?

Hopefully others will chime in on the possibilities here. Please keep us posted on how things go.

 

[Kitchenella]

Thanks for the reply Jenski. I guess no one else wants to guess. Right now she is doing fine. Still limping but no other symptoms. I'll repost if she seems worse.

There are not any vets in my city and we don't have a car so I'd have to do some research. I'm imagining the other bus passengers reaction to my bringing a chicken. LOL. I suppose I could put her in a big diaper bag. I doubt anyone would suspect a peeping wiggling bag of being a bomb.

Peggy

 

[Jessika]

I don't know but hopefully some one will have an idea.

 

[Jenski]

Kitchenella, I PM'd you. Click the moving smiley icon on the top left of your screen.

 

[Kitchenella]

Thanks for the tip. She seems to be better in the morning and worse in the afternoon. Today I fixed her a hospital suite on our balcony. Will keep her there for a week or two to give the leg some rest. She seems to not be to upset at being alone. Was doing a bit of peeping at sundown but when I closed up the window she quieted down.

If she doesn't improve I'll try your suggestion.

 

[Kitchenella]

HI,

Update on Goldie.


I put her in an isolation pen on our balcony for 10 day to give her leg a rest. She is doing much better. She is still small but walking almost normaly and eating well. I wonder if her growth is permanently stunted? If she remains small will she ever lay?

Thanks for your interest.

Peg

 

[Mahonri]

We had one small RIR in our flock of 18. While most of the flock has been laying since the end of September, the small one didn't lay her first egg until this week.