limping

[cposz]

Not sure this is really an emergency, but I noticed a couple of hours ago that my 13-week old BO is favoring one of her feet. She's eating and drinking normally - enthusiastically, actually. But she spends much time lying down (lying down to eat, too), and though her limp is only slight, when she stands still she stands on the other foot only. She can walk just fine with only a little limp, but just chooses not to walk mostly.

We picked her up and looked at her foot - no blood, no visible cuts, no noticeable swelling or anything, but she pulled away whenever we touched the bottom of her foot. It's obviously sensitive.

Any ideas or advice?

 

[cposz]

anyone?

 

[BigPeep]

I don't know. Iv'e got a bird with the same problem. I isolated her and now, after about a week, it is much worse, with her being unable to put any weight on it at all.

My concern is injury due to pecking in the coop, as she was the runt of the flock, vs Marek's. I am keeping her in isolation rather than culling her to see if any other symptoms develop. The other chickens all look very healthy. I had a similar problem with the previous runt but she was pecked to death at the feeder the same day.

I would put yours in isolation as the other birds will try to peck it to death until you can figure it out.

 

[cposz]

We only have 3 other birds - another BO who is her own age and her BFF (they are inseparable) and 2 one-year old red sexlinks. The older hens - one in particular - hasn't been very agressive with the chicks at all since we increased the size of their run.

If I isolate her, I will have to isolate her BO buddy, too - because they both become so distressed and agitated when they are separated.