Muscle Atrophy In Chickens... Causes?

[Weeg]

Hey everyone, I was wondering about muscle atrophy in chickens, what can it be caused by?
I was working out in the run today picked up Doodle to see how her keel felt. I noticed all of her bones, hip bones mostly, seemed pretty prominent. I compared her to Sunny my Buff Orp hen, and she definitely seemed to be more boney. She's not underweight I don't think, her keel feels within the acceptable range compared to the others.
I currently feed Scratch and Peck feeds. Soaked or fermented, though more recently I've been wetting the feed so everything sticks together right before feeding. I haven't had time to soak it. Could this be an issue? She gets about 3/4c a day and seems to eat it all.
What can cause muscle atrophy? She seems pretty normal, other than the fact that she so so badly needs a molt, her feathers are terrible. She is still very food motivated, and drinks plenty of water from what I can tell.
Thanks for the help, I am definitely concerned about this. I appreciate the insight.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She's a meat bird right?

Is she moving about ok?
You may want to start weighing her at least once a week to see if she's losing/gaining. This will help you determine if she's actually losing muscle mass or not.

It's hard to do a comparison from one breed to another.

 

[Weeg]

She's a meat bird right?

Is she moving about ok?
You may want to start weighing her at least once a week to see if she's losing/gaining. This will help you determine if she's actually losing muscle mass or not.

It's hard to do a comparison from one breed to another.

Got it, I'll do that for sure!
She moves just fine, jumped on my back yesterday to try to get to the feeder on top of the coop.
I'll weigh her today or tomorrow, and update on her weight as I go.

 

[Weeg]

I will post her weight in just a moment.
When I fed Doodle this morning I noticed her keel seemed sharp, so I think she's loosing weight. My best guess is that Sunny, the only other standard in that pen is kicking her off her food when I feed her. I'm going to up her feed for the next little bit, and give her some higher protein foods. I'm sure she wont have a hard time gaining weight.
She's still active as ever and doesn't seem fazed. I did notice she was limping this morning though. One of her feet/ankles was pretty swollen. I noticed no bumble, but maybe a sprain or similar? I'll get some photos in a moment, I just got home.
Thanks for the help, assuming I should separate her within the coop to limit mobility, and help keep an eye on her food intake?

 

[Weeg]

Photos-

In the second photo, I noticed she seemed to be granting down/loosing some of her toe nails? In the first photo, you can see that she lost almost all of her nail on the far toe. She also has these yellow spots on the tips of her toes? You can see them slightly in the first photo. Thoughts on that?
According to my scale, (weighting myself and then weighing her) she weighs 7 pounds. Not to bad for a Cornish, though her keel is definitely prominent, to a point that is concerning. I'll try to use my food scale later, though I need to figure out the best way to get an accurate calculation without to much squirming.
She happily ate her dinner, I gave her about twice as much food as normal today. Seems to be moving fine with a ver mild limp, but that foot is definitely swollen. I've never seen so much swelling in a sprain before, thinking it could be something else?
Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Weeg]

As you can tell, she also badly needs a molt. Her feather quality is terrible right now, poor girl.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd track her weight for a couple of weeks.
If the other bird is running her off her daily ration, then feed her separately? I know you control how much she eats, but she may not be getting what she needs if the other is eating it up.

I agree, the foot looks swollen. I'd monitor it and see how she gets along. Could be a sprain from the other chasing her? Could be an indication of age, breed, hard to know, but I'd check it daily.

 

[Weeg]

I'd track her weight for a couple of weeks.
If the other bird is running her off her daily ration, then feed her separately? I know you control how much she eats, but she may not be getting what she needs if the other is eating it up.

I agree, the foot looks swollen. I'd monitor it and see how she gets along. Could be a sprain from the other chasing her? Could be an indication of age, breed, hard to know, but I'd check it daily.

I'll keep an eye on that. I didn't end up separating her, but I did feed her separately today. She happily ate it all. I think that some TLC will help with her weight loss, and I'll keep an eye on her foot.
Could also be from her trying to jump to the feeder. I have it raised on top of the coop to keep her from getting to it. I've only seen her try to get to it once, though maybe her hurt her foot at the same time she bruised her keel? Trying to get to the feed?
Could also bee when Birdie, my Serama rooster was trying to mater her. He rode around on her back last night for about 30 seconds before I kicked him off. I got him seperated since he was definitely causing some feather damage. And poor Doodle being rode around like a bull at a rodeo.
I'll update this thread with her weight weekly. Hopefully she'll get some more weight on her soon.

 

[Weeg]

Got home today after being out of town for the weekend. A fantastic neighbor was able to tend to her needs of being separated while eating, and her keel feels great! Just about the perfect weight zone, but I'll weigh her again tomorrow using my food scale.

Her foot doesn't look any better though, possibly more swollen around the ankle. I didn't restrict her space hoping she would limit her own mobility, but seems she hasn't. Assuming I should crate her, so I'll do that tomorrow within the coop unless told otherwise. Should I do anything else? Still no bumble, possibly a soak or ice it?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can try soaking in a warm epsom salts bath.
It's good that she's feeling better. I'm not sure if restricting her mobility is a good idea. How much does she move about as it is?