my bantam is not doing well. I'm wondering if I need to put her down

[luvmychks51]

Last week I posted a problem i was having with my favorite little girl. She stopped laying and was isolating. She has since been back in with the girls but now no one is laying. She lost all but one of her toes in a dog attack last year and now she is picking her leg up as if in pain and her only toe is black at the end. she is with her roo but all the chickens are just sitting around on the ground in the barn every day - not laying - not buck-buck clucking - not a sound. it's like they're all depressed. I think she is in pain, because of the way she keeps picking up her leg with the black toe, but she'd eating and drinking. I don't know what to do.

 

[kathyinmo]

Could they be molting? They don't lay when they molt.
I have 2 hens that are over a year old, and they are molting, and very slow moving now.

 

[onthespot]

black toe sounds like she has no circulation and the tissue is dying... You may try amputating the last toe... There have been chickens that live with a stump for a leg after an injury. I would give her antibiotics too if it looks like it might be an infection. Sorry for her not feeling well. Hope you can save her.

 

[luvmychks51]

if I amputate it, do i need to bring her in until she's healed? And what is the dose for PCN?. I always keep injectable (for the horses)
and where do I inject it?

 

[onthespot]

Not sure, because I have never had to do that yet. You might want to start a new thread under Emergencies and Illness section. There are a lot of people there that know all KINDS of stuff to do for your hen and are very helpful. Good luck, and DO keep us posted. There are a lot of people here, and they have a lot of chickens, but we do care about each and every one like it was our own for some reason. Hope she does well.

 

[Sissy]

yes do try the emergency thread .
there are those that have all kinds of expierience.

 

[RevaVirginia]

When I pick up a chicken I notice that their feet are quite warm aside from just getting up from setting on them. Which tells me they've got some pretty good circulation in them. When she got injured, I'm wondering if the circulation got messed up causing the uncomfortable bone chills that people feel if they've had extremity damage?.

As far as the other chickens go, I get that same feeling about their depression and was thinking I'd empathized with them because it's fall/winter and all those abundant bugs are no longer available. Besides wanting to find a sunny spot or just stop and sit on my toes because my darn human won't buy me socks.

 

[luvmychks51]

I'm not sure what to do, but as long as she is eating and drinking, I'll just keep an eye on her for a few more days. if anything changes, i go to the emergency thread. thanks