Old hen high-stepping and stumbling

[StinkyAcres]

My 7-year-old Easter Egger, Toasty Bernice, has been high-stepping and stumbling while she walks, especially on her right foot, for the last week or so. I checked her feet and there are no cuts, scabs, or obviously lifted scales, but her right foot does look slightly more swollen than her left foot. She has lost a TON of weight. She was fat this past summer but after molting she is now skin and bones. She is still quite perky for being thin and in pain, but she lays down in her crate most of the day.

She is still eating and drinking and her crop has felt normal. Her poop is sometimes watery, but it has been getting firmer. I've had all my chickens on a 20% protein chick starter since around the time they started molting (Oct-Nov). None of them are very interested in it and are not eating much. When I brought Toasty inside to monitor her I gave her some duck feed to see if she'd eat it and she devoured it like she was starving! Should I stop with the high protein chick starter?

I have also been giving her 1cc of Rooster Booster Poultry Cell orally every day.

So....what could be wrong with my Toasty this time? I am thinking gout or arthritis. What do you think? I will try to get photos when the lighting is better.

Thanks for your help!

 

[StinkyAcres]

I also checked her eyes - it seems she can still see out of both of them and nothing looks odd about them.

 

[Morrigan]

Molting and cold weather can be hard on elderly hens. There may not be much wrong, but for old age. I don't think the chick feed is the cause of the problem, but some hens can be picky. I like to feed flock raiser (20% protein) to my hens year round. What is in the duck feed?

The high stepping does suggest that she has arthritis and joint pain. You could try to give her a small dose of baby aspirin (like a third or half a tablet), to see if that helps. I would give her scrambled eggs, and make a wet mash out of her chicken food to get some weight on her. Also, try to keep her in with the flock, at least during the daytime. I find chickens do better in familiar surroundings.

Good luck with everything. It's hard aging hens sometimes.

 

[orelsi]

Try to feed her while you are there. The other hens might be preventing her from eating, that's why she ate more inside. Gaining some weight will do her good. It's probably just old age. Give her vitamins as well? Any vet has them. You can give them directly or put them in the water. It can't hurt.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Molting and cold weather can be hard on elderly hens. There may not be much wrong, but for old age. I don't think the chick feed is the cause of the problem, but some hens can be picky. I like to feed flock raiser (20% protein) to my hens year round. What is in the duck feed?

The high stepping does suggest that she has arthritis and joint pain. You could try to give her a small dose of baby aspirin (like a third or half a tablet), to see if that helps. I would give her scrambled eggs, and make a wet mash out of her chicken food to get some weight on her. Also, try to keep her in with the flock, at least during the daytime. I find chickens do better in familiar surroundings.

Good luck with everything. It's hard aging hens sometimes.

Thank you! The duck pellets are 19% protein. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/purina-duck-feed-pellets-40-lb-3004428-205

 

[StinkyAcres]

Try to feed her while you are there. The other hens might be preventing her from eating, that's why she ate more inside. Gaining some weight will do her good. It's probably just old age. Give her vitamins as well? Any vet has them. You can give them directly or put them in the water. It can't hurt.

Thanks! Toasty is getting vitamins in the Poultry Cell. I doubt the other hens were keeping her from getting to the food. She's the dominant hen and was quite mean to the others. All of the chickens went off of the food (chick starter) this fall and some are quite thin.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is the chick starter a good brand? I bought a bag of feed once at a Rural King farm store, and my chickens would have nothing to do with it, even though they had eaten a lot of different brands of layer or all flock feed, both crumbles and pellets. I had to throw it out, and get one of the usual Purina/Nutrena brands. If the duck feed label looks very similar to the chick starter, I would use that. Maybe the finer crumbles didn’t appeal to her? But I would say bullying may be the issue.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Is the chick starter a good brand? I bought a bag of feed once at a Rural King farm store, and my chickens would have nothing to do with it, even though they had eaten a lot of different brands of layer or all flock feed, both crumbles and pellets. I had to throw it out, and get one of the usual Purina/Nutrena brands. If the duck feed label looks very similar to the chick starter, I would use that. Maybe the finer crumbles didn’t appeal to her? But I would say bullying may be the issue.

The chick starter is Dumor. She isn't as excited about the duck pellets anymore. She just wants to sit and do nothing now, poor thing...

 

[StinkyAcres]

Here are some photos. She steps on her own foot a lot.

 

[StinkyAcres]

She was standing more today but is still struggling to walk. How long can I give her the low dose aspirin?

I haven't been able to get her back outside with the other chickens because it's been too cold outside compared to inside my unheated basement where she is staying. But she seems pretty content in her crate so I'm not too worried about her right now.