Ongoing limp

[heatherlaw]

I have a 22 week old blue copper maran pullet who started limping about 2 weeks ago and I still can't find what's wrong. No bruising, swelling, or broken bones that I can see, her feet look fine, no bumble foot signs and she hasn't gotten any worse (but no better either). She eats, drinks and free ranges with the other gals like its no big deal, she just limps when she walks. Occasionally she will lay down and rest for a while but other than that she's acting normal. I have given her a couple doses of poly-vi-sol without iron because I had it on hand but it didn't make s difference. She's on grower feed and gets a few table scraps here and there and the occasional cup of yoghurt shared between 9 laidies and one roo. Any thoughts? Should I put her in a crate to make her rest? I did once but it didn't last long because she whined the whole time

 

[chicknmania]

You can try giving her baby aspirin in a treat, if you can give it to just her without the others taking it away from her. You can give it up to three times a day. Might be she just sprained something, if it is not getting any worse and she's not developing any other symptoms.

 

[heatherlaw]

What is the dosage I should give her? She's young but already she's a huge girl. Much bigger than her sisters. She's probably about 7 pounds

 

[chicknmania]

Well get the low dose aspirin...baby aspirin. Bayer is best. Give her one tablet in a treat two to three times a day. If you need to crush it up a bit, you can. I use a teeny bit of peanut butter smeared on a very small piece of bread, so that the aspirin will stick, and then roll up the little bread ball. If another chicken steals it from her, it is no big deal.

 

[heatherlaw]

Ok thank you very much! I'm not worried about another chicken stealing it. Nobody steals anything from Maggie

 

[chicknmania]

LOL. Good luck with her then, hope she recovers. She should, over time.

 

[heatherlaw]

Well she took tha aspirin (smuggled in a piece of cheese) and didn't limp much after that. She even got brave and jumped up on my potting table to snack on my winter garden starts. Must have been a sprain or something. Thanks again for the help. I'm new at this and learning everything I can

 

[chicknmania]

You're welcome. You should probably keep on with the aspirin for a couple of more days.

 

[heatherlaw]

Will do. Any vitamins or supliments I should give her to help her heal?

 

[chicknmania]

I like Rooster Booster B & K liquid supplement, available in feed stores. It's a little more expensive than some, but a little goes a long way and I think it has really helped our sick and injured birds. You can just mix it in the water. All the birds can benefit from it.