Jaylee52
In the Brooder
- Mar 17, 2018
- 26
- 23
- 49
Hi All,
I have 21 chickens and this is my first year with them (have had them since March), so I don’t have any real experience with chicken diseases yet.
My cream crested legbar hen started acting weird yesterday. She was just lying on the ground in full sun, which was strange since it was mid afternoon and in the high 80’s and all of the other chickens are always in the shade in that heat.
When I approached to investigate, she let me pick her up, which is weird. My chickens are pretty flighty and usually don’t let me pick them up unless they’re roosting for the night.
When I lifted her, she was light, like she hadn’t been eating. I think I know why. When I next fed my chickens by refilling their hanging feeder, I saw that she mostly lay underneath the feeder and just picked up the pellets that got spilled by the others. She wouldn’t stand up to reach the feeder to eat from it. She kept getting stepped on by the others instead of getting up and out of the way. (I have since isolated her and she has food and water she can reach without standing.)
She CAN stand and walk a little, but after a few steps she just collapses back down like she’s worn out.
It doesn’t seem like it’s a problem with one foot or one leg since she’s not relying on one more than the other. I took some photos of the bottom of her feet for you all but I don’t know what bumblefoot looks like. Her feet looked ok to me.
She has a little poop stuck to her vent, but it isn’t dried there and it’s not a ton, so I am not sure it’s related.
If it matters, my chickens all free range from sun up to sundown and they have acres available to them. So, they’re not shut up in a pen or run with a lot of chickens or poop accumulating in close quarters (except at night when they are in their really spacious coop).
What do you think it might be and what should I do?
Attached: photos of her feet and vent and one of her lying on the ground between a couple of my other chickens
I have 21 chickens and this is my first year with them (have had them since March), so I don’t have any real experience with chicken diseases yet.
My cream crested legbar hen started acting weird yesterday. She was just lying on the ground in full sun, which was strange since it was mid afternoon and in the high 80’s and all of the other chickens are always in the shade in that heat.
When I approached to investigate, she let me pick her up, which is weird. My chickens are pretty flighty and usually don’t let me pick them up unless they’re roosting for the night.
When I lifted her, she was light, like she hadn’t been eating. I think I know why. When I next fed my chickens by refilling their hanging feeder, I saw that she mostly lay underneath the feeder and just picked up the pellets that got spilled by the others. She wouldn’t stand up to reach the feeder to eat from it. She kept getting stepped on by the others instead of getting up and out of the way. (I have since isolated her and she has food and water she can reach without standing.)
She CAN stand and walk a little, but after a few steps she just collapses back down like she’s worn out.
It doesn’t seem like it’s a problem with one foot or one leg since she’s not relying on one more than the other. I took some photos of the bottom of her feet for you all but I don’t know what bumblefoot looks like. Her feet looked ok to me.
She has a little poop stuck to her vent, but it isn’t dried there and it’s not a ton, so I am not sure it’s related.
If it matters, my chickens all free range from sun up to sundown and they have acres available to them. So, they’re not shut up in a pen or run with a lot of chickens or poop accumulating in close quarters (except at night when they are in their really spacious coop).
What do you think it might be and what should I do?
Attached: photos of her feet and vent and one of her lying on the ground between a couple of my other chickens
