PLEASE help!! :(

[lottyloo]

Hello everybody,

I really need some advise, i have 5 chickens one being a cockerel and i purchased two ex-batt hen a week ago. One of them is looking better already and has nearly got all her feathers back but the other one is looking a sorry state, she has not many feathers on her neck, back and she basically has no wing feathers. when she first came home she seemed quite happy scratching around and flapping her wings out. I was watching them for about an hour the other day and noticed that this poor hen was limping a bit and was sitting down most of the time to eat and drink. This morning it seemed even worse she looked although she was really dizzy and she kept falling over and could not keep her balance. I shut her in a large airy stable today as it was nice and cool and gave her a big pile of hay, some water and some pellets and a bit of grain scattered around. I went to check on her earlier this afternoon and she still looks like she is getting worse, i feel so sorry for her as she can hardly walk a few feet without falling into a heap. The only thing i can think of by watching her today is maybe she has a broken 'back toe' that may be causing her to loose ballance on one foot? Hopefully somebody can help and tell me if it will get better itself or if there is anything i can do?

Any help is so greatly appresiated.

-Lotty

 

[chicmom]

Hi Lotty-

You know, with an ex batt, they probably don't get to move around much....they're usually stuck in a small cage. If you can, pick her up and really look over the legs, toes and the bottom of her feet to see if you can tell if there's a sore spot or a break. It could be something as simple as a splinter in the bottom of her foot. You can feel her legs to see if she's got a swollen joint or something that just isn't right. Poor thing......

After you really look her over, let me know if you found anything....

Sharon

 

[lottyloo]

Hi Sharron

I was watching all my chickens this morning when i let them out and the hen with the bad leg seems to be taking it more slowly and placing her feet gently on the ground. I dont want to spook her by trying to get hold of her incase she tumbles and hurts it even more, i will sit with them later and put some corn near me and hopefully ill be able to get when she's calmly eating and check her over.

Thank you

-Lotty