Please Help!

[Pink Cowgirl]

One of our chickens has been limping for the past month or two, and now she can hardly even walk. We've looked her foot over and can't find anything wrong. We just brought her inside and we noticed that she is panting a lot and seems really hot. She doesn't eat of drink a lot either. Does anyone know what we can do to help her?

Additional info:
She's a little over 1 year old
She's a barred rock
She doesn't seem to be laying eggs right now.
She's loosing feathers now but our other chickens aren't (we don't know if it's because she's just started molting earlier than the others or because she's sick)
We like to do as much natural stuff and we can

Any help would be great!

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Inspect her visually for lice/mites. However I suspect she's in molt and will not lay eggs til she regrows feathers which may take some time. You can increase protein in her diet by providing her with gamebird feed to help possibly speed up feather regrowth. Gamebird feed has about 22%+ protein than the 16-18% layer feed. Once she has regrown her feathers, switch back to layer feed.
Limping could be caused by bumblefoot. Check the bottom of her footpads for the telltale round dark in color scab, as well as swelling and/or redness around the scab. Minor surgery would have to be performed.
It's possible she hopped down from a high roost or other high place and sprained her foot, pulled a ligment or tendon. I've had this happen to my Barred Rocks. This commonly happens to heavy breed chickens and roosters. You would need to lower their roosts and try and eliminate other high places that they jump down from. You'll need to put your BR in a cage for rest and relaxation to prevent further injury to her foot/leg. You didnt mention if there's any swelling or not. While she's caged, provide her with feed and fresh water. If it's a minor injury, she may only need to be caged for a week, giving time for it to heal. If it's more severe, it might take weeks, months, or never to heal. If she continues to limp after one week, get some vitamin B complex tablets from a pharmacy and crush a few of them into powder. Then sprinkle the powder into her feed for her to eat. The vitamin B complex may help speed up healing. You can also feed her scrambled egg mixed with buttermilk for a few days to help her build her strength and build up her immune system.