Wdsfaery
Hatching
Hello all. So this is my first post on here and it was only this spring that I got my first chicken. I have 5 Barred Rocks, all hatched right around Easter.
I tried to be careful with their bedding, wood ships after the first 2 days on paper towels to avoid splayed legs. Kept them on medicated feed until the beginning of July to give them their best chance. I honestly don't know much about Mereks but I'm fairly certain mine were not vaccinated.
So I noticed, probably a month or so ago, maybe even longer, that one of my girls, Jo March, had a couple of toes on just 1 foot that were not only bent to the side but twisted as well. It didn't seem to bother her, and I'd read that at that age it was too late to try to straighten them out. This has gotten worse and now seems to be affecting both her feet but she still does not appear to have any issues. They have 2x4 roosts in their coop, so with 4 inches of roost for her feet she does fine and when they come out into the yard she is the fasted runner when spooked or just trying to avoid me.
Is there anything to be done for her to help? My husband says (although if one was in obvious pain this will fly out the window in a heartbeat as he is big softy) these are not "take to the vet pets" and with 3 dogs and a cat on top of the birds, I do need to limit any unnecessary vet bills, but I'd like to try something if possible.
Now, last night I also had an accident with one of my other girls, Freckles,as well. I don't leave my dogs out with the girls when they are loose in the back yard (we live in town so their free range time is limited) but they do go out with me to supervise. My 15 year old dog would eat them all if they couldn't out run him, my pup just like to roll in their messes (eeewww) and the middle 'child' tends to ignore them entirely. He is however a Great Pyrenees and had a spaz moment last night and was running around playing and apparently bowled poor Freckles over.
She began limping immediately so I scooped her up and carried her inside so we could look at her leg. We can't see anything that looks out of place on her leg or foot but she is definitely favoring it a LOT. She sat on arm in my lap for a little while afterwards and seemed to have some grip on my hand. I placed her in the coop but the other girls were outside so she walked/slid down the ramp to the run and limped around. When I went to shut them up for the night, I fully expected to h ave to help her but they were all huddled up on their upper roost. She came out this morning but sat in the door a while before coming out today and is limping around a little too, not moving too much.
I know I shouldn't be so sentimental about them but I can't help it. To make matters worse, my vet isn't open until Monday if I decide to take her and I'm not sure he even deal with chickens.
Thoughts?
I tried to be careful with their bedding, wood ships after the first 2 days on paper towels to avoid splayed legs. Kept them on medicated feed until the beginning of July to give them their best chance. I honestly don't know much about Mereks but I'm fairly certain mine were not vaccinated.
So I noticed, probably a month or so ago, maybe even longer, that one of my girls, Jo March, had a couple of toes on just 1 foot that were not only bent to the side but twisted as well. It didn't seem to bother her, and I'd read that at that age it was too late to try to straighten them out. This has gotten worse and now seems to be affecting both her feet but she still does not appear to have any issues. They have 2x4 roosts in their coop, so with 4 inches of roost for her feet she does fine and when they come out into the yard she is the fasted runner when spooked or just trying to avoid me.
Is there anything to be done for her to help? My husband says (although if one was in obvious pain this will fly out the window in a heartbeat as he is big softy) these are not "take to the vet pets" and with 3 dogs and a cat on top of the birds, I do need to limit any unnecessary vet bills, but I'd like to try something if possible.
Now, last night I also had an accident with one of my other girls, Freckles,as well. I don't leave my dogs out with the girls when they are loose in the back yard (we live in town so their free range time is limited) but they do go out with me to supervise. My 15 year old dog would eat them all if they couldn't out run him, my pup just like to roll in their messes (eeewww) and the middle 'child' tends to ignore them entirely. He is however a Great Pyrenees and had a spaz moment last night and was running around playing and apparently bowled poor Freckles over.
She began limping immediately so I scooped her up and carried her inside so we could look at her leg. We can't see anything that looks out of place on her leg or foot but she is definitely favoring it a LOT. She sat on arm in my lap for a little while afterwards and seemed to have some grip on my hand. I placed her in the coop but the other girls were outside so she walked/slid down the ramp to the run and limped around. When I went to shut them up for the night, I fully expected to h ave to help her but they were all huddled up on their upper roost. She came out this morning but sat in the door a while before coming out today and is limping around a little too, not moving too much.
I know I shouldn't be so sentimental about them but I can't help it. To make matters worse, my vet isn't open until Monday if I decide to take her and I'm not sure he even deal with chickens.
Thoughts?
