Problems with an old hen?

[The Chickens' Maid]

We have a hen who is at least four years old, probably older. Just this year, she has lost a lot of muscle in her legs and seems very uncomfortable on the perch. She sits down a lot more outside, just to rest. She is very top-heavy. She has a lot of fat on her around her crop and other areas. She is not underweight; I check her keel a lot just to make sure that she is keeping muscle on there. She had a weird egg a few days ago, but I haven't seen anything like it from her before and she hasn't had one like it since. She seems to be in good health otherwise, but I'm really worried about her legs. None of our other chickens are like this; we got her when she was already grown. She has always had a large crop and this body type (though not to this degree); though it has never caused her problems. Can anyone help? Thanks!

 

[teach1rusl]

No idea...sorry. Do you know what breed she is, or is she mixed? Could it just be aging, since you're not sure that she's only four years old; maybe she's older than that? As long as she seems happy (eating, drinking, pecking about), I guess I'd just let her be. Is there bedding on the floor of the coop, in case she gets to the point where she can't get up to the roosts at night?
Hopefully someone with older hens will have some advice for you...

 

[cobrien]

I don't know... but one thought is what are you feeding her? If she has nothing else wrong with her and this is just aging (probably can't know without going to the vet) then I would try to feed her "lean" foods to try to reduce her weight and reduce strain on her legs. Not sure exactly what that is for chickens, but I know scratch and carb-filled things (lots of grains, bread) or fatty things (eggs cheese nuts) would be out. Maybe others have ideas, but perhaps just her regular feed + light foods - lettuce, cabbage, etc. comes to mind because my girls LOVE them and would eat a lot of it.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

She's a Buff Orpington, I think.

We feed all the chickens just layer feed. They get bread, eggs, corn, and greens sometimes, but not often and not regularly. They all like grass and are getting more of it now that spring is here. They find a lot of bugs in their pen, too, probably a lot of earthworms. This hen also likes to eat feathers. She's not bad about it, but she will eat them. I've been watching it to make sure that she isn't eating feathers to get more protein. She seems to just do it out of habit.

Thanks for the replies!

Here's a picture of her, if it helps:

Here's one from a year or so ago:

 

[cobrien]

She is so cute! I really need to get some BO's. I wish I could help but don't know what the problem could be. I can say my dog has lost a lot of muscle mass and muscle tone as she has gotten older, and it started rather suddenly. The vet says it is normal. could this happen to a 4 year old chicken?

One other thought is that given her behavior she may be sore or have arthritis. You could do what I do for my aging handicapped chicken who has a sore leg. We give her 1/2 tablet of fish oil 2x/day (our vet recommended it). It is important to be pharmaceutical grade as it has less impurities like mercury, which for a small animal is even worse than it is for us. We use Nordic Naturals Omega 3 Fish Oil (pharmaceutical grade). we poke the capsule with a pin and squeeze out 1/2 at a time onto little cubes of bread. The vet also recommended keeping her weight down, kind of hard to manage with a chicken but we don't give her scratch, just layer pellets and tiny amounts of bread / cheese for giving her meds. I know you can also give chickens aspirin, but not sure what the long term effects are or what the dosage is. We give our special needs chicken "meloxicam" 2x day but it is a prescription, something like ibuprofen for chickens. It helps a lot. One trick for giving pills, especially if she eats out of your hand, is to put the pill in some tasty food - we use small amounts of cheese, bread, grapes, etc.

Good luck.

 

[Imp]

I have a 4 year old GLW that is kind of looking like that. She seems to be looking heavier, lower to the ground etc, than the younger hens. I don't think she's ill, just older. Good luck with her

Imp

 

[leni]

I'm a newbie, but I've read that eating feathers is a sign of protein deficiency, and if her muscles are shrinking, that seems like it might be whats going on. Maybe she needs more protein?
Good luck, hopefully one of the BYC experts can help you!!