Pullet limping

[shellyga]

I have a pullet that we are not quite sure of her age..we have had her for three months.. so getting close to egg laying I would imagine since she was good size when we got her.

About a week or so ago we noticed her limping.. she was still putting weight on the foot.. but just limping.. now she is holding it up and hops around the yard. DH just caught her and I looked at her feet real well.. do not see any spots, wounds or anything out of the ordinary. I felt up her leg through the joints and all the way up to her body.. didn't feel anything strange. Color is good..

Any ideas?

Shelly

 

[dawg53]

It's possible she jumped down from a roost or something and sprained or pulled something in her leg. I recommend you seperate her where she can have rest and relaxation giving time for her leg to heal. Provide her with feed and water. You can purchase Vitamin B complex tablets at a pharmacy and crush a few into powder and sprinkle it into her feed for about a week. It should help speed up her recovery if this is what the problem is. However, there isnt a set time frame as to when her leg will heal. You can add some scrambled egg mixed in her feed as well for extra protein.

 

[Judy]

Just hope it will resolve itself. Could be many things, a strain or sprain. You could isolate her in a quiet dark place and force her to rest it --- but then you will have the problem of trying to put her back with the rest peacefully and hope they don't peck her to death. This happened to me recently. I did as you did, checked him very carefully for a fracture or warmth or swelling, anything, and found nothing. So I put him back with the others. He got around enough to eat and drink but did a lot of resting, squatted down under a bush. Of course, don't force her to get on the roost at this point. I'd even tolerate nest box sleeping for an injured bird.

They can injure a leg getting off the roost, BTW. If it's fairly high, like 30", and they don't have a lot of room to fly off so that they leave horizontally, they need a ladder or some sort of steps up to the roost. Given the space, they will fly several feet away before they land from a roost like this.