Pullet with hurt leg

[EmilyDee26]

I have a pullet who seems to have injured her leg, although we don’t see any signs of injury. She’s refusing to walk on it and it using her wing as support. We have her isolated in a kennel to prevent her from moving too much & she’s eating and going to the bathroom regularly. If anyone has advice on figuring out what’s up or helping her heal please let me know! Any help would be more than appreciated!!

 

[FunClucks]

Oh dear. That poor thing. How old is your pullet?

Are you sure she hasn't broken a bone somewhere, and there are no other evident/possible injuries?

If there's no indication of anything else going on, most injuries like this that we see are either Merek's Disease or vitamin deficiency (curled toe paralysis I think is the term you'd look up to get more info). If it's Merek's you've got bigger problems than just this one bird, but no way to tell without laboratory testing. In the meantime, try treating for vitamin deficiency (look up curled toe or curled toe paralysis using the search bar on this site for the exact vitamin they're usually deficient in and how to treat it). If the treatment works, that what she had. Could take a month or more for her to improve. If further symptoms come to light or she continues to decline, let us know, it may indicate something else.

Others could give you a more complete answer, but I didn't want your post to go unanswered, and it's been at least 45 minutes since you posted.

 

[EmilyDee26]

Oh dear. That poor thing. How old is your pullet?

Are you sure she hasn't broken a bone somewhere, and there are no other evident/possible injuries?

If there's no indication of anything else going on, most injuries like this that we see are either Merek's Disease or vitamin deficiency (curled toe paralysis I think is the term you'd look up to get more info). If it's Merek's you've got bigger problems than just this one bird, but no way to tell without laboratory testing. In the meantime, try treating for vitamin deficiency (look up curled toe or curled toe paralysis using the search bar on this site for the exact vitamin they're usually deficient in and how to treat it). If the treatment works, that what she had. Could take a month or more for her to improve. If further symptoms come to light or she continues to decline, let us know, it may indicate something else.

Others could give you a more complete answer, but I didn't want your post to go unanswered, and it's been at least 45 minutes since you posted.

I know I feel awful!! We tried giving her some baby aspirin today so hopefully she’s not in too much pain. We also tried sort of wrapping / splinting her leg today and she seemed okay with that.

She’s 4ish months old now. I don’t think she has a broken bone but I suppose she could. We checked her over but it’s our first hurt chicken and we could have missed something.

We’ve been spiking her water with some electrolyte mix, but I will absolutely take your advice and research the correct ones for her.

Thank you so much, I appreciate it!

 

[FunClucks]

I know I feel awful!! We tried giving her some baby aspirin today so hopefully she’s not in too much pain. We also tried sort of wrapping / splinting her leg today and she seemed okay with that.

She’s 4ish months old now. I don’t think she has a broken bone but I suppose she could. We checked her over but it’s our first hurt chicken and we could have missed something.

We’ve been spiking her water with some electrolyte mix, but I will absolutely take your advice and research the correct ones for her.

Thank you so much, I appreciate it!

You can also feed her some raw egg or raw egg moistened feed, if you think she needs more nutrition. Raw egg is super healthy for them, just don't let it sit around for more than 4 hours or get hot (bacterial growth is bad news for raw eggs). Also probiotic yogurt. There are chicken probiotics you can put in a little yogurt, in water, or in feed. Human version vitamins (pills or capsules) can also be fed, dosage depends on the vitamin. Good luck!

 

[MirC]

Did you ever find out what was wrong? Or any chance she got better? We have one 6 month old hen now doing something very similar. Will put some weight on the leg but then the toes do curl under at times like the pictures above. We have her separated for now to make sure she's eating and drinking but not sure what else we can do to help her.

 

[EmilyDee26]

Did you ever find out what was wrong? Or any chance she got better? We have one 6 month old hen now doing something very similar. Will put some weight on the leg but then the toes do curl under at times like the pictures above. We have her separated for now to make sure she's eating and drinking but not sure what else we can do to help her.

Did you ever find out what was wrong? Or any chance she got better? We have one 6 month old hen now doing something very similar. Will put some weight on the leg but then the toes do curl under at times like the pictures above. We have her separated for now to make sure she's eating and drinking but not sure what else we can do to help her.

Hi there! Yes actually, she is almost completely better now!! We realized it was for sure a vitamin deficiency from her being bottom of the order and not getting enough food. We put her in a separate part of the coop, so she could still see the other chickens then fed her high nutrient foods twice a day for a week or two. We fed her her normal food mixed with raw eggs and lots of nutritional yeast. We also got some rooster booster and added that to her food and water but honestly I think the eggs and NY helped the most. She is still babying her leg the smallest bit but she’s back with the other hens and is back on her roost at night! I really hope it goes the same for you and your hen! If I can answer any more questions, I’m happy too! Good luck!!!!