Sore red leg...broody hen

[WendySA]

My hen has been sitting on eggs for about 2 weeks (we have no rooster so take the eggs in the evening) but today she wanted out of the coop.

She could barely walk on her one leg and on examining it I saw it is read and swollen in places.

I have no farm vets around her as we are urbanites...I have sprayed it with "purple spray"...can I put bactroban on it or not?

Any other help will be great. All four girls are out of the coop at the moment but sore leg chicken is just sitting in the sun, too sore to walk.

Some more info:

I have no idea how old she is. They have old tyres with straw to bed and lay in. Can't tell what the poop is like, but I suspect she is not laying - whether that is to do with her broodiness or not I cannot tell. Today she did eat some greens and some crumbled bread...my son says she ate her grain this morning too.

Her comb is red, vent clean.

I hate seeing her like this, please help, thanks!

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Hens don't lay eggs while they are broody, or at least, it would be rare.

Bactroban won't hurt. You might see if you can feel any temperature difference between her legs. If the sore one is warmer, that could indicate there is an infection in it. Could be there was a small wound that you could not see that got infected. Or it could be some sort of bite, as from a spider. Or maybe just something like arthritis from being folded up under her.

If you feel pretty certain it is infected, you might want to give an antibiotic, although this is difficult with no vet to tell you which one.

Let us know how it goes, and good luck.