Swollen joint and foot! Help! ASAP! PICS!

[RooptyDoo]

I have a barred rock pullet that came up lame out of the blue about 2 months ago. Her joint on the bottom end of her drumstick ( sorry I don't know what else to call it ) is swollen and has been the whole time. We brought her in the house and babied her when this first started as she was very lame. In a couple of weeks she was putting weight on it again but still limping. I figured she had just hurt it jumping down off the roost. Today she is once again profoundly lame on that side and the swelling is now also in her leg and foot. The bottom of her feet are clean with no cuts or bumblefoot. No sign of scaly leg mites. She has become a great pet but I don't know how to fix her problem. No one around here treats chickens. You can see in the picture how swollen the joint is. Anyone have any idea what this is and what if anything I can do about it? Its obviously painful for her and I hate to see her suffer. I also don't want to cull her, she has become such a pet. Do you think a course of antibiotic would be in order? If so, what would you suggest?

 

[Mahonri]

No clear pic of the bottom of the foot to rule out bumble foot.

 

[RooptyDoo]

I can get a pic of her foot but I am 100% sure it is not bumblefoot. We have dealt with bumblefoot before(what a mess lol) and it loooks nothing like bumblefoot. It is up in her joint and it is really swollen today.

 

[LynneP]

Birds are so silly about wanting to be up high. How high is your roost? Since she recovered once in the house, is it possible she re-injured due to coop trauma? Some birds, particularly the heavy ones, need much lower roosts, and some will use a piece of 4x4 in the coop (on the floor) when injured. Also be sure to have a heavy load of bedding, makes all the difference.

If it is trauma, aspirin in her drinking water should bring the swelling down in 24-36 hours.
(Dosage is a 325 mg tab in 1 gal water, do not substitute other meds)

Do you know how much she weighs? Very pretty feathering.

 

[dlhunicorn]

You need to separate your bird to a place where there is no high roost ... you might consider (in addition to an injury of some kind) the following:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/96/avian-reovirus-infections

or

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/99/mycoplasma-synoviae-infection-ms-infectious-synovitis

 

[RooptyDoo]

Well the roost is only about a foot off the ground. Is that still to high?

 

[silkiechicken]

A foot should be fine. Any jumping off of other stuff while ranging though? Perhaps for some reason she has a chronic joint inflammation, like a chicken version of arthritis? I doubt it is bacterial, so don't think antibiotics are going to do anything other than create resistant bacteria.