Unsure and Worried

[shelle]

We have 5 beautiful backyard 8 month old chickens who roam freely around the backyard. Today we noticed one of them sitting very gingerly, which is very out of character for any of them to do. Her beak was open and she seemed to be panting. When we picked her up we noticed that one of her feet was very limp. When she stood on both feet she didnt put any pressure on this foot and we noticed that she seemed to be trying to balance with her wings. We have kept her inside for the afternoon to keep an eye on her. Her fast breathing and panting has eased but she still doesnt want to put any pressure on that foot. She's sitting with her wings falling forward and her beak is still open. When she does stand up her wings fall forward and down. She's not drinking but has eaten. When we checked her feet over she didnt seem to be in pain but did seem to be uncomfortable when she put any pressure on them. She's very alert and happy for us to pick her up and check her over. Does anyone have any idea what this may be and how we can help her? Or perhaps it's something that she can heal herself?

 

[kellysmall87]

Panting and open wings is a stressed position.There are three things that I think this could be:

I had this panting and open wings with my chicken when it got attacked by a fox. It is a sign of immense stress. Maybe she hurt her foot or got bitten by something?

Also it could be way too hot for her. Panting and open wings is also sign of stress caused by the chicken being too hot. Electrolytes in cold water helps and make sure they have lots of shady places.

Number three... could be egg bound. She is of laying age now, maybe she's struggling. Is she waddling and her tail pointing down as she walks? But I doubt it's this, more likely to be the first two.

 

[shelle]

Thank you so much. She has been a regular layer for awhile now. Just looking at her, she is sitting with her tail pointed down. We havent been able to see her walk as she will only take one or two steps and then sits down. Her lower back does seem to be more "fluffed up" more than usual almost as if she is trying to lay but unable to?

There's several scenarios we have come up with: we found her not far from her coop so she may have been on top of it and landed awkardly if she tried to fly off. Also, we have had a problem with the local magpies not taking a liking to our girls. She may have had an altercation with one of them. And the last scenario is that our neighbour is not a fan of our girls either and this afternoon he made this very clear by roughly grabbing two of them (that had made their way into his yard) by the back of the neck and throwing them into our yard. I was horrified when I saw him do this and explained that I understood he did not like them in his yard but there is no need to manhandle them in that way. I hate to say it, but perhaps she has been thrown back over to our yard extremely roughly?

 

[kellysmall87]

I would not stand for that from the neighbour. It's very likely that he's hurt her in some way - roughly grabbed or kicked, making her very stressed. If he doesn't want them in his garden, that's understandable but he doesn't have to hurt them. Maybe clip their wings so they can't fly? He may kill one one day.