Walking funny

[jlbkinor]

Almost 7 year old laying hen walking slowly and stepping carefully and can't jump up very well. No sores on feet seen. Feet not scaly. What could it be? He coop mate is perfectly fine. Anything I can try to do for her?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes hens who lay internally or suffer from egg yolk peritonitis can have problems with their legs and become weak. She also could just be showing her age and suffering from arthritis.

 

[AmeraucanaKay]

Almost 7 year old laying hen walking slowly and stepping carefully and can't jump up very well. No sores on feet seen. Feet not scaly. What could it be? He coop mate is perfectly fine. Anything I can try to do for her?

Hi, sorry your having trouble. I actually just put down a chicken within the hour because she was lethargic, and was "waddling" & When we picked her up we found her lower abdomen was severely swollen. We tried the methods for helping pass a bound egg but nothing helped and she deteriorated quickly. So we made the hard decision to let her go. However, we decided to investigate the cause and found she had clear fluid in her abdomen that had filled her body cavity. Often Called water belly.

Check your chicken for swollen belly and be sure that she does not have an egg bound. There are steps you can take to help her pass an egg such as a warm bath and massage or using Vaseline, oil or lubricant and putting it inside her vent. You can find videos on how to do this on you tube.

We didn't not have a choice but to put ours down because we did not catch the cause soon enough. But it sounds like your may be in early stages.

Good luck !!

 

[jlbkinor]

Thank you for both replies. I checked her for eggbound. Her abdomen doesn't seem swollen either. I suppose I can't do anything if its peritonitis? I know she's getting up there in age, she's been such a perfect pet - best layer, not noisy, just a sweetheart - so hard to see her get sick. I'll keep digging worms for her, she will eat those!

 

[cafarmgirl]

I would just keep an eye on her. Could be arthritis as mentioned or she may have something else going on internally. Does she feel thin at all, sharp breast bone? Has she been dewormed and checked for mites?

As far as peritonitis, in general there isn't much you can do other then try to make them more comfortable. There is always an underlying cause and those things are rarely fixable. However, if her lower abdomen, from between the legs back to the vent area, feels normal, no swelling, no redness, then I wouldn't jump to that conclusion.

 

[chickensticks]

I had an older hen once that acted like she was eggbound. Come to find out, her crop was bound up. It was hard as a rock. Massages it for 10-15 mins and fed her 2 syringes of olive oil, she was back to normal the next morning and has been fine since.

 

[jlbkinor]

Sorry about your chicken Americanakay. I checked mine's abdomen, doesn't feel swollen really, neither is her crop. Have not seen any worms in poop but tried worming on Saturday. Hopefully she drank. She did come out of the coop by herself today not long after we opened it which she hasn't bee doing until an hour or more later. She ate lots of worms I dug for her. But she's still slow, keeps her head tucked in a lot. She may have eaten moldy food before I got rid of it one or more weeks ago. Could she be poisoned? Would molasses mixed in water help? I gave her some plane old water this morning just because I hadn't seen her drink anything. Or I could give her wormer. Thank you all so much for your responses. I really don't want to lose her!