What would cause my hen to limp?

[CALI CHICK]

My buff orpington is limping this morning. She is favoring her right leg and putting weight on her left side. She limps when she walks and also limped inside her nest box trying get comfortable (to lay her 10th egg). I had to put her inside her nest box and I took her out after she laid her egg. I then carried her out to the tractor with the other girls. She cannot scratch for bugs, but is instead hanging out at the feed bowl today. She is the top hen, so the other 2 pullets seem nervous and worried without her normal leadership.

There are no signs of redness or swelling but I just don't know what happened. Most of all, will this limping go away or will it cause her to die? She is our favorite chicken (the one pictured in my avatar).

 

[seminolewind]

I think I might restrain her activity for a few days, and give her some yummy things to eat. Is she getting oyster shell?

I'm thinking she just jumped off her roost or landed on her leg wrong. See how she does.

 

[CALI CHICK]

You are probably right about her hurting herself when flying off the roost. I've been concerned before about the perch being too difficult to get down from. It's only 3 feet high, but the chickens think they have to take a flying jump straight out the coop door into the yard...which is a 9 foot flight. I am going to lower the perch (to a foot 1/2) and lower their poop shelf today. I guess that means I'll have to put the nesting box on the floor to keep it lower than the perch.

As for Buffy, I have her in a crate in the house -and gave her some mealworms. She won't relax, though. She keeps standing, pacing, limping and SQUAKING loudly. I had to close the window because the other two chickens could hear her complaints from outside and started squaking too. She was worse when I tried to cage her outside...I was afraid the neighbors might complain about the noise.

I read another thread that said, I can add crushed up Vitamin B to her food to help her heal. I took my last Vit B last night -LOL- so I guess I need more Vitamin B anyway. I hope she calms down and lets her leg or foot heal. Poor thing.

 

[CALI CHICK]

Does anyone know how I can get her to calm down? She keeps squaking, limping around in the cage, pecking the door, wanting out, but won't relax or lay down.

 

[seminolewind]

You might have to give her a buddy to keep her company.

 

[CALI CHICK]

You might have to give her a buddy to keep her company.

Yes, they really rely on one another's companionship. Since there's only 3 chickens it would have left someone by themselves. I gave in and just put Buffy back out in the tractor with the other girls. Everyone seemed happy then. Buffy continued hobbling around but managed to scratch a bit and steel food -which she's good at anyway. Today she is walking alot better, almost no limp.

The first day I moved their roost down (as planned) and would you believe at least one of those crazy chickens flew up onto a narrow shelf in the eaves of their coop? I hope it wasn't Buffy because that would have been a 5 foot drop to the floor -ouch on a sore leg! Now the shelf is blocked and nest boxes conveniently on the floor.

Hopefully all is healthy and safe again in the chicken coop.

 

[birdbrainny]

my hen is a little over a year old and she eats like a horse lays her eggs daily but she has a limp that seems to be getting worse i think she just landed wrong she thought she could fly being friends with the sparrows in the back yard. The limp is getting worse but its not affecting her appetite. what can i do?????

 

[CALI CHICK]

It's easy to worry about them isn't it? I found it very difficult to do anything for my Buffy. She didn't want to be seperated from her friends. I just let her back out with the other 2 hens in their tractor. She could hardly scratch, but made up for it by stealing food from the others. I also moved the roost down inside the coop and tried to look for a cut or injury....but there wasn't anything on the outside. I did try to add Vitamin B to their breakfast in the morning but don't know if that made any difference. Within a week, Buffy was barely limping. Check her out real good and make sure she doesn't have a cut or wound, but if it is a muscle/tendon injury, it just takes time. Hopefully your hen will start improving.

 

[ChikkenChamp]

Noticed this thread was up, one of my chickens has been limping for the past week or so, I was able to check her over, no unusually warm spots or abnormalities except when she walks, her left leg, when she walks it goes back farther than it should. I'm not sure what to do

 

[nonnas girls]

I was wondering how your chicken is doing. I brought my buff orphington to the vet as she started limping last night. She didn't know what was causing the limp.;