Wobbly chicken please help she’s my favourite!!

[Sondraa]

That works perfectly. Good job.

Have you added to your flock recently?

 

[6-Hens-and-Me]

to this particular flock, No.

 

[Sondraa]

So no new birds that could have brought in anything from their former home? If not, then some things can be ruled out.

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you look at her legs and feet carefully for any swelling, redness, green bruising, or bumble foot scabs or swelling of the foot pads? Do you see her curling her toes under or walking on her hock on either foot? Has she been picked on by the other hens or hurt by a rooster? Are your roosts very high? She does seem to be having trouble walking and having to use her wings to balance. It could be an injury, hopefully, but we always want to rule out Mareks disease. Is she eating and drinking enough?

 

[Sondraa]

Can you look at her legs and feet carefully for any swelling, redness, green bruising, or bumble foot scabs or swelling of the foot pads? Do you see her curling her toes under or walking on her hock on either foot? Has she been picked on by the other hens or hurt by a rooster? Are your roosts very high? She does seem to be having trouble walking and having to use her wings to balance. It could be an injury, hopefully, but we always want to rule out Mareks disease. Is she eating and drinking enough?

Thank you for coming to the rescue Eggcessive!

Ok..6-Hens...you are in good hands now. It's nearly midnight here in Tasmania so I will check in on you later.

 

[6-Hens-and-Me]

Can you look at her legs and feet carefully for any swelling, redness, green bruising, or bumble foot scabs or swelling of the foot pads? Do you see her curling her toes under or walking on her hock on either foot? Has she been picked on by the other hens or hurt by a rooster? Are your roosts very high? She does seem to be having trouble walking and having to use her wings to balance. It could be an injury, hopefully, but we always want to rule out Mareks disease. Is she eating and drinking enough?

To my knowledge there is no bruising. Her crop is full of food I haven’t seen her drink but the food in her crop was mush from the layers pellets so I assume she’s drank to swell them up. She’s not walking on her hock, if anything she seems so be sliding more than anything. The past few weeks the ground has been very wet and muddy, could she have slipped?

She does get picked on by one hen particular. I’ve got 1 high roost which I’ve never had any problems with before (I could lower it)

She’s in my laying flock not breeding so it couldn’t have been a rooster over treading her.

I’ve got a treadle feeder could she have got her foot caught underneath there? Although I doubt any of the other hens would be heavy enough to cause damage.

I’ve picked her up, and she feels completely fine when I push around the leg muscles there is no particular pain or flinching. I don’t think it’s mareks disease as they are all vaccinated from it at hatch although it won’t totally irradicate it, it can certainly prevent it.

Any other questions?

 

[Eggcessive]

Check to see if her crop is emptying overnight. Keep an eye on how much she is getting to eat, since she is having a little trouble walking. You could try a 1/4-1/2 tablet daily of human vitamin B complex which has riboflavin and all other B’s and C, and may be good for her legs. I lowered my roosts, since hens can sometimes injure themselves. Hopefully, it wasn’t your feeder that hurt her. Let us know how she gets along, or if she gets worse or better.

 

[6-Hens-and-Me]

Update: are her nails too long?

Her wattles are very thin but they are with most hens when they go into roost

 

[Sondraa]

Good morning 6-Hens. Just checking in to see how you and your Hen are doing. What is her name, by the way?

 

[6-Hens-and-Me]

Good morning 6-Hens. Just checking in to see how you and your Hen are doing. What is her name, by the way?

Hello her name is Bornville pronounced (Born-Vil)

She’s such a sweet heart and is still wobbly but she’s made it in to roost for the night now and she should be fine by morning