[Jade1096]

I got my first flock of chickens earlier this year.

So far, everything has been going along great. All but one are laying now.

The one that isn't laying yet appears to have some sort of injury.

I first noticed it four or five days ago. She was walking with a very exaggerated limp, almost like an issue with her hip versus leg or foot.
I left her alone for a few days. She is my trouble maker of the group, constantly challenging the other chickens, running around the chicken run flapping and flying, etc. I figured she had just over exerted herself.

Well her limp has gotten progressively worse and now she doesn't really want to put any weight on that leg at all. She is walking with her foot completely curled up and sometimes has to flair her wing out to keep her balance. I caught her and spent a good fifteen minutes going over her foot, leg, and body. I couldn't find any cuts or scrapes, no bumblefoot, I didn't notice any particular heat coming off that side of her body and didn't feel any broken bones.
She obviously doesn't feel well. She doesn't move very much at all if she doesn't have to and isn't harassing everyone to death.
I talked to a friend that has had chickens for years. He basically just said if she is still eating/drinking, leave her alone and don't worry about it.

I'm just not sure if I should be worried, or doing something else at this point. Or checking for anything else. Any suggestions?

 

[JoePa]

No - suggestions

 

[Muleman]

Honestly, I do not give much thought to chicken injuries or chicken doctoring. I will give them a bit of time by themselves, if I think that will help. I will apply a bit of a topical ointment if it is a cut or something simple like that, but normally I would just eat it, if that did not help. Hard to tell if a chicken is happy. I figure if it can not walk around and eat like the other chickens, it probably is not very happy, so better that it not suffer.

 

[K Epp]

Sounds like a hock joint tendon issue. Is it swollen?

 

[aart]

I got my first flock of chickens earlier this year.

So far, everything has been going along great. All but one are laying now.

The one that isn't laying yet appears to have some sort of injury.

I first noticed it four or five days ago. She was walking with a very exaggerated limp, almost like an issue with her hip versus leg or foot.
I left her alone for a few days. She is my trouble maker of the group, constantly challenging the other chickens, running around the chicken run flapping and flying, etc. I figured she had just over exerted herself.

Well her limp has gotten progressively worse and now she doesn't really want to put any weight on that leg at all. She is walking with her foot completely curled up and sometimes has to flair her wing out to keep her balance. I caught her and spent a good fifteen minutes going over her foot, leg, and body. I couldn't find any cuts or scrapes, no bumblefoot, I didn't notice any particular heat coming off that side of her body and didn't feel any broken bones.
She obviously doesn't feel well. She doesn't move very much at all if she doesn't have to and isn't harassing everyone to death.
I talked to a friend that has had chickens for years. He basically just said if she is still eating/drinking, leave her alone and don't worry about it.

I'm just not sure if I should be worried, or doing something else at this point. Or checking for anything else. Any suggestions?

That's about all you can do...unless you have a avian experienced vet and lots of money.

 

[Jade1096]

Not going to take it to the vet.
It's a chicken, not a pet. I can get a full grown laying hen for less than $20 here. It's not worth the time/expense of involving a vet. I don't judge others that choose to have them as pets and spend that kind of effort, it's just not for us. Ours will primarily be used for egg production only until we get a larger place, then we will use them for meat and eggs when we have the space to have a larger flock.
I've checked her feet, legs, and hip numerous times and haven't found any issues.
Right now I've got her separated from the others in a large dog kennel.
I'll give her a week (unless she goes downhill from here) to give her a chance to stay off the leg and let it heal a bit.
If she's still limping and what not, I'll have Manthing put her down.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Muleman]

You may want to go ahead and prepare yourself for such a traumatic event as ending the life of a living creature, by looking up chicken recipes now!!

 

[Jade1096]

Manthing has it in his head that she's going to be dumplings.

I really don't think she's big enough to even mess with. She's really light and hasn't developed the fat butt that the others have on them.
If an animal has an injury that appears to be just some type of muscle/ligament problem, I assume they are ok to eat. And I grew up on a farm, so I don't really have any issues with eating her.
Of course I say she's too small to mess about with, but on the other hand, himself is seriously looking into starting quail this spring so maybe I'd better get used to cleaning something that small, lol.

eta: It is supposed to be 97 degrees today.
It's October right? This is ridiculous.

 

[Lady89]

i had one of my girls strain something in her leg as a chick the limping lasted for weeks and i was thinking she might just always have a limp but she was just the sweetest little thing so i was going to keep her in hopes of making her a broody hen. However one day i went out and the limp was just gone, whatever was wrong had healed. ( but she is not out of danger of going into a pot yet, she had turned into the meanest chicken i have and likes to pick me when i collect eggs)

 

[1shotwade]

Nothing to add here but for some reason the title strikes me as funny! It sounds like an old indian name. "Kicking bear, running deer" thing.

Or maybe a military unit.One unit in veitnam was "the flying chickens" because they have no word for Eagle. Pretty funny.

Wade

 

[Jade1096]

She isn't laying yet and pretty much hops on one leg everywhere now.

She's eating and drinking fine and isn't getting picked on too much by the others so I'm just leaving her be for now.

I may end up getting another 5 or 6 laying hens from someone. If we do that, we will definitely be culling her. Figure the process of figuring out the pecking order between 12 chickens would be too brutal for her.