4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[emmat]

Hello

 

My littlest hen, Doris, has got a bit of a limp. She's had it for about 3 -4 days that I've seen and it's not getting better.

 

She's fine when she's walking but if she picks up pace she hobbles a bit.

 

She's eating, drinking, laying and free ranging happily.

 

What should I do? Leave her a few more days or take her to the vet? I've looked at her foot and leg and there is nothing funny to see.

 

Advice appreciated!

[Tweety]

Hi,

sorry to hear about Doris's limp, but if she is eating,drinking and behaving normally I would leave it for a couple of days to see if it improves. One of my hens hurt her leg on the eglu run, and was limping for a week before it started to get better. Hope she is ok very soon!

[jomaxsmith]

Is she having enough calcium? I heard somewhere (probably on here!) that if they have insufficient calcium for the egg shells they take it from their bones and that can manifest itself as a limp. Might be worth adding some limestone flour to her food to cover that possibility.

 

Hope she's better soon

 

Jo

[emmat]

Oh that's interesting... Her eggs are huge (even though she's my smallest girl) and the shells are v hard but perhaps that's why. I'll look to get some and add it in.

 

I think I will do as you say and keep an eye on her for a few days and if she's no good after the weekend I'll take her in next week. She seems perfectly happy though... maybe she just hurt it jumping off the cube ladder!

 

Thanks for your help!

[The Dogmother]

Sorry to have missed this Emma:

 

The most common cause of limping for chooks is just a normal sprain; the treatment being confining them so that they can't go jumping around and make it worse. You can also dose them up on Arnica. Sounds like this is the case with your girl.

 

For reference:

Another cause is lack of calcium - you can supplement this from various sources:

Bake and grind up their egg shells and add to the feed

Limestone flour, added to the feed

Davinova (liquid calcium) added to the water

 

One more serious cause (and not the case with your hen by the sounds of it) is Marek's Disease; this is a strain of the herpes virus that can lead to paralysis and starts with limping. Most hybrid hens are vaccinated against it, and a normal healthy flock will usually have a very slight background level of it, it can however, be fatal to a chicken who is poorly in another way, or moulting. Luckily the end is usually very quick to come in this case.

 

Keep her warm and if you can confine her or restrict her movements, then that will help.

[likeastar--x]

Hiya...this is quite unusual so im not sure if this is the case with you, but one of my banties had a limp that wouldnt go away and when we didn take her to the vets it turned how she had dislocated her leg . Limping due to a physical injury like a sprain is probably quite likely.

 

[emmat]

Oh thanks for moving the post, didn't realize there was a clinic!

 

My girls are from you guys so I'm sure she's not got that awful lurgy!

 

I'll keep them in the cube a few days and see how we go. Might pop down for a cuddle though.

 

If it persists I'll add calcium to her feed.

 

Thanks so much. X

[sandyhas3chucks]

only just seen this.how is she now?