Urgent Help Please!!

[RichmondHens]

How is she now? My initial thoughts on reading your description of the symptoms was she may have been attacked by something, injuring the leg and possibly doing internal damage. Could this have been possible?

I've probably mentioned it on here before but one of my young Welsummers was found in the run at the beginning of the year dragging her leg behind her and unable to stand. I did get the vet to check her out to rule out Marek's and she recovered over a period of two weeks sitting in a box in our house. After a month she was fully fit and back with the others. We came to the conclusion the big heavy cock that was running with them had been overenthusiastic and squashed her!

[julesapple]

Update

Daisy is now almost back to normal. We think it could have been an injury caused by one of our cockerells - they are big Welsummers like RH's and very clumsy, too young to have much finesse! We had checked for external injuries very thoroughly but, apart from the tiny cut the comb, there was nothing. We've had red mites this year, but nothing more than a thumb-print size patch. Vykil and vaseline have been vital in keeping them down.

We tempted her to eat with grapes and cherry tomatoes yesterday, but today she was back at the feeder eating pellets. The couscous is just a cold weather hot breakfast treat, but it goes down very well and is one of Daisy's favourite things along with fresh spinach.

She's also back with the flock, in the thick of things, very Daisy-like. She's still fussing over her two remaining chicks and shouting to them when she's found stuff for them to eat. We did think she might have suffered an injury trying to protect her huge hulking 'babies' from one of the bigger chooks, but they do all get along very well generally and, certainly, the babies don't need defending as they are bigger than her.

The legs are still a tiny bit wobbly, but the only thing that causes her a problem is the ramp to the henhouse. Also, the big girls are staying in the bedding with her as she's not perching yet.

We've still no conclusive idea of what happened, but my gosh, it was scary. We've lost chicks in our incy etc, but we haven't faced losing one of original girls before now.

Jules

[Scarlet]

Brilliant - that's great news!

[Suechooks]

Good to hear Julesapple! Hope she continues to improve now.

[RichmondHens]

Glad to hear of the improvement. Cocks can be real beasts sometimes. A friend of mine had one who killed one of the hens by running her into a fence post and breaking her neck, all in an attempt to get his leg over!

[jessmorris]

Hurrah! Glad she's well again ;-)

[julesapple]

Hurrah! Glad she's well again ;-)

We are too! Daisy is such a character that should the worst have happened we would really have missed her. She's given up mothering her big chicks now, and has adopted the three incy-raised Friesian Fowl banties instead - needless to say they are a bit freaked out by this and stay away from her.

Jules

[jessmorris]

Bless her!