Limping chicken!

[vixfinn]

Haven't been on here for a while what with trying and failing to be elected and all...
Anyway, some of you may remember I got myself 5 hybrid hens last year?

They have all been hardy, tough little girls but this afternoon I noticed that Ruby, the little red hen, smallest of the troop was walking/limping with her toes bent awkwardly beneath her foot. Thinking she may have jumped and landed awkwardly at some point I phoned the pet vet. (But only after phoning some chicken vet-line nonsense connected with the breeder who charged me 90p per min so I could tell her what I thought should be done

Anyway, I segregated Ruby and took her to the dog vet. A lovely man who has treated all my animals for 20 years or so. By his own admission he's no expert on poultry but was happy to see her. A quick check over and pinching of the poor hens foot revealed no break but certain nerve damage. i.e. she felt nothing. Between us both, in the hope that she will heal eventually we strapped her foot on an improvised cardboard flipper. He charged me nothing although I can't help but feel this is due to the fact it took me 10 years to pay the bank holiday emergency bank holiday cat bill
It might heal, it might not

To summarise, she can put weight on her foot and the leg is good. She's in no pain and is eating and drinking fine. The vet did however point out that she's not as plump as she should be.Someone on here mentioned her undershot beak and said to watch her feeding, could this be why?

Is she going to be lonely in isolation?

I think she must have been crushed (being the smallest) in the scrabble to get out of
the coop this morning.

Will the other chooks accept her back if/when she improves?

She's indoors in the dog cage tonight but will be in a small coop with a run running alongside the others chicken fence tomorrow. Am I doing right?

[singlebilingual]

Hi Vixfinn,

One of my Barnevelders had the same problem last September. One day when I let her and and her 11 friends out of the coop she was limping. She had not long come into lay and because of the limp stopped laying.

Anyway, she was limping quite badly but I didn't remove her as there were no signs of any of the other hens treating her badly. The limp eventually got better and after about 4 weeks she ws back to normal.

Hope this helps and that Ruby gets better soon!

[vixfinn]

Thanks singlebilingual,
That's reassuring. She's hobbling along OK on her new flipper. Will reintroduce her in a couple of days when I've fattened her up a bit. I probably shouldn't have segregated her but I was worried she'd damage her toes more the way she was walking on them.

[Suechooks]

If you can keep her close to the others it'd be better than keeping her out of sight, as if she's at lower end of pecking orde she'll be bullied when you return her
Have you wormed them recently? This can be a reason for loss of weight. How thin is she compared to the others. A good laying hen never has a lot of fat and "little brown hens" are usually such good layers that all their food is utilised into egg production leaving little over for body fat - hence their short life span.
If the others are ok with her you could just give her some extra food a couple of times a day - maybe some mash made of layers pellets with added scrambled egg and just keep her apart to give her this rather than keeping her away all the time.

[vixfinn]

Thanks, Will worm them all and have put her next to their run. She's desperate to get in there with them. Think I'll give her a couple of days isolation and get her back with them if she's limping less. My concern is if the nerve damage is permanant how she would cope with the steps etc at the bottom of the garden where they all live?
It's just a waiting game I guess.