Arthritis?

[Mamaof13]

I have a Wellsummer hen that is 22 weeks old. When we got her (about 3 days old) she had deformed toes, one on each foot, that curled backwards. It didn’t seem to bother her. She moved around normally and perched on things with no problem. Lately I have noticed that she’s been lying down a lot and occasional walks with a slight limp. The weather has been very cold lately and I know my arthritis has been bothering her me. I was wondering if she could be having the same problems with her crooked toes. Any thoughts or suggestions? I bathed her feet in warm water and applied an epsom salt poultice. I will keep an eye on her to see if it helped.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

At 3 days old, her feet could have possibly been corrected by taping her toes straight on a small piece of cardboard for a couple of days.

Now at her age, I don't think it's too late, but might take weeks of wearing similar and therapy.

One thing that could help is putting her on vitamin therapy. I'd put Poultry Cell or the like in her water a couple of times a week and get a bottle of human B-Complex vitamins, and give her 1/2 of one of those per day.

Also, is she getting oyster shell calcium supplimented separate from her feed? If not, that might help a little too. Usually, who needs it eats it and roosters do not so they don't, but I have a very old rooster that does. I figured he must have a need for his old bones.

 

[Mamaof13]

Hi,

At 3 days old, her feet could have possibly been corrected by taping her toes straight on a small piece of cardboard for a couple of days.

Now at her age, I don't think it's too late, but might take weeks of wearing similar and therapy.

One thing that could help is putting her on vitamin therapy. I'd put Poultry Cell or the like in her water a couple of times a week and get a bottle of human B-Complex vitamins, and give her 1/2 of one of those per day.

Thank you for your help. I will definitely try the vitamin therapy.