Do these feet look normal?

Bigfishbobby

Chirping
Dec 17, 2024
66
65
58
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Light Brahma, roughly 5 months old I’m guessing, not sure of weight but very healthy looking.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. She is very unsteady on her feet, to the point that she falls over when moving. She is especially unsteady when preening. Otherwise able to stand in one place.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? A few days.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? 14 other birds, no symptoms.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. Nothing my novice eye is able to detect.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Wife was outside in shed, heard a flying chicken, a thud and came out to see her in her side. We are unable to verify if it was even her that was flying, or if it was another since they all come running when someone is in the shed where the mealworms are stored. It is possible she walked out of the coop and it’s unrelated.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. She actively wants food and water, eating layer crumbles from Rural King, mealworms for treats, had some rice yesterday.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Brought her inside to segregate. Added vitamins to her water yesterday. Checked for egg bound (she has not started laying yet). Epsom salt bath yesterday.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? We are on our own.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. No pictures. Nothing to really show except a wobbly hen. Comb and wattles look good. You would never guess anything was wrong with her without seeing her move.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use. Coop at night with others with straw bedding. Daytime kept in a run with others, except a couple hours a day of free range when weather and time permit. Lately, we have had wet weather so we have kept them in more than normal.

She may very well have struck her head and may be dealing with neurological damage. I would continue as you are carefully monitoring to make sure she is getting enough to eat and drink and that other birds do not start abusing her. Hopefully she will be able to overcome any damage.

A concussion should resolve on its own in a few days, but check her ears in case of infection, gunk or even parasites like mites or tics, which can throw a bird out of balance.

Check her crop early in the morning to see if it is emptying properly overnight.

This may be an odd observation, but her tail is up but it’s always cocked.
IMG_9414.jpeg


Definitely getting worse, not better. Seriously doubting it’s any injury. She moves well while holding her.

Do these look like normal healthy chicken feet?

IMG_9415.jpeg



IMG_9416.jpeg


IMG_9417.jpeg


Are these the feet of one chicken or three chickens? One appears to be a toe of an old chicken, age six or older. The other two appear to be younger toes. While singular toes do not give us a complete picture of the health of the feet, they all appear pretty normal.
All the same chicken. We are trying to get to the bottom of her struggling to walk and falling over. She is only about 5 months old. Light Brahma.

How about you elaborate on her walking and balance issues? Give us her age, her breed, how long this has been going on.

Give us your location, climate, and current weather. This is very important as location and current weather may be responsible.

Tell us about her struggles to walk. Supply a video if you are able. Post to YouTube first, then paste the URL here and it will embed.

@azygous

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/very-unsteady-chicken.1650948/

She basically is having a hard time walking anywhere now. Falling like she is drunk and it seems to be getting worse. This afternoon I crushed 1/2 of a B complex and mixed it into some oatmeal for her. She is eating and looks normal all things aside.

I do not deal with two threads for the same chicken. It's way too frustrating.
Sorry….I guess. I didn’t think asking a separate question was frowned upon.

It's just easier to follow if you ask additional questions about the same hen in the same thread.

Sorry….I guess. I didn’t think asking a separate question was frowned upon.
It's just that now anyone helping you has to read what other helpers said in the first thread about this chicken.

It's so much simpler to keep everything going on with the same chicken in one thread so everyone trying to help knows what others have suggested. It's easier for you, too, as you don't have to go between two threads to see what everyone has said.

I am thinking that first picture of the feet looks like SLM (scaley leg mites), but after reading your other thread, that's the least of her worries right now.

Keep up the 1/2 B-Complex once a day and try E, around 400 iu., whole in her beak. Pull down her wattles to open and put the E just inside her beak. She should swallow it. Follow up with some scrambled eggs for the selenium the E needs to absorb better. You can do E twice a day. I'd do both for two weeks.

It's just easier to follow if you ask additional questions about the same hen in the same thread.
I get it. Some people can’t be bothered to click a link, I don’t blame them, heck I’m appreciative that they offered assistance to start with. For those that can see past my noob transgression and are willing to click on it would find that I did everything I could to abide by the rules and even copied and pasted the recommended information from the rules at the top of the forum section. I’m not trying to get taken downtown by the BYC police, I’ll just take my citation and say thanks. 😂

Sorry about your pullet.

I'd continue to provide vitamin support to see if that helps. 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4tablet B-Complex daily along with a treat of egg to help with the uptake of E.

Check her crop to see that it's emptying overnight.

Hopefully she'll improve soon.

By checking her crop, am I looking for sour crop?

I had read other threads talking about eggs and B complex as well so I did give her a scrambled egg earlier today, then this evening ran and got some B complex. I crushed 1/2 tablet into a little mushy oatmeal and sprinkled a tiny bit of rooster booster on top. She ate all of it. Tomorrow I’ll cook her another egg and mix in the B complex again. I don’t have any E on hand so I’ll have to go after work in the afternoon and get that.

By checking her crop, am I looking for sour crop?

I had read other threads talking about eggs and B complex as well so I did give her a scrambled egg earlier today, then this evening ran and got some B complex. I crushed 1/2 tablet into a little mushy oatmeal and sprinkled a tiny bit of rooster booster on top. She ate all of it. Tomorrow I’ll cook her another egg and mix in the B complex again. I don’t have any E on hand so I’ll have to go after work in the afternoon and get that.
Well, you want to check her crop to make sure it's emptying overnight.
If it's not, then address that symptom.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It's just that now anyone helping you has to read what other helpers said in the first thread about this chicken.

It's so much simpler to keep everything going on with the same chicken in one thread so everyone trying to help knows what others have suggested. It's easier for you, too, as you don't have to go between two threads to see what everyone has said.

I am thinking that first picture of the feet looks like SLM (scaley leg mites), but after reading your other thread, that's the least of her worries right now.

Keep up the 1/2 B-Complex once a day and try E, around 400 iu., whole in her beak. Pull down her wattles to open and put the E just inside her beak. She should swallow it. Follow up with some scrambled eggs for the selenium the E needs to absorb better. You can do E twice a day. I'd do both for two weeks.
Thank you for the help and advice! :)
 
For the record, I never anticipated this would develop into a two thread discussion which is why I just asked if they looked normal or not, without offering the other info from the start. I get that it was better served in the same thread, and I’ll try to think it through better next time. I’ll admit I’m also surprised it went to not being willing to help someone over it, but to each his/her own.
 
For the record, I never anticipated this would develop into a two thread discussion which is why I just asked if they looked normal or not, without offering the other info from the start. I get that it was better served in the same thread, and I’ll try to think it through better next time. I’ll admit I’m also surprised it went to not being willing to help someone over it, but to each his/her own.
It's more of a respect between the Educators here and those trying to help. It's different than Facebook where everyone mostly just throws in their two cents. Here, people replying to your threads really want to help but don't want to be stepping on anyone else's toes when doing it. One could say one thing about your chicken in one thread that contradicts what one said in your other.

It's fine, though; don't sweat it! :) I hope your hen starts improving!
 
This is deadly it can cripple your chicken both legs everything so you need to act fast because my hen wasn't able to use one of her legs well and she was marked as slow by a dog and got eaten
 

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