Keeping foot up and laying down a lot

[Fishfam6]

Hello! First time chicken owner and I don’t know what is wrong with my little Olive. She is staying away from the flock and laying down. I noticed she kept lifting her one leg up. I checked all over her little feet and I don’t see anything. Can someone please let me know what I can do to help her? I moved her inside today and gave her treats and water she flew out so I thought that meant she was feeling better, but now that all the other chickens are going in she is just standing by the gate to let her back out. Everyone else went in. The last pic is her other leg for comparison. I’m going to take her back in if she doesn’t go up with the flock.

 

[Gallinarium]

Chickens often stand on one foot, to rest it or warm it. If she's doing it a lot more than usual, though, that's not the case. It's probably a leg injury. I would just keep an eye on her, isolate her if she's being bullied. It could also be a deficiency, but that's unlikely if you feed mostly quality chicken food.

 

[azygous]

You can give her 81 grain chewable aspirin, one whole tablet twice a day for the pain. It's the kind they used to call "baby aspirin".

You need good eye sight and not to be color blind, but if you examine her bad leg closely, you may see very faint light green bruises. I have a hen that injured her foot when trying to get back into the run during a dog attack.

Her bruise was on the web of tissue between two toes, barely visible, hidden in the crevice. But it hurt her so much, she did what your hen is doing. She refused to put weight on it for three weeks until it healed, but she could run on it if she wanted. The aspirin gave her this option.

 

[Fishfam6]

You can give her 81 grain chewable aspirin, one whole tablet twice a day for the pain. It's the kind they used to call "baby aspirin".

You need good eye sight and not to be color blind, but if you examine her bad leg closely, you may see very faint light green bruises. I have a hen that injured her foot when trying to get back into the run during a dog attack.

Her bruise was on the web of tissue between two toes, barely visible, hidden in the crevice. But it hurt her so much, she did what your hen is doing. She refused to put weight on it for three weeks until it healed, but she could run on it if she wanted. The aspirin gave her this option.

She was being mounted a lot by our much larger rooster. I wonder if he hurt her? Ill look really close in the morning. She got spoiled this afternoon. Lots of watermelon and soft shavings to rest in. Lots of lap Time with the kiddos.

 

[azygous]

Very large roosters can kill a small hen with their weight. It's not a good idea for this big lug to have access to tiny hens.

She could have a hairline fracture. You would still likely see bruising, though. It's a good idea to keep this hen in a small enclosure where she isn't tempted to do much moving around, and most of all, keep her apart from the rooster.

Many of us have an enclosure in our runs for this purpose so the recovering patient won't be absent from the flock. I currently am using mine to brood chicks in proximity to the flock so they are being integrated as they grow. When not in use for medical purposes or raising chicks, it's handy to stick a naughty rooster in.

 

[Fishfam6]

Very large roosters can kill a small hen with their weight. It's not a good idea for this big lug to have access to tiny hens.

She could have a hairline fracture. You would still likely see bruising, though. It's a good idea to keep this hen in a small enclosure where she isn't tempted to do much moving around, and most of all, keep her apart from the rooster.

Many of us have an enclosure in our runs for this purpose so the recovering patient won't be absent from the flock. I currently am using mine to brood chicks in proximity to the flock so they are being integrated as they grow. When not in use for medical purposes or raising chicks, it's handy to stick a naughty rooster in.

That’s a great idea!!we have a pretty small run because we let them free range all day. We will have to make a separate area for sick chickens/ asshat rooster. My girl that got hurt is an olive egger and my boy is a barred rock.