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Thread: I have a house hen

  1. #1
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default I have a house hen

    Thank God I live alone in the sticks and don't have to suffer the ridicule of neighbors.

    I only have three hens from last year. One is having a hard time walking. She can do it, but it wears her out fast and she plops down to rest often. The three roosters I got as day olds last year are mature and feeling their oats. They don't often catch the pullets I got at the same time who have not reach maturity. They see the rooster doing their two step near them and run away full speed. I can imagine them saying in chicken, "Oh no! Not that! I am still a child!" I'm sure my two older hens are plum wore out by them. They run too, but they are not as fast as the pullets.

    My chicken who has trouble walking was a target. She decided that the safest place was in the house. One night as the chickens were headed for their own house for the night I scooped her up and put her in with them. Bam! She got nailed by one of the boys. Since then I have let her do as she pleases.

    She is a good hen, she rarely poos in the house. She goes out sometimes when the coast is clear to peck on some green stuff but comes right back in. She goes through the pet door to the fish room to sleep every night. Unfortunately, she thinks that the concrete floor in the fish room is fine to poop on so I have to be careful where I step in the morning until I pick up after her.
    Mama Bear

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    One of my older Brahma girls is pretty similar, I have her in a separate pen where the young pullets go once they are a month or so. By the way one of last year's crop today just started hatching her first batch of eggs, one chick so far another 6 eggs to go

  3. #3
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    Mine are Brahma's, too. Do you think it's a genetic defect in the breed? I feel sorry for the poor girl. I wish there were something I could do to help her.

    Congrats on your new baby and good luck with the other 6 eggs. Did you candle them?
    Mama Bear

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    I have been keeping them for about 10 years and this hen is the only one with deformed legs, so I would not say I have noticed a genetic predisposition in mine at least. On the other hand they take forever to grow and generally don't seem as long lived as other breeds. At the moment besides Brahma I just breed Serama, got a left-over Silkie and a Sultan

  5. #5
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    Oh...Yours has a deformity. Mine was fine until she was around a year old. It's like mine has arthritis or something.
    Mama Bear

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    Getting there, apologies for the poor quality of the photos but I did not want to disturb her too much. I usually just do one batch of Brahma/Serama/runner duck eggs in the incubator at the end of spring but this young hen seemed pretty determined so I let her sit on a few eggs
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    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    Quote Originally Posted by LizStreithorst View Post
    Oh...Yours has a deformity. Mine was fine until she was around a year old. It's like mine has arthritis or something.
    Liz are you familiar with Bumble Foot in chickens? One of my hens had it... Its relatively common. Thought Id mention it.I treated it and shes been fine since ...that was about 3 years ago.

    info here...

    https://www.backyardchickencoops.com...ot-In-Chickens

    al
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  8. #8
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    Yes, Al, I am aware of that condition. The first think I did was checked her feet. They looked fine. I checked again another week or so ago. It's not that. She walks stiff legged on both legs. I think it might be arthritis.
    Mama Bear

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    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    Quote Originally Posted by LizStreithorst View Post
    Yes, Al, I am aware of that condition. The first think I did was checked her feet. They looked fine. I checked again another week or so ago. It's not that. She walks stiff legged on both legs. I think it might be arthritis.
    Bummer...
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    Mycoplasma synoviae is also a possibility among many. See a vet.

  11. #11
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    I read up on it. If it's that, I'd prefer not to know. From what I have read this infection only becomes a problem when the birds are under stress. The only stress these chickens have had is a dog attack last year that cost me most of my flock. They are free range all day, have access to commercial feed, get a treat of scratch and meal worms every evening, and get locked in their roomy chicken house at night to protect them from predators.

    What ever her problem, I don't expect her to get better. I will put her in the stew pot in November. All I want to do is keep her comfortable until then.
    Mama Bear

  12. #12
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    I have become fond of this hen. I haven't picked her up and taught her to like being petted because I don't want to get that close to her emotionally. But I thought I had lost her. I didn't realize that she spent the night out of doors last night. When I didn't find her this morning I was worried but resigned to the worst. Thank goodness she came walking in, stiff legged, around 9 am. She has acquired a name by accident. It's Ol'ladee. I'm thinking of taking her to my large animal vet who is up to treating anything. I don't want blood work to find a dread disease. I'm hoping for something that can give her some relief from pain.
    Last edited by LizStreithorst; 08-12-2018 at 12:04 PM. Reason: wording
    Mama Bear

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    As a painkiller/anti-inflammatory for backyard chicken I have always used meloxicam (trade name for the veterinary medicine is Metacam), as it is liquid it is easy to dose, start with 4-8 drops (soak a little piece of bread, she should take it ok) then on improvement reduce to the minimum effective dose. Should not be a problem f she ends up in the pot, the same molecule is widely used in humans. There are even more modern anti-inflammatory that have been trialled in birds, maybe though that stuff is still a bit too fancy

  14. #14
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    I take a meloxicam every morning. It's an excellent prescription NSAID. I had no idea that it came in a liquid form used in veterinary medicine. Thanks for the information. I just texted my veterinarian about it. He will text me back soon.
    Mama Bear

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: I have a house hen

    Here in Europe it has been sold in liquid form for at least 25 years, makes it really easy to dose small animals, for my big dogs I use the tablets for humans, pound for pound of active ingredient the cost is about 1/10th of the veterinary stuff (good job I am now longer in practice so I can cheat to my heart's contempt), same thing with my old Maremma sheepdog's heart tablets. My wife used to be a prescribing nurse so together we are quite familiar with most medicines under the sun

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