I have a house hen

[LizStreithorst]

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.

[Paul Sabucchi]

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

[LizStreithorst]

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?

[Paul Sabucchi]

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

[LizStreithorst]

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

[Paul Sabucchi]

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

[brewmaster15]

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.au/Signs-Symptoms-And-Treatments-For-Bumblefoot-In-Chickens

al

[LizStreithorst]

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.

[brewmaster15]

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...

[Megalodon]

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

[LizStreithorst]

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.

[LizStreithorst]

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.

[Paul Sabucchi]

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

[LizStreithorst]

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.

[Paul Sabucchi]

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

[Paul Sabucchi]

P.S. my wife used to take meloxicam too but years ago our doctor switched her to the subsequent generation of nsaids (Etoricoxcib), she finds it more effective and gentler on her stomach

[LizStreithorst]

You have it made, Paul. No wonder you have so many animals. Between you and your wife you can care for them all without spending an arm and a leg. I'm lucky because my vet and I have a closer relationship than client/doctor. I rented my grooming room from him for over 20 years. I learned most of what I know from hanging out on the vet side when I wasn't busting it doing dogs. I was a breeder of show dairy goats at the time and he tells folks that everything he knows about goats he learned from me. It's a relationship based on respect.

He texted me back that he has used meloxicam with great success in the past. He told me to promise not to eat her, but what does it matter if I take the same drug myself every day? (he doesn't think that I'd have the guts to put her in the stew pot, but that's exactly what I will do when the time comes)

[LizStreithorst]

P.S. my wife used to take meloxicam too but years ago our doctor switched her to the subsequent generation of nsaids (Etoricoxcib), she finds it more effective and gentler on her stomach

I take 5, sometimes 6 pills every morning on an empty stomach and have not yet had a problem. I must have a cast iron stomach. But if the Estoricoxib works better for the pain I'll ask my family doctor about it.

[LizStreithorst]

Paul, my Ol'ladee is feeling so much better that she has left home to hang out with the other 2 hens her age. She even goes to roost in the chicken house. The only time she comes in my house is when she comes with her two sisters. It is making it hard to give her her meds with the other two around.

My vet gave it to me without question. He isn't a pill pusher, he just trusts my judgement. He and his wife go to Italy every year for two weeks. You two would like one another.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Really glad to hear it is improving her quality of life, fantastic news!

[Megalodon]

Mycoplasma synoviae is easily treated. Some of the oldest antibiotics that are useless for anything else today still work on Mycoplasma.

[LizStreithorst]

If that's the case I will have this hen tested. If she is positive and it is transmitted horizontally I will have a young one tested, too. It's a good time because they have not started laying yet.

Is this a blood test? If so how does one draw blood from a chicken? Is it from the jugular as they do with cats?

[Megalodon]

It's a serum test so blood is needed. It's usually taken from the wing vein.

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks. My vet is up for anything. He took care of the zoo animals until he was so busy he couldn't any more. He always takes care of me, though.

[LizStreithorst]

I finally heard back from my vet. I thought for a while that he didn't want to be bothered with a chicken but I was wrong. He's in Montana until Thursday (probably come cow thing. Be breeds Gelbvie's) I'll set up an appointment with him when he returns. If this hen tests positive I'll treat the entire flock.

[LizStreithorst]

Since I heard from my vet I ran out of meloxicam (I spilled some) and the Ol'laydee is still doing well. I've decided not to bother having her tested. If she is positive I'll have to treat the entire flock and they have started laying.

Right now she's out with her girl friends. There's a place with an open shed they can go to get out of the weather on the other side of the house where the younger chickens don't go. She still comes in the house for the night. She has started molting so in addition to chicken poop I have feathers to clean up.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Glad to hear she is still doing ok and sorry for the spillage (some may be tempted to crush one of their meloxicam tablets and dilute it in a bit of sugary water and make their own metacam, not that I would ever suggest doing such a thing of course). I think you can delay testing until it is more convenient, unless you notice more obvious signs of the possible presence of the bug, such as swollen joints, respiratory problems or a drop in egg laying (even if the symptoms are just sporadic and in different individuals) in that case I would test sooner rather than later (1 older bird that struggles to walk can just be arthritis , a number of younger ones doing it on the other hand would be more suspicious)

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks for the good advice, Paul.

Not that I would ever do such a thing, but if one were to do that how much sugar water would one mix with a 15 mg. meloxicam pill to be a good dose at 6 drops for a chicken?

No other chickens are showing symptoms of anything. The hen with problems isn't laying. Perhaps she'll start again after the molt. I don't mind eating her eggs because I'm on the same drug. The tad of it in the eggs will do me more help than harm.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Should anyone think of doing such a thing the standard concentration of metacam is 1.5 mg/ml so one would grind up one tablet and mix it with 10 ml of water close to saturated with glucose or sugar (to act as preserving agent)...

[LizStreithorst]

got it. Thanks.