Re: leg problem in 2 hens - Barnevelder LF



Jill. wrote: 

Catch them and carefully and in detail work your fingers up the leg from
toes to shoulder. Feel for heat, swelling, and more each joint for a
reaction
It would be best to do an unaffected bird first
There are bugs which affect the joint
As you note your laddo might be to blame - but its not the most active of
times for that sort of thing !
The best would be to separate both from the others anyway to give them a
chance to take a breather and so you can watch them more closely


Dear Jill,
Thanks for your advice. I could not see/feel any swelling, the joints were quite warm but it could have been just from squatting. I went backwards and forwards through Gail Damerow's Chicken Health Handbook but could not come up with anything conclusive. They moved into the former broody coop on their own behalf so I kept them in there for a few days. One possible diagnosis was tapeworm (yes, apparently can make them limp...) and as the next Flubenvet session was on the cards anyway, I decided to worm everybody a bit early. I am happy to say that their food intake increased day by day (they also got Echinacin in their water, extra garlic, nasturtium, berries for Vits and mins etc.) and yesterday they started fighting in the coop so obviously their energy was coming back. I left them out with the others again this morning (they were very eager to get out) and they seem ok, just no eggs yet. So I hope it was 'just' a case of tapeworm. My biggest worry had been that it could be Marek. Their combs never lost colour and their appetite never quite went away. The whole episode took about a week. Strange that.

Ute

.

Quantcast