# swollen knee joint



## SusanP

Hi all, I'm new here, also fairly new to raising chickens, and have come across my first challenge.

One of our hens started limping badly about a week ago, and appeared to have a swollen knee joint (if that's what you call the middle leg joint on a chicken?). We did some research, and as a result examined her foot and leg. No sign of bumblefoot, and no sign of a cut or infection on the leg. 

However, her knee does appear quite swollen, and seems somewhat tender to the touch. We put her in a cat travel cage with a comfy bed, food, water and other goodies, in an attempt to keep her quiet and able to rest the leg. We also started giving her a small amount of aspirin on some fruit daily.

Well on the 3rd day she busted out! I must have not secured the door properly when I was checking her food and water. We're going to catch her again tonight and put her back in isolation, despite her protests.

My question though, is given that she's not showing any evidence of an external injury, could she simply have sprained her knee or injured the tendon? If so, how long is it recommended to keep her on "bed rest?" 

She's a young one, in fact she hasn't yet started laying, which is another part of my question actually. All the others that we got at the same time have been laying now for about 2 months, but this one still doesn't have much of a comb to speak of. We wonder if it's possible she has some kind of a condition that's affecting her growth, and perhaps this has something to do with her swollen knee joint?

Might be a bit of a stretch, but you know how you start to imaging all kinds of things when something doesn't seem right. 

Any suggestions for this new chicken mama would be most appreciated!


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## Bee

Good thinking on the condition she may have that the others do not. Some vitamin deficiencies can cause joint swelling and if she is a late bloomer it could be why.

Swollen joints can be from a Vit B or niacin deficiency but if the rest of the birds do not have this on the feed you are feeding, it's a bird problem instead of a flock problem.

I wouldn't isolate her from the flock as it only distresses the bird and will cause trouble with reintegration later. In my flock this bird would be a cull bird, but I understand that not many people manage their flocks so much as they just keep chickens. You might dose her with some Vit. B and see what transpires. You might also support the hock with some bandaging to help it get along.


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## SusanP

Thanks for the suggestions. She seems to be improving a little, but we will wrap the joint for extra support to see if that helps things along. 

Although we are enjoying raising chickens, we are also running a working farm and are not opposed to culling the occasional bird when warranted, ie if she has a developmental problem and is not going to produce eggs. 

Does it sometimes happen that a hen does not mature properly and therefore does not lay? If so, how long should we wait before we can reasonably determine that this is the case?


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## Bee

I usually give them a good 7 mo. to mature sexually and lay...some hens go later than that, but average is 5-6 mo. on a dual purpose breed. I've noticed, if they don't lay by 7 mo., even if they start later on, they won't be a good, steady layer. There are exceptions to every rule, but not many.


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## Energyvet

I would not bandage as I've seen too many become restrictive and create more if a problem then you started with. Also Aspirin can be very irritating to the GI tract and some animals will cause more injury if they don't feel the pain associated with an injury. Pain is the body's message. By ignoring/masking/eliminating that message you can often do more damage. 

The other thing to keep in mind is that movement allows nutrition, flushing and healing to the joint by moving fluid through the joint. My Roo recently was one-legged for 2 days and limping for 2 more before he was back on his feet. 

A slipped tendon injury isn't uncommon however aspirin would reduce the inflammation and delay healing rather than hasten it. 

My recommendation is to let her dictate to you and stay with the flock (not lose her place in the pecking order) and see if it doesn't heal over time. Arnica (homeopathic remedy) is helpful with no side effects. She is telling you cage rest is not what she needs by breaking out.

Remember too that sprains/strains take longer to heal than fractures and fractures take 8 weeks. 

I'm a holistic veterinarian by the way.


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