hen is crippled

[bj taylor]

my rooster had done such a great job of keeping his girls away from me that I hadn't noticed this one girl. it appears she is 'broken down' for lack of a better description. she walks kinda odd & kinda hunkers down as she walks. i'm thinking his massive weight was too much for her & she was his favorite. I think I waited longer than I should to remove Charlie from the situation. I don't know if she'll recover or not.
she doesn't act like it's bothering her; her tail is up. I see no sign of depression that would tell me she's suffering at all. she's able to get on the roost ok & jump up & down from things in the yard.

Charlie was around 10-12 pounds. are most australorp roosters this big?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Give her time and see what happens. There is no telling what the problem may be. It may or may not have anything to do with that rooster. I've had some come back fine from injuries and problems.

A Black Australorp rooster should not be that big. Are you sure he wasn't a Jersey Giant?

 

[canesisters]

If she able to get around without showing any discomfort I wouldn't think that it's something the roo did. Could she be trying to lay an egg? How long has she been like this? Or maybe better question, when was the last time that you know she laid one? Could she be egg-bound??

 

[ducks4you]

Give her time and see what happens. There is no telling what the problem may be. It may or may not have anything to do with that rooster. I've had some come back fine from injuries and problems.

One of my roosters spent two months this Winter limping around from God knows what, and he recovered. I'll bet she does, too.

 

[bj taylor]

OH MY GOSH!
as usual, ridgerunner is right! Charlie was not an australorp, he was a jersey giant - no wonder he was so much bigger in proportion to the black australorp hen. he was sold to me as australorp and I took that as fact.
I looked up pictures of jersey giants & there was Charlie!

how are my flock EVER going to thrive when they have a ninnyhammer as a caretaker? Good Grief

so anything I have had to say about australorp roosters goes in the can. I know nothing about australorp roosters

 

[catjac1975]

Removing her is the only chance she has. The others will gang up on her and kill her. I found a roo standing on top of a beat up hen like he was playing "King of the mountain." I put her in a larger pen with only a few chickens and she recovered. They do not usually recover.

 

[baymule]

how are my flock EVER going to thrive when they have a ninnyhammer as a caretaker? Good Grief

There is not a one of us on this forum that hasn't screwed up, done something unbelievably stupid, or wanted to crawl under a rock in embarrasment because of the mistakes we have made.

BJTaylor, you are NO NINNYHAMMER!!

 

[bj taylor]

thanks a lot bay! i'm not going to let these mistakes go to waste. I have learned from them & won't repeat them.

 

[MontyJ]

OH MY GOSH!

how are my flock EVER going to thrive when they have a ninnyhammer as a caretaker? Good Grief

Ninnyhammer? You??
Umm, have you been keeping up with my chicken adventure??? I'm surprised every morning when we open the coop and the chickens are still alive.

 

[canesisters]

thanks a lot bay! i'm not going to let these mistakes go to waste. I have learned from them & won't repeat them.

That works well for most of life.
You're doing great with the chickens! Everyone makes a mistake now and then - and we all learn from them.