This is Betsy. Five days ago when I went out to give my girls some free range time, I saw Betsy collapse and remain still at the door to her coop. She could not walk. If she tried to take a step her right leg would not move forward and she would fall with the leg sticking out behind her.
I couldn't find any injury and she ate and drank readily so I decided to pop her into a dog crate with food and arnica laced water and wait and see if it got better. The first day showed no improvement and I started to wonder what a softie like me was going to do with a vulnerable chicken.
I then had to leave her in someone else's care for a couple days so she pretty much just sat in the dog crate for about 72 hours. She laid one egg. Yesterday she could take a few steps and stand for a minute. Today she walked about 15 feet to get under the rhododendron, her favorite hang out, then plopped down and did not want to get back up, but could if I made her.
If anyone knows something about injured chickens, please take a look at the photo below. You can see that the injured right leg is placed behind the good left leg when she is standing on it. I'm thinking the injury is in the hip area. I'm open to suggestions!
For now I am conducting short walking sessions with her every few hours with total rest in between. We will see what tomorrow brings.