Help please. My chicken has a very very large leg.

Hello All Terrific Thursday to you!!.. I'm soo hoping someone will know whats wrong with my Light Brahma. Baby was hatched 5/25/14. ( shipped in with other chicks from a hatchery ) Her growth rate has always been behind the rest of the girls. She's always had a gimpy limp but still managed to get around the yard with the other girls. She's always limped about 10 feet plopped down taken a break..Then up again down again til she gets to where she wants to be..Yesterday for the first time she didn't leave the run with everyone else. She just stayed near the food and water all day. I discovered last night when I put her in the coop for the night that her left leg is really really huge..( I never noticed before because of all the feathers) Her right leg is normal like a pencil or a bit bigger but her left leg right where the joint is, is close to 2 inches in diameter. Has anyone heard of such a thing? I can't find anything anywhere on this. My neighbor who's had chickens for 20+ years had a look at her and she's never seen anything like this in all her years either.. If anyone has any idea of what I can do for my little one I'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much!!!

Welcome to BYC. Pictures always help. Since she has been behind in growth and had problems walking all along, then I would suspect she has a leg bone deformity that has destroyed her hock tendon. These are common deformities, more so in meat chickens, but still found in layers and other poultry. Some of these deformities are called varus-valgus deformity (VVD), tibial dyschondroplasia (TD,) and twisted tibia. These are sometimes referred to as slipped tendon or perosis. I would give her vitamins with trace mineral in her water, but you may need to think about putting her down when she is suffering. Sorry about your chicken. Here are a few links to read about these deformities (please click on each page in the first link to enlarge pictures):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1790586/
http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/79/7/982.full.pdf
http://www.agbiosecurity.ca/healthy...e/Valgus Varus Leg Deformities in Poultry.pdf

Thank you for responding to my plea I took pics of her but couldn't get the darn things uploaded. I think this video I just took of her should show though. It's super short. My darn phone is full and wouldn't do but a short video. Need to empty it. I had a look at the links you sent. I'm going to give your advice a whirl. I was also reading elsewhere that her problem could possibly be Mareks Just not sure though..What do you think of her by looking at the video?

Mareks symptoms generally don't show up right after hatch, and you had mentioned that she has had this all along. Below is an enlarged leg from Mareks disease, so I'm not saying it can't be Mareks. Generally they will have one leg or wing become paralyzed in Mareks. In the video, it was so short I couldn't see much, but it would be something to rule out. Here are 3 good links on Mareks for you to look at: http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/#/disease/Marek's_Disease


Mareks Disease

I think I should tell you a bit more about her. She was one of 16 that arrived via mail. I lost 2 of them in the first 24 hours I think they were in the box too long. There was a holiday the week of shipping and they spent an extra day in the box. I kept them in my dining room in a brooder for the first 4-5 weeks before moving them and the brooder out to the coop. While they were inside I tried to handle everyone as much as possible. But it was difficult to get my hands on everyone as they kept running thru the little mouse holes to the warmth. Anyhow when it was time to take them out I was catching them one by one and putting them in the box to take outside. That was the day I discovered her and her limp. She was practically half the size of everyone else no feathers to speak of mostly still fluffy down and very thin.It was like she had managed to eat and drink just enough to stay alive but not enough to actually grow. She looked like a foreign little chicken that just appeared in there out of nowhere.I still can't believe I had not noticed her before that day...At that time I was thinking maybe she had a calcium deficiency. So after that I made it a mission to hand feed her twice a day to try and fatten her up. I'd mixed mealy worms and food together and sprinkled calcium powder all over it and put it in a coffee cup. She'd sit on my lap and eat as much as she wanted. I think I did that for the first 4-5 weeks they were outside..It seemed like it took her forever to finish feathering up. She was weeks and weeks behind the others. Anyhow she seemed to be doing better and better. She's been cruising around with everyone else limp and all. So I figured she was okay and would just have a limp for life. Things just recently changed again which is why I came here seeking help..She just decided she didn't want to leave the coop/run and cruise the yard with everyone else. That was when I noticed her leg was so thick, and that's when I started to kinda freak out. I really hope this is something she can live with. I don't expect eggs from her I just don't want to have to put her down if I don't have to. I'm really attached to her she's the sweetest little thing ever..I'm going to take your suggestion and put vitamins in the water and maybe I'll go back to hand feeding her again. Thank you sooo much for the links and advice. You've been very helpful