Hen with severe limp

[caleyoh]

I think it is Marek's. What a bummer she's a sweet girl and now I'm terrified of anything happening to the rest of my girls. This is my first flock so I'm fairly attached to the little buggers.

 

[Eggcessive]

I reall y hope it's not, but several members on BYC have it in their flocks, and they continue to raise chickens. Here is an on-going thread with quite a few experts discussing what they have done: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/741957/not-an-emergency-mareks-in-the-flock

 

[caleyoh]

Thanks, I hope not too! thanks for the links, they're extremely helpful

 

[BigECarter]

If she doesn't make it, I suggest that you get a necropsy done. Search the forum for California Necropsy and again for California Necropsies. Research ahead of time so you know what to do - things like if she dies, store her in a refrigerator, not freezer.

E

 

[dawg53]

I've been scouring the internet and haven't found anything solid. My approx five month old EE has a horrible limp. I noticed a small limp 2-3 days ago and it has gotten to the point where she refuses to put weight on her foot at all and is walking along on her whole left leg. I assumed she flew out of the coop and landed badly. Her limp is just so severe that it freaked me out. The others aren't picking on her and she is eating and drinking. Stool looks normal.

A little background: this is my first flock. We recently bought the three EEs to add to our sweet Australorps. The guy we bought them from didn't handle them at all (no biggie) so the injured girl Ginger is nearly impossible to catch without stressing her out. She doesn't have bumble foot, no scratches of any kind that I can see, her eyes are clear, and she doesn't seem too lethargic, as she'll wobble over to get water or food. I'm a newbie, so I'm sorry if this all sounds silly. Someone I know with backyard chickens said that she had something similar and dosed her flock with antibiotics, which saved her EE... Would that make any sense?

I agree with your assessment that she most likely sprained or pulled a tendon or ligament jumping down from high roost or other high place. Heavy breed birds are more susceptable to these types of injuries but can happen to any breed. I recommend that you lower roosts and eliminate high places where they can jump down from.
The reason she has gotten worse is because she's hobbling around causing further injury to her leg. You need to isolate her by putting her in a cage to prevent further injury and giving time for the injury to heal. She needs rest and relaxation, provide her feed and water while she's caged.
You can purchase vitamin B complex tablets at a pharmacy, crush a few into powder and sprinkle the powder on her feed to eat. The vitamin B complex may or may not help speed up the healing process. Do this for 5 days, then take her out of the cage and see if there's improvement. If not, put her back in the cage and continue with the vitamin B complex treatment for 7 days. Then take her out of the cage again and see if there's improvement. If not, put her back in the cage and stop the vitamin B complex treatment.
These types of injuries take TIME to heal. Sometimes they heal in a week, a few weeks, months, or never. Normally if they havnt healed within about a months time, it becomes a quality of life issue and the decision will have to be made whether or not to continue caging her or culling her.
I've had better success with hens than roosters treating them in this manner. However I had a Black Star hen that never recovered from a sprain but was able to hobble around on one leg for a year until the good leg finally gave out due to constant pressure on it, and had to put her down unfortunately.

 

[caleyoh]

Quick update: we've made a temporary run in the backyard that is small enough to keep her from moving around too Mich, and enables us to turn out the other hens during the day to keep her company. I bought vitamins that are in her water. She seems more alert and perkier than before, but still has no use of her foot. I've seen her move her leg as if trying to scratch, which of course made her wobbly, but made me hopeful that she can recover. she is eating and drinking though!

 

[Eggcessive]

Hopefully as Dawg said it is just a bad sprain. Please keep us updated in this thread of her condition. Good luck.

 

[seminolewind]

I think it is Marek's. What a bummer

she's a sweet girl and now I'm terrified of anything happening to the rest of my girls. This is my first flock so I'm fairly attached to the little buggers.

I would go with what Dawg said until I knew more. Marek's is a consideration. She's the right age, and you've added chickens. The "Big FAQ" link at the bottom of my posts gives a very thorough rundown on Marek's symptoms.

Sometimes medicated feed can cause a lack of B vitamin and would be a symptom like that.

Has she lost weight? Can you pinch her keel bone? Is she pretending to eat or look like she can't aim at a crumble?

 

[caleyoh]

I'm beginning to think it's a bad sprain, or some other sort of leg injury. She's getting more accustom to me picking her up and letting me touch her legs. She pretty much has no use of her left leg. However, she is getting around the little "run" easier than i imagined. She looks more alert and is eating, preening and otherwise taking care of herself. She is a little thinner, but in the last two days I have seen her eating much more often than when the leg issue first surfaced. My Australorps are really hard on the EEs so I think it may have occurred while running away from them. She was the head of the three EEs and is bigger in size than her two sisters. I'll try and take pictures of her her in a second.

 

[caleyoh]

Quick update. Just yesterday I began thinking that if she doesn't improve I should consider culling her rather than her carrying on unable to walk and be a chicken. She was alert but just kind of seemed depressed yesterday (or uninspired to move at all.) Today she looks alert and although still unable to walk or really move her left leg from the awkward position it's in (forwards underneath her) she actually moved her toes on that foot! And when I went to check if she would grip with it, which she can, she pecked at me! Am I crazy to be so excited about that? She has been eating voraciously and getting around today and I didn't even give her another aspirin dose. Her sass has me hopeful!