Paralyzed hen....any suggestions would help

[NDgoatgirlNV]

Our hen Blackbeak had lost the use of one of her legs last month due to what I'm sure was a neighbors child sneaking into our chicken coop and either stepping on her or kicking her. ( he was a horrible child....just mean to animals) well, now she has lost use of both of her legs. She is still eating and drinking water and gets set outside on the grass a few hours a day to peck at bugs and grass seeds and stuff, she flaps her wings to move a few inches here and there... but she has now started twitching and shivering....she's only about three months old and one of the sweetest birds I've ever met....I don't want to cull her, but I don't want her to suffer.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My first thought would Mareks, as paralyzed legs is the main symptoms, and your chickens looks to be around the five month age.

 

[NDgoatgirlNV]

I acquired her and my others as day old chicks on or around the 20th of July.

Is Markes contagious?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I believe it's transmitted by feather dander, some show symptoms and die from it, others can carry it and never get sick. It a very random stealthy disease. Some recover from the initial attack but are carriers. I'm not sure if that's what yours have, but it's a possibility by the symptoms, there's no cure.

 

[NDgoatgirlNV]

Dang.....I just read the entire article that's posted here on Backyard Chickens.... I'm a little overwhelmed....I'm going to be try some of the cures for conditions mimicking Mareks and see what happens....if she starts going downhill I'm going to have to cull her to prevent her from suffering....thank you.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Good luck

 

[LilacLes]

My first thought was Marek's too. I have two different strains of it on my farm even though my girls are vaccinated (the vaccine gives them an 85% chance of immunity against 5 of the 9 strains). One kills quickly and the other makes them very sick for weeks, if not months. If they get the slow-killer they have a chance of survival. I have about a 50/50 success rate of rehabilitating a sick bird, but they aren't the same afterwards. It's like they've had a stroke.

The fast killer is 100% fatal, at least in my experience.

If it is Marek's, hopefully it's the slow one and you can nurse her back to health. Tip: buy pipettes. They were literally a life saver when my girls were in the throes of the worst of it.

Good luck. :/

-Les