Will She Die? Toes Curled, Legs Back Spasming?

[Qi Chicken]

Any word on your chicken???? Ours is much the same I'm afraid. I thought she was worse today but now I don't think so. I put her out on the grass and she just kind of fell over to the side. She hasn't really done that before. But then later she was walking on one foot (barely) but still not really using the original bad leg. She still has her appetite! The only time she really makes an effort to walk is for food! She does shuffle around some for that.

She has been trying to dust bathe in the shavings in her rubbermaid container alot. I have looked on her for mites and don't see anything but is there something else I should look for? I looked around her vent and near her skin in a couple of places. During the day if that makes any difference.

I don't know about the moldy food. It wouldn't have been chicken food but they could have eaten something somewhere with mold on it. Nan has never been the most adventurous chicken. I would think she would not have gone somewhere the others didn't but who knows really.

Keep me updated! I hope your chicken is feeling better.

 

[TeresaT]

I just bought the Vitamin B Complex (has all the B-vitamins) and mashed it up and gave it to her in some Start & Grow crumbles and water. She is eating good so she ate quite a bit of it. She also drinks. She is really trying to get up, yesterday she was kind of just standing there, but then when she tried to move she just flopped over. She gets top heavy I guess because her legs want to stretch out back. I am hoping I start to see results in the next couple of days. It is possible she got some moldy food, there was some moldy pellets in the bottom of the last batch of food I had. I live in SW Florida and do my best to keep the food dry, but I think sometimes it comes with mold already in it from the store. They eat Purina layer pellets and some start and grow crumbles (for the babies in the bunch). Several times when I bought their food from TSC the bags had moldy in it or had those bugs that make the webs inside and I had to return it. Makes me crazy. Now I buy from another local feed store. Hopefully I don't have any problems with them.

For mites and such, I always dust their coops with seven dust and DE. I also, about every 6 months, give them Ivomec Eprinex, a few drops on their necks to take care of the mites and worms as a preventative. (Well I give them wazine about a week before I give them the Eprinex to take care of any large worms they might have first, then do the drops to pick up the rest of the buggies).

One thing I do know, if you let your chickens free range (which I can not any more due to stray dogs coming in my yard every now and then and killing my chickens), they will find water anywhere and drink it. They love water that is not in their original source for some reason. So they can get some bad water somewhere too.

Well, I guess if she does not get better with this treatment within the next week-10 days I will have to euthanize her because she can not live forever like that. It is just sad because everywhere else she is fine except for her legs. Poor baby, she is trying. I will give her a chance to get better.

Good luck with your chicken too Qi Chicken. Keep me updated as well.

 

[Dar]

You guys just described what my naked neck started doing 2 days ago. I had to force feed her in the beginning but now she is feeding on her own. She wants to stand but can't. She has lots of movement in her legs but just can't support all her weight. She can support about 50% I hold her like a foot ball in my left arm she faces to the right she will try and stand. I feed her sitting at the dining room table so she is resting on there. So I guess she is getting physiotherapy at the some time.

 

[TeresaT]

Hi, Just wanted to give an update. The little lady is doing better. I have been giving her ground up Vitamin B Complex since my last post, and just when I thought she was never going to get better, she started to move her toes. At first neither feet nor legs would work properly and they would be stretched backward, then the right one was a little better but the left one remained limp/stretched backward. It was her left foot that was not working properly. She would keep it back and the toes would not move, just stayed curled up or stretched back. I went out every day to put her in front of her water and to give her wet chick starter mixed with poultry conditioner and a tablet of vitamin B complex ground up on top and then softened with water. I would sit there holding her leg forward and bent in the sitting position (kind of like physical therapy) while she ate. Everything was fine about her except this leg. So for the last several weeks I did that. I thought I was eventually going to have to put her down which I didnt want to do since everything about her was fine except for this leg. Then about 3-4 days ago she started moving her foot. So I got excited. Every day, it was like the improvement was moving up her leg. She started gripping my hand with her foot, but she still couldnt get around and when I put her down, her leg would still go straight back. She couldnt even stand up for long, she would fall forward face first. But every day I kept this up, I fed her once a day, stood there for about 15 minutes helping her eat the food, then helping her drink, then I would set her in front of her water back in her cage. Now, yesterday she started putting a little weight on her leg and bringing it forward, today, she is standing. She still limps and that leg is not all the way better but I think she will recover. Yay!!!!!

I was so afraid I was going to have to put her down. Thank you to everyone who gave me help and I hope your chicken is doing better too. Let me know how it is going? Thank you BYC members!!