Suddenly can't walk! How to make Chicken shoes for adult hen!!!??

secuono

Crowing
13 Years
May 29, 2010
1,884
46
291
Virginia
I have a hen[?] young and she can't walk today.
I did the foot test vets do for dogs/cats with walking issues. I put one hand under her while she was standing on her own. With my other hand I grabbed the chicken's left foot and gently turned it back so it lays upside down. The chicken was able to flip that foot back to the correct position. The I did the same thing to the right foot. She couldn't flip it back. I lowered the chicken so more pressure was on the foot, then up higher, nothing.
She cannot correctly move the leg. BTW, I band the right legs with plastic orange tags, hers is loose. I felt her leg and thigh, couldn't feel any issues. She isn't underweight.
I let the chickens out this morning and all ran out, she tripped over the door and fell back in, that's when I opened the human door and watched her for several minutes. She would try to walk and fall on her chest, using her flapping wings to get up. She knew she couldn't walk right, I must of missed it yesterday. She would stand still just looking around, she made it out the human door, but sat still near the run's wall.
sad.png


What could be wrong with her? No other chicken is acting off. I brought her in the house. Gave her a chick waterer with vitamins in it.
Any ideas????


She eats the crumbles I gave her, scratch and I made eggs for her. She ate those too. So her appetite has not been affected. Also found out that cats do not care if eggs catch fire and they might burn alive, lol, stupid cats. Aired out the house, cats stole the burnt eggs. Made another egg in the microwave, 40 seconds and their perfect! Won't be bothering with the stove no more. Never knew how fast eggs can be made...lol.
 
Last edited:
Thats really odd. I have no clue whats going on but ill give you a BUMP. Hopefully you're able to figure it out.
 
I am new to chickens and hope someone with more experience can help you, but can tell you about the "vet test" you describe. When the animal fails to lift up the paw/foot after it has been flipped over, it normally indicates a nerve injury. An animal can also fail to replace the foot in a normal condition due to pain that might have been caused by a trauma such as a fracture or dislocation. You said that you felt up and down the leg and couldn't find anything wrong (and I assume there was no pain elicited), so I would guess trauma such as a fracture is unlikely. Nerve injury can also be caused by trauma, and nerve injuries are often not painful, so trauma can not be ruled out completely. However, since this is a chicken we are talking about have you considered a chicken disease that causes neurologic symptoms such as Mareks Disease? There are many posts on this forum describing Marek's disease that you can read. Can you take her to a vet? If she worsens or dies you may want to consider taking her to your state ag dept for a diagnostic necropsy, a vet in your area should be able to tell you who to call regarding this, it is usually free or at least fairly inexpensive. They can confirm Marek's if this is indeed the case. Sounds like you have the supportive care taken care of, hope she improves.
 
Noticed the other leg is also having issues walking right.
What are Mareks Disease Nerve symptoms? Googled it and other than wing, neck, leg paralysis, it doesn't say anything.
 
You can see the toes curved and she is resting on her hawks. I noticed reddening on them, she has been using them for a few days at least.

1sfds.jpg
 
Last edited:
I turned off the lights and left the two of them. They hopped out and hopped into the brooder and are sleeping under the heat lamp. It is warm in that room and they are both large enough, been living outside for weeks, they do not need the heat. What do I do?
 
you can try giving her some vitamins for chickens and some electrolyte soultion in the water. some foot and leg/walking problems can be from a vitamin deficiency, vit. B12 and vit. E. in a younger hen it could be from Marke's disease, which is a virus, no treatment but health support, same as just mentioned, the hen could survive it but will they carry the virus. so look that one up too. I have read threads on crocket toesand I believe they use the vitamins to cure this.
 
Quote:
This is by far the most thorough answer.. It's spot on. I've recently went through and looked at the symptoms of every listed disease from one of the posted websites here because I was trying to see what my chickens problems could potentially be. Vitamin E deficiency or Marek's Disease are really the only two I remember that involved nervous disorders.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom