2 Injured Hens.... Could This Be Genetic?

[CJkid]

One morning about a week ago, I found a hen who could barely walk and the other hens were picking on her. Seeing how suddenly this happened i assumed it was a simple injury that would heal with a little quite time in our makeshift hospital (a corner in the bathroom).

The next day i noticed another hen that was limping (not anywhere near as bad as the first one who can barely walk) but i thought why wait til it gets bad and they start to pick on her. So she joined her sister in the hospital. That was over a week ago and neither of them are showing any improvement.

After many close inspections we have concluded that it is something wrong with their feet. They can't seem to be able to straiten them. With the first hen it is both feet and the second it is her right foot. I thought it was just an injury but they are not getting better at all.

Both these hens are from a batch of chicks we hatched last october. I'm starting to think it could be some kind of genetic deformity. Cause the rooster who's their daddy has a bad foot. It is the middle toe on his right foot, which is bent out to the side. I was really worried when I first noticed it but the old boy has been getting alone fine for many months (not even a limp). So i stopped worrying until these little hens.

Any ideas why they won't heal or if this could be genetic??

Please help... if they don't get better i'm afraid we will have to put them down.
Though our hospital it a comfy place to recover... it's no permanent life for chicken that should be running around outside taking dust baths.

 

[ArtGirl]

It could be that but It also sounds a lot like Marek’s Disease

. I'm not sure what you could do but it could go away in time or it could stay like that

.

 

[CJkid]

It could be that but It also sounds a lot like Marek’s Disease

. I'm not sure what you could do but it could go away in time or it could stay like that

.

I've heard about Marek's disease but what exactly is it? And how do the chickens get it?

 

[CJkid]

Ok so I did some research on Marek's disease and I don't think that's what is wrong with these hens.
In reviewing the symptoms, the leg is not paralyzed in the hens. And they have none of the other symptoms. They can still hobble around they just limp a lot. Both of them were able to take dust baths when we took them outside. Even the one who has both feet affected.
They can move their legs and even their feet a little bit but they can't put weight on them because the toes won't straighten out properly like they should.
We tried standing them up and straightening out their toes for them but it only helped a little bit and the toes would curl back up when the hen tried to walk. That's why I was thinking it might be a genetic deformity?

 

[ArtGirl]

OK, If there legs are working good besides the feet because they are curling what you can do is make a chicken flip flop

.
The shoe should start working as soon as you put it on but it has to be on a week or two to show results. I'm not sure if it will work on your chickens or not but you never know until you try. The first pic is of a way of making the shoe but it's what it will be like and the second pic is a pic that I made for you of the layers that make the shoe

.

 

[CJkid]

Thank you so much for your advice and trying to help

Unfortunately yesterday we had a butcher day. There were some roosters that we needed to pull out because they were causing problems. And we thought we should take care of the hens since everything would be set up and they weren't showing any improvement.

And as it turns out it wasn't their feet. It looked like the joint that i guess would be like their knee was broken or severely sprained. I don't think they would have recovered from this. We believe this was caused by the 2 roosters, that were not dominant, trying to breed.

We had 4 total and 2 were more dominant than the others and they never really had a problem. But the younger 2 would try to breed and the hens would always fight like crazy and end up loosing feathers. They were rougher with the hens and we think that's how they were injured. Plus once they were weak the other hens would pick on them. But they have now been removed from the flock and we are back down to 1 rooster that has always been good.

It was a sad day but a necessary one. And we can use what we learned to better care for the 24 we still have.

 

[ArtGirl]

I'm sorry. Hope your other chickens stay healthy and happy.