20 week/old pullet lame on R leg

[superbly happy hen]

B4 calling UGA Poultry dept, I thought someone here might know what is wrong with my 20week old hybrid(New Hampshire Red type)hen. Was fine until 2 wks ago when noticed she was not running with others as well, and now has to lean against another to stay balanced on the good L leg, and falls over when the other chicken moves. No injury/deformity-leg looks good, just not bearing much wt on it. The same side of body appears to be smaller, or curving oddly. Also, there is a strange extra peice of skin with little feathers sticking out of R side of face which has been there since 2 wks old.- the other chickens peck at it trying to eat it or something. So I'm thinking if there is some weird chromosomal thing going on?? She is eating less than others-they get to the food before her, and she is at the very bottom of the P. order( I have 6 grown hens and 6 20 wk olds.) She is drinking, but spends most of day sleeping trying to balance on the good L leg. Eyes, feathers look good, but beak appears a bit "turned" or "twisted". No discharge anywhere, and vent looks clean. Pupils do dilate and constrict to light, but lids are visible more than they should be. It is heart-breaking to watch every day. Anyone have any suggestions/ideas? Would really be grateful for input. thank you.

 

[chkn]

Does the one side seem paralized or do the legs just sort of split apart. I don't know but I'm wondering if it's paralysis is it Merick's or is it a vitamin deficiency. Lots of problems with deficiencies in chicks. Sometimes Vitamin B or E. Hopefully, someone will chime in.

 

[superbly happy hen]

Thanks for responding. The leg is not paralyzed--some wt can be put on it, but she clearly favors the good leg. The weak leg does not appear to be swollen, deformed, cut, or infected, and no visible spots or growths on it. She just curls the toes up and bends the knee, and gets around slowly by touching the foot down only for balance. The bad side(L) appears to not be as large as the good side, and I mean the entire L side of the body, so it sort of looks like the R side is growing well, and therefore there is a "curve" look to the poor thing. I noticed this morning(I try to feed it in my lap away from the others who always get her food) that she has some trouble getting food to stay in the mouth so it can be swallowed. She is hungry though, and with some help does eat, sometimes without help too. I will look at Merek's signs again-I looked last week and now remember that it didn't quite fit the picture, at least not yet....

 

[chkn]

There's been some threads here that talk about one side being underdeveloped. I don't have links but do some searches in this part of the forum, I'm sure some stuff will come up.