4-5 month old bantam hen can't walk/use feet

[lhiannan1981]

The other night, my chickens were all fine (I have 3 bantams of the same general age, that I got as older, feathered chicks). I have never had chickens before, and my other pets have all been generally healthy. Yesterday, I heard a loud squawk come from their coop (and while I now think that it was from one of my other chickens finding her grown up voice, I hadn't heard it before). Anyways, my beautiful orange and black hen was on the floor, and couldn't get up. I have her separated from the others, and she seems alert, and is eating and drinking normally (eating with gusto). She cannot stand or move her feet (though if you pick her up, she pulls her legs up to her chest). She keeps fluttering her wings and winding up on her back, so I have to flip her back over. I've researched a little and come up with suspecting either Marek's or Kinky Back (though I don't know if that occurs in bantams or if she's too old for that to have not caused problems before).

I'm treating her with hypericum and tetracycline to rule anything out. She's had no change at all in the past 24 hours, and am wondering how long I should give her to attempt recovery, or if I should get her euthanized. I feel horrible. She doesn't appear to be in any pain at all, but it's not fair for her to be in the condition she's in. Is there any hope for recovery at this point?

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm sorry about your hen.

Is it possible that she fell from a roost and injured her legs? One of my cockerels injured his leg in that way (I think), causing it to be basically paralyzed. After a few days of St. John's Wort/Hypericum treatment, he regained feeling in the leg, but it hasn't yet gone back to normal (the accident happened about 2 weeks ago).

If not injury, then I suspect that your hen has Marek's. I would continue the Hypericum treatment for a few days longer, and see if there is any improvement. If not, then it would probably be best to cull her. Good luck!

 

[lhiannan1981]

I'm sorry about your hen.

Is it possible that she fell from a roost and injured her legs? One of my cockerels injured his leg in that way (I think), causing it to be basically paralyzed. After a few days of St. John's Wort/Hypericum treatment, he regained feeling in the leg, but it hasn't yet gone back to normal (the accident happened about 2 weeks ago).

If not injury, then I suspect that your hen has Marek's. I would continue the Hypericum treatment for a few days longer, and see if there is any improvement. If not, then it would probably be best to cull her. Good luck!

Right now, they're all living in a large airline dog crate (I'm not 100% sure on the age, I got her as a little bit older of a chick, but she's still peeping), so I know she hasn't injured herself. She's not moving her toes, but can move her legs. Yesterday, she passed what looked like blood in her stool (normal, not diarrhea), so I got some Sulmet after watching some video on coccidiosis (she's acting very similar). I've been hand feeding her the medicated water (she's drinking on her own, but not a whole lot), and giving her a little bit every hour. She seems a bit more spirited today, and really protested me giving her the water. She even kicked her legs to get away from me, which is much better than she was acting yesterday. She got so weak that she wasn't even able to stay upright, and her legs were getting tangled into her wings. She'd even fall asleep while I was in the middle of picking her up She pretty much stopped chirping yesterday, and resumed a bit today when I talk to her. Right now, I'm cautiously optimistic. She's definitely more alert. I honestly wasn't sure if she was going to make it through the night.