4 mnth old pullet developed limp doesn't walk right, can't stand right

[kayri]

Hi All

Thanks for reading this. I have a 4 month old Partridge Wyandotte from Ideal chickens that has developed a limp over the last week, can't stand correctly and appears to have something that I would call neurological over the last 3 days. She has always been shy unlike my other 5 pullets who would mob me. Over the last 3 days, I've noticed that she has been walking with an unusual gait, when i caught her this evening, her left leg seems a bit smaller and has less muscle tone. She can't fly up to the roost like the others the past 2 days.

What could this be? Can I do anything? I know that a chicken with 1 leyg cannot survive. I am willing to do almost anything it takes to have her get better. I know it is late to develop splay leg, but that is what it looks like, although her entire nervous system seems a bit off.

Does anyone know? thanks for all input.

Kay

 

[gumpsgirl]

I would try giving her 3 drops of Poly-vi-Sol vitamins (without the iron) in her beak 2 times a day along with squirting a vitamin E capsule into her beak once a day.

I'm not sure if that will fix things or not, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Maybe someone with more experience will chime in here too.

Good luck with her.

 

[kayri]

Thanks, I'll try vitamins, but I have to admit these chickens are so well fed that I can't believe it's something lacking in their diet between the grower pellets, oatmeal and yogurt in the mornings and all the peaches and tomaotes they can pilfer from my garden.

This morning her crop was full and she was drinking water but still is having a hard time walking. One leg is definitely not holding it's weight. Do you think a hobble would help? Should I try to keep her still in a pen?

 

[NancyWadeB]

Quote:
how is your pullet - any new developments?

have similar problem w shy 4 mth Pekin.

Started limping 2 days ago. Left leg is smaller & had a clump of dirt i removed. Now she is holding up right leg, muscle & joint is larger, so i dont know which is normal.

Nancy

 

[kayri]

Just wanted to update everyone on Henrietta- I followed DH and Gumpsgirls advice and gave 4 drops of poly visol (no iron) for a week and then tapered off for a week. All the time supplementing with all of the high protein and good for you things I could think of- mashed boiled egg yolk, yogurt/oatmeal, cheese and bits of fish. I started to despair half way thorough the first week as she seemed to stop eating. I had to almost force it into her beak and she seemed too uncoordinated to get to the water as well, so I also gave her about 5 ml of water through a dropper twice a day in case she couldn't easily make her way over. But miraculously at the end of the second week she has started to stand up more normally, walks (but with a limp and last night she jumped up on the roost for the first time in 2 weeks. She had just been sleeping in the shavings as she clearly was too uncoordinated to perch.

Halfway through all of this, I took her to my vet and the vet thought she had Mareks disease based upon the timing and symptoms. (She did not have the grey eyes that birds get if the tumors develop in the eyes.) There is no way to be sure about it and they say that recovery is rare from Mareks, but maybe that is just in bigger flocks where no one will hand feed a chicken twice a day for 2 weeks. I have concern for the rest of my flock, but they seem fine and are almost at the 5 month point where they develop an age- resistance to Mareks. I am watching them carefully.

Nancy, I hope your little chicken is OK and/or doing better.


Thank you everyone for your input and support during this time and while Henrietta still has a limp, I hope she will recover completely and I am ordering Avian 2000 to put in the water so if it is nutritional, it won't happen again.

Thanks again.

Kay