banty hen with leg & feet problem

[Carolyn&Ron]

:|:|I am new here so I hope I am posting in the right place. We were given a banty hen and rooster about 2 weeks ago. They seemed fine when we got them. Then suddenly the hen seems to not be able to walk. She flaps her wings real fast and trys to walk but her feet and legs just seem to go sideways. We have successfully helped a newly hatched guinea with splayed legs but this is different.

 

[silkiechicken]

How old are they? I don't really know what to say about that.

 

[Carolyn&Ron]

We were given the banties about 2 weeks ago and we think they were hatched the first of Feb. I am wondering, since the rooster is much larger than the hen--still small but she is smaller--if he possibly stepped on her legs and hurt her in some way. She just chirps away and sits aroud and pecks at the food.

Carolyn

 

[poultryand bees]

Have you tried to move the hen's legs to check for breaks or displacement? Does she close her eyes like she is in pain when you move her legs? What kind of surface is she trying to walk on? Is it slick or rough textured like paper towels? Does she seem generally healthy except for her legs?

 

[Carolyn&Ron]

She does seem happy and healthy except for not being able to walk. The two banties are in a cage, about 18"x18" inside of one of our chicken houses, and at first we put newspaper on the bottom of the cage then hay and green grass we cut for them on top of the newspaper. I read that towels were better for them to walk on so we put an old towel in there with some fresh grass on the towel.
When we gently feel of her legs she doesn't seem to mind except not wanting us to hold her. There isn't any obvious break.

 

[Buckguy20]

There many disease that can effect a birds legs and ability to stand. (Mareks and botulism come to mind) Also it is likely that if he is much larger than her he could have broken her down in her back while trying to breed her.

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
If they are 10 weeks old he wasn't trying to breed her and I can't imagine how great the size difference would have to be for him to have caused a crippling back injury.
It sounds like Marecks to me. Here comes the bad news. The best thing to do would be to cull [kill in this case] her. Marecks is a form of the Herpes virus. She may recoveer but just like Herpes in people she will always be a carrier and may infect any other birds you acquire while she's still around.