Barred Rock can't walk

[samouw]

One of my Barred Rock hens can't walk. She was in the coop yard this morning, upright but won't walk. I picked her up and put her in a separate pen for today so the other chickens wouldn't pick on her. I just cleaned out her little pen and she is still not walking. She is bright-eyed, alert, eats and drinks. Her poop is fine, not runny. I have checked her feet and they don't seem broken, but she just won't walk. When I tried to hold her up under her chest to give her some support, she started squawking like I was hurting her.

All my other chickens seem fine - ugly right now going through a molt, but fine.

What can I do for this poor girl?

 

[samouw]

I should add that she is approximately 8 months old, so I think Marek's would be out of consideration from what I've read. All of these chickens came from Mt. Healthy, but I don't know if they were originally vaccinated against Marek's or not.

 

[jbs]

I'm new to chickens myself and hope that someone with more experience chimes in, but this older thread from BYC may help:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=440469

In the above case, it looks like it was a vitamin deficiency. I love my BR's and hope that yours gets better. Good luck.

 

[dawg53]

Check the bottom of her footpads for bumblefoot, a dark in color round scab. Bumblefoot could possibly be the problem and would require minor surgery.
I have Barred Rocks (love em')...they are heavy birds and it's most likely she jumped down from a high place, like a roost, and sprained or pulled a ligament or tendon. I recommend that you lower roosts and nests if possible and eliminate other high places where they can jump down from and hurt themselves. Place her in a crate or cage with feed and water. She will need rest and relaxation while her injury heals, not walking or scratching around aggravating the injury and making it worse. You can purchase vitamin B complex tablets at a pharmacy, crush a few of them into powder and sprinkle it on her feed. The vitamin B complex may help her injury heal quicker. Continue this for 5 days, then release her and see if she can stand and walk. If not, place her back in the cage and continue treating her for a week. Then release her again and see if she can stand and walk. If not, stop the vitamin B complex in her feed. Sometimes these injuries take about a week to heal, sometimes a month or more, or never. Time usually heals if you have the patience. You can also provide her with scrambled egg mixed with buttermilk in her feed as well. The scrambled egg is extra protein, the buttermilk is a probiotic. I've had this happen to 2 of 3 BR's and 1 Black Star (at different times) and within a week they were back to normal walking just fine. I've had it happen to several roosters. One was able to heal nicely, but the other two I had to eventually cull due to quality of life issues.

 

[samouw]

this makes sense - thank you.

No scabs on the bottom of her feet. When I found her, she was just below the "tree" (a post with three scored PVC branches) in the yard. I wonder if she got hurt coming out of that? Their roosts are not high - the highest is only about 3 feet and it is a stair step type roost; so they can't just jump off the top roost, they have to step down to each level to get to the ground.

She will stay in the small pen (actually one of my dog crates) for the next few days and I will pick up some vitamins for her when I go into town tomorrow.

 

[mstrrlm]

I have a black sex link DOB June 2011 with same problem going on 5 weeks without walking uses wing to stand for a few minutes. Any help would be good

 

[samouw]

I just thought I would give an update on "Curly Sue"

She never completely recovered the full use of her leg, so she has become a house chicken. I tried twice to re-acclimate her to the flock, but she is just too disadvantaged to compete with the healthier hens.

Never thought I'd have a house chicken...