Brand New and Already Have an Emergency!

[Horseshoe Hens]

Hi Everyone - I hate that this is my first post on here but I really need some help with a sick pullet, Harriet. She is a beautiful Araucana that is about 12-15 weeks old. I have a mixed breed flock. I started letting the pullets free range for a few hours a day with my big girls about 2 weeks ago. The first day I did this, this particular girl managed to get herself trapped under a large square of cardboard which fell down onto her. I'm not sure why she was trapped to be honest and there was very little weight in the cardboard and I think it was more a case of shock because I examined her closely and after about 5 minutes of sitting in my hands she jumped down and ran over to the feedbowl! She seemed fine for about 10 days and then on Sunday I noticed that she was walking a little strangely, like her legs were a bit wobbly. Over the past few days this has gradually deteriorated to foot paralysis. She eats, drinks and poops fine but her feet aren't working - it seems like she has a nervous system type of disorder perhaps???? Just in case it was Cocci, I did start treating the group with Corid as I noticed a little blood in the poops of the other pullets (not her). I have her in her own cage and I'm feeding yoghurt, normal organic feed and giving her some Collidal Silver and Oregano in addition to the Corid. She shoes no improvement, just a gradual worsening in the feet, like they are closing up and becoming useless.

The only related instance to this is that I adopted a crippled rooster (broken leg from hawk) about 4 months ago and he could walk fine but with a limp. After I had him home for about 2 weeks, I noticed he was having trouble getting up and down and getting thinner, the same thing happened to him after that. He stopped getting up and his feet closed up. He ate and drank, put weight on and seemed very happy but he could not get up beyond his hocks - like he was paralyzed from the hocks down. I did got to the vet with him but they had no clue and because he was skinny at the time said he probably had a liver disease and would die. Well he thrived in a parlyzed form and eventually the person who gave him to me took him back to try and find a house chicken home for him.

I'm so scared this is happening to my pullet and I have no idea what it is? Any advice would be wonderful!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I would suspect that she may be howing signs of Mareks disease unfortunately. The lame rooster may have exposed her to it. Mareks can cause a lot of different symptoms, but paralysis of one or both legs or wings, loss of balance, and wasting can be typical. I would try to rule out any other causes however, such as injury, a toxin from eating something moldy or bad, lead poisoning, and others. If she or any others die, I would contact your state vet for a necropsy. Hopefully this is temprory, and she will recover. Here is a good link on Mareks to read which includes a section about lookalike diseases:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

 

[Horseshoe Hens]

Thanks Eggcessive .. I'm trying to do as much research as I can and rule out as many other causes as possible.