Chicken can't stand or walk, paralyzed??

[bcooper4]

So often the solution to most chicken problems is culling. It renews my faith to see everyone offering advice and assistance just to save one little chicken. The story I told here of my house chicken ended sadly but I still feel those weeks she spent in the house gave her a great quality of life and she knew someone cared. The main difference is that she was eating and drinking with no problem and enjoyed canned cat food and other exotic treats. Good luck to you and Ethel.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

So often the solution to most chicken problems is culling. It renews my faith to see everyone offering advice and assistance just to save one little chicken. The story I told here of my house chicken ended sadly but I still feel those weeks she spent in the house gave her a great quality of life and she knew someone cared. The main difference is that she was eating and drinking with no problem and enjoyed canned cat food and other exotic treats. Good luck to you and Ethel.

It frustrates me to know that people go to great lengths to save injured raptors and other birds, wild injured mammals including those that prey on poultry, and yet someone's pet chicken is by some considered unworthy of saving. Thankfully that isn't true on this forum. The medical experts who respond here do their best to help save lives, and only recommend "culling" (I much prefer the word euthanizing) if the bird is suffering with little/no hope of being saved.

@Gotalotofpetstoo , how is Ethel doing? If she got stepped on by a horse, that would definitely be a dire reason why she became unable to walk. Your comment reminded me that one of my current chicken guardian dogs had two of his litter mates killed after goats stepped on them inside the barn where the pups were born. Sadly it does happen. I will tag the experts to reply here again depending on what you report. Please let us know.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

It frustrates me to know that people go to great lengths to save injured raptors and other birds, wild injured mammals including those that prey on poultry, and yet someone's pet chicken is by some considered unworthy of saving. Thankfully that isn't true on this forum. The medical experts who respond here do their best to help save lives, and only recommend "culling" (I much prefer the word euthanizing) if the bird is suffering with little/no hope of being saved.

@Gotalotofpetstoo , how is Ethel doing? If she got stepped on by a horse, that would definitely be a dire reason why she became unable to walk. Your comment reminded me that one of my current chicken guardian dogs had two of his litter mates killed after goats stepped on them inside the barn where the pups were born. Sadly it does happen. I will tag the experts to reply here again depending on what you report. Please let us know.

Ethel is getting more energy every day (being more fussy when we tube feed her) and talkative when being held. Her cone is getting more red, not near as pale as it was in the beginning. I have gotten so attached to her I don't want to give up, however even though she still has movement in her legs, she still can't stand or walk. I spoke to a local bird vet and she said even though she has movement in her legs, it could still be Marek's. I want 5o continue what we are doing for as long as I can and as long as she isn't suffering and doesn't appear to be in any pain, I just feel inu heart I know what's coming. Any thoughts on how long I should continue before I decide she isn't going to recover? Also, the local bird vet said they couldn't get her in for a couple weeks. I was hoping they could feel around on her and tell me if they felt anything broken or out of place. Also, I've noticed that the feathers on her wings aren't looking good, looking more scruffy like they're drying out. She is getting 65-80 cc of feed 3 x day with a dropper full of the nutri-drench at each feeding.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

Ethel is getting more energy every day (being more fussy when we tube feed her) and talkative when being held. Her cone is getting more red, not near as pale as it was in the beginning. I have gotten so attached to her I don't want to give up, however even though she still has movement in her legs, she still can't stand or walk. I spoke to a local bird vet and she said even though she has movement in her legs, it could still be Marek's. I want 5o continue what we are doing for as long as I can and as long as she isn't suffering and doesn't appear to be in any pain, I just feel inu heart I know what's coming. Any thoughts on how long I should continue before I decide she isn't going to recover? Also, the local bird vet said they couldn't get her in for a couple weeks. I was hoping they could feel around on her and tell me if they felt anything broken or out of place. Also, I've noticed that the feathers on her wings aren't looking good, looking more scruffy like they're drying out. She is getting 65-80 cc of feed 3 x day with a dropper full of the nutri-drench at each feeding.

Comb not cone.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Glad to know she is still gaining more energy! As far as her feathers looking scruffy/dried out, is she able to preen her feathers at all? If she isn't preening, combined with the fact she cannot currently dust bathe, that will lead to unkempt feathers. Also, is she eating on her own yet? If not, I would offer her something extra tasty to tempt her, such as scrambled eggs, canned cat food or tuna, mealworms etc. If she will eat that, you can mix into a mash until she is eating chicken feed on her own.

Re Mareks, have any other birds in her flock become paralyzed/unable to walk in the past? Birds paralyzed by Mareks often (not always) display a "scissored" look, with one leg straight out forward and the other leg straight back.
Have any chickens gone blind? If your answer is "Yes", then uh oh. There are some very informative articles about Mareks Disease here on BYC.

Any thoughts on how long I should continue before I decide she isn't going to recover?

If your vet can see her in two weeks, as long as you don't mind caring for her and she isn't suffering, it is reasonable to continue care until then. If she shows no improvement in mobility by the day of her appt, you will need to trust your intuition as well as your vet's advice, whatever it may be. Either way, Ethel was in dire straits when you found her, and her immediate need was rehydration and nourishment. Whether or not she is able to recover, she has known your kindness and care, and she has responded positively.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

Glad to know she is still gaining more energy! As far as her feathers looking scruffy/dried out, is she able to preen her feathers at all? If she isn't preening, combined with the fact she cannot currently dust bathe, that will lead to unkempt feathers. Also, is she eating on her own yet? If not, I would offer her something extra tasty to tempt her, such as scrambled eggs, canned cat food or tuna, mealworms etc. If she will eat that, you can mix into a mash until she is eating chicken feed on her own.

Re Mareks, have any other birds in her flock become paralyzed/unable to walk in the past? Birds paralyzed by Mareks often (not always) display a "scissored" look, with one leg straight out forward and the other leg straight back.
Have any chickens gone blind? If your answer is "Yes", then uh oh. There are some very informative articles about Mareks Disease here on BYC.

If your vet can see her in two weeks, as long as you don't mind caring for her and she isn't suffering, it is reasonable to continue care until then. If she shows no improvement in mobility by the day of her appt, you will need to trust your intuition as well as your vet's advice, whatever it may be. Either way, Ethel was in dire straits when you found her, and her immediate need was rehydration and nourishment. Whether or not she is able to recover, she has known your kindness and care, and she has responded positively.

She is not preening at all and she is not eating on her own. I will try some of your suggestions to see if she will eat any of it. None of the other chickens have had any signs of any illness. I will get her in to see the vet and hope for the best. Thank you for helping us get through this.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

If none of the other chickens have had symptoms of Mareks Disease, that gives a lot of hope that Mareks isn't what caused Ethel to become paralyzed. But being stepped on by a horse is no good either. I say enjoy your time with her until her vet appt, same as she is enjoying her time with you. You can make a decision about what to do next then.

As far as her currently not preening her feathers, I am including a link below about a rooster that lost his feet to frostbite and couldn't dustbathe, and so needed help from his human to keep his feathers shiny and clean. The owner tells how she did this about 3/4 through the article.

http://www.adoptabirdnetwork.com/stories/barth

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

If none of the other chickens have had symptoms of Mareks Disease, that gives a lot of hope that Mareks isn't what caused Ethel to become paralyzed. But being stepped on by a horse is no good either. I say enjoy your time with her until her vet appt, same as she is enjoying her time with you. You can make a decision about what to do next then.

As far as her currently not preening her feathers, I am including a link below about a rooster that lost his feet to frostbite and couldn't dustbathe, and so needed help from his human to keep his feathers shiny and clean. The owner tells how she did this about 3/4 through the article.

http://www.adoptabirdnetwork.com/stories/barth

I know I'm grasping at straws here but I am hoping this is not. Marek's, since there seem to be quite a few other diseases/ conditions that can mimic Marek's. A few things I have screenshot below. I was reading in an article on here that I believe you shared. The symptoms that she is exhibiting are : She seemed paralyzed when I found her, she had definitely not been eating or drinking so she had lost weight and was dehydrated, She keeps her head dropped to the ground, on her beak most of the time, but she can lift her head at times, her comb was very pale and is still speckled black, but the color is coming back, her toes were curled under most of the time initially but have been straightening out since being treated. She was absolutely infested with mites/ lice but has been treated for that and will be treated again at one week which is tomorrow to catch any newly hatched eggs. So is shown in my pictures below. I'm looking at vitamin deficiency and parasites. The article I was reading is very informative but also makes it very confusing because there are so many conditions with similar symptoms that can mimic Marek's. To your knowledge, would it hurt to treat her for a vitamin B2 deficiency, even if that isn't the case, and treat her for internal parasites/worms, with the wormer that is recommended in the screenshot?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

To your knowledge, would it hurt to treat her for a vitamin B2 deficiency, even if that isn't the case, and treat her for internal parasites/worms, with the wormer that is recommended in the screenshot?

I will tag @azygous and @Wyorp Rock (someone else may know the answers too) to address your questions.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

To your knowledge, would it hurt to treat her for a vitamin B2 deficiency, even if that isn't the case, and treat her for internal parasites/worms, with the wormer that is recommended in the screenshot?

Giving Vitamin B shouldn't hurt her, B Vitamins are water soluble, so any "excess" is secreted out in the urine. It's hard to overdose on B Vitamins.
If you want to give vitamin therapy, I would get a bottle of human B-Complex from Walmart, CVS, etc. and give her 1/4 tablet daily. Since she's struggling with keeping her head up, I'd also give her 400IU Vitamin E daily along with a treat of egg.

The screenshot mentions using Valbazen to deworm. Excellent dewormer. Dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

I'm sorry if I've missed something, I haven't kept up with the thread and read the past posts.
If she was infested with mites, this can definitely cause a severe decline and make recovery slow. The B-Vitamins may help with deficiency, but she may also benefit from getting a little beef liver (about 1Tablespoon) a few times a week.

You are right, symptoms can look like Marek's, but there's so many other conditions that can mimic one another, it's hard to get a concrete answer unless a bird dies, and you have further testing for confirmation.