Chicken can't stand properly - mareks or something else?

[Henfla]

I have 7 chickens. Today when I went into the coop, I noticed that one of my chickens was sitting on her butt. She is one year old. She can stand and walk a little, but then she needs to lie down. When I lifted her up, she wanted to stand on my arm and her feet felt strong.
We went to a vet today and first my chicken acted totally normal, but then after a few minutes she sat down again. The vet doesn't know whats wrong, but she is not a specialist in birds. The chicken acts normally otherwise and is very interested in food. Her comb has a normal colour, and the vet couldn't find anything else wrong with her. She laid an egg yesterday and then she was totally fine. All my other birds seems healthy. I got prescribed some NSAIDS for her just in case, and I was thinking to buy some vitamins for her tomorrow, but the flock gets standard growing feed with everything they need and some days they get different snacks like corn and mealworms.

I moved her inside today and bought for her a big dog pillow so that she can lie down without getting sores. Can this be mareks even though her legs are the only problem right now? Or can it be something else?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She laid an egg yesterday and was fine.
How about today?

I'd be inclined to get some Extra Calcium into her. You can find Calcium Citrate with D3 in the vitamin aisle of stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. Give 1 tablet daily, just pull down on her wattles, pop the tablet into the beak and let her swallow.

See that she's drinking well and eating. Make sure her crop is emptying overnight.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

I have 7 chickens. Today when I went into the coop, I noticed that one of my chickens was sitting on her butt. She is one year old. She can stand and walk a little, but then she needs to lie down. When I lifted her up, she wanted to stand on my arm and her feet felt strong.
We went to a vet today and first my chicken acted totally normal, but then after a few minutes she sat down again. The vet doesn't know whats wrong, but she is not a specialist in birds. The chicken acts normally otherwise and is very interested in food. Her comb has a normal colour, and the vet couldn't find anything else wrong with her. She laid an egg yesterday and then she was totally fine. All my other birds seems healthy. I got prescribed some NSAIDS for her just in case, and I was thinking to buy some vitamins for her tomorrow, but the flock gets standard growing feed with everything they need and some days they get different snacks like corn and mealworms.

View attachment 3472310

I moved her inside today and bought for her a big dog pillow so that she can lie down without getting sores. Can this be mareks even though her legs are the only problem right now? Or can it be something else?

I agree with Wyorp Rock. While it could be something like Marek's starting, I think "egg discomfort" from a difficult egg(s) is a strong possibility. I'd treat with a calcium supplement and a warm soak in an epsom salt bath. Make sure she continues pooping regularly.

 

[Henfla]

She laid an egg yesterday and was fine.
How about today?

I'd be inclined to get some Extra Calcium into her. You can find Calcium Citrate with D3 in the vitamin aisle of stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. Give 1 tablet daily, just pull down on her wattles, pop the tablet into the beak and let her swallow.

See that she's drinking well and eating. Make sure her crop is emptying overnight.

She laied an egg this morning again. She eats and drinks alot. Her crop is emptying overnight.
Her stool today when i lifter her out of her cage was like this:

 

[Henfla]

I agree with Wyorp Rock. While it could be something like Marek's starting, I think "egg discomfort" from a difficult egg(s) is a strong possibility. I'd treat with a calcium supplement and a warm soak in an epsom salt bath. Make sure she continues pooping regularly.

She layed a normal egg today, but there is this distinct sweetish smell from her that I noticed yesterday and today. One of my other chickens had that smell when she was broody and it lookes like the other one had fungal infection in her cloaca, so I treated it with canesten cream and zoolac propaste and she hasn't smelled since. The other chickens doesn't smell like that either. The strange thing is that her cloaca seems fine when I look at it, but it smells.

 

[Henfla]

Hard to get a good picture, but now she is up walking around a bit carefully again. She doesn't jump up and down the stairs like she normally does, but I think she feels better and her tale is up (it was down yesterday). She gets a big dosage with NSAIDS and I have given her vitamins and stuff. We are going back to the vet on friday (if she isn't doing much better) tomorrow.

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you have any probiotics for animals available there in Norway? Those have many billions more than plain greek yogurt, but that can be used, a spoonful daily, which may help her beneficial gut bacteria.

 

[Henfla]

Do you have any probiotics for animals available there in Norway? Those have many billions more than plain greek yogurt, but that can be used, a spoonful daily, which may help her beneficial gut bacteria.

Thanks. Yes. I have something called zoolac propaste that I have been giving her since yesterday. The last hours she has seemed to be very healthy again and have been walking around without problems. I thought I should keep her inside at least overnight anyway though just to be safe.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad she's doing better!

I'd work on getting the probiotics into her and extra calcium for a few days as well.

Hopefully the vet visit at the end of the week will give you more information.

Keep us posted.

 

[Henfla]

I'm glad she's doing better!

I'd work on getting the probiotics into her and extra calcium for a few days as well.

Hopefully the vet visit at the end of the week will give you more information.

Keep us posted.

She's back to her normal self again today! I have canceled the vet appointment because she is doing so well. I still give her the NSAIDS and vitamins and probiotics just to be safe. I really wonder what was wrong with her, but I'm very happy and relieved that she recovered.