chicken can't walk and watery poop

[Two Cheap]

One year old buff orpington, starts to fall over every time she tries to walk. She puts her wing out to catch her balance She seems to not be able to use her right leg but nothing about it looks abnormal.

 

[Sunshyne276]

One of mine had that same issue a couple weeks ago! She kept her left wing out, to balance.
She was eggbound, not sure if that was her only issue though, as she now gurgles..
When I looked into it, I kept coming upon Marek's disease, which was scary.
But, mine DID recover....though she still has a gurgle/wheeze.

Hope your hen starts to recover quickly!!

 

[Sunshyne276]

How is she doing now?

 

[Two Cheap]

She still can't really get around. I try to feed her and give water but she turns away after one bite. All the other chickens seem OK. Thanks for asking, kinda don't know what to do for her.

 

[Sunshyne276]

Ok... This worked for me. I made a mixture of water, a tiny bit of milk, Duramycin and a little electrolyte/vitamin powder, and added some finely ground oyster shell. I soaked little bits of bread in the mixture, and fed it to my hen.. She couldn't resist the soaked bread, and by morning her appetite returned, and she is doing a lot better now. Keep up updated on her condition!!

 

[oliviad51]

I have a Buff Orpington hen that is doing the same thing. Her legs look ok, but she loses her balance and falls anytime she tries to walk. She also stays in the same spot all day. I don't think its Mareks for some reason. The symptoms just don't seem like that. I gave her some electrolytes. I don't know whats wrong with her...I posted the problem too...I hope we can figure out what is wrong with them!

 

[SweetPeaScott]

I also have a buff 8 wks old that has problems walking, is about half the size of the other chicks I got at the same time, lies down a lot, appears to be top heavy (she leans forwards to walk), does not extend her neck much and today I noticed her eating poop. She does however eat her chick starter and water. Maybe a "runt" of the flock?

 

[Buff Orp]

Do you guys have any idea i have a buff doing the exact same thing as the initial poster? Im a little worried.

 

[ChknFeetRanch]

I am new to this 'chicken thing', and loving it. I have 8 hens, we're guessing are approximately 8 - 12 weeks old. I received 4 from one place, and 4 from another. 4 are red sex links, the other 4 I'm not sure what they are...yet. Anyway, in the last two days I have had 1 of the reds, and one of the blacks go down with these same symptoms described here. The red was laying on her back, like a turtle, when I found her. I set her upright, and she tried to walk and just fell right over. I put her in another pen so she wouldn't get pecked. A few hours later, I go back to check, and one of the black ones is down, as well. The other 6 look great, but the other two are very docile and not moving around much at all. They are eating and drinking, though. I did some research and everything points to Mareks, but I don't understand why the rest of my girls are okay. Do I need to keep these two separate from the flock, and is there anything special, care wise, I can be doing for them? I'd hate to lose them.

 

[ChknFeetRanch]

Okay, I received no posts from anyone on my post, but I thought I'd leave an update here anyway. As I mentioned a little over a month ago, I had 2 chicks unable to walk. After another few days, a third one did the same thing. I took all three and put them in a box, out of the coop, and fed and watered them and checked on them often. Within a week, they all 3 were looking great. I know I had read here, or somewhere on the web or in one of the many chicken books or magazines I had, that it is common for chicks with Mareks to seem to recover after a few days, and then end up dying within a week, so I wasn't too ambitious about the 3 girls being okay.

A couple of weeks go by and they all 3 continue to look better and bigger every day. I move them outside to the new coop and pen my better half and I had spent the last month building, and they are the only 3 out there and they were thriving! A week later, we decided it was time to put the rest of the girls out in the pen. I put them out there, and all 8 are now happy and thriving and developing their combs and it's fantastic.

So I have a theory...

The first red that I found on her back in the coop was obviously smaller than the others. The second was, too. The third, smallest of the remaining 6. In reading the other posts of this type of thing happening, and from what I have observed in my own 'flock', I believe the little ones were being pushed away from food and water while the bigger girls ate, and they were just malnourished. As soon as I took them out of the pen with the others, and kept them in a space with plenty of food and water for the 3 of them, that they didn't have to fight for, they all began to eat and drink and thrive again. Maybe I'm wrong, but it sure seems like whatever had affected them a month or so ago has been resolved. In looking at the 3 girls in relation to the other 5, you can definitely see that they are the youngest of the group, and therefore the smallest.

I hope the rest of you have had the same success in bringing the sickly ones back to health! I know it's possible, but before this experience, all I read said differently. Just wanted to share my experience.