Chicken limping badly

[cycle4fun]

We have an 18-week Dominique pullet who started limping badly 2 days ago. She seemed to have recovered somewhat yesterday, but it's worse again today. She moves around very reluctantly. When she does walk, she often curls her toes under on the bad leg and sort of walks on the top of her foot. She seems to be eating and drinking fine. Her eyes are clear and she's alert otherwise. I've examined her foot. It doesn't appear to be bumblefoot, based on the descriptions I've read online about that affliction. Attached is a closeup of the top of the bad foot. Comments/suggestions welcome.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Could you post a video of her limping? Upload to You Tube than attach here.
What are you feeding?
Is it possible she jumped & landed wrong?
Bumble foot will look like a scab under her foot.

 

[cycle4fun]

Here is the link to the video:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KYITnuzDOu5A_Njy8ApBo063eeHrK2Sj/view?usp=sharing

No scabs under her foot.

She was on medicated chick starter through week 16, then switched to layer pellets. The pullets get very few "treats", a few tomato pieces, apple cores, small portion of dried mealworms and they have a large area in our backyard to roam during the day. so there is some foraging.

Observing her closely, I really do think it's more than just her leg. She produced some thick brown "drool" when I picked her up to put her in the coop tonight. So now I think something internal is the cause.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

18-week Dominique pullet who started limping badly 2 days ago. She seemed to have recovered somewhat yesterday, but it's worse again today. She moves around very reluctantly. When she does walk, she often curls her toes under on the bad leg and sort of walks on the top of her foot.

I've examined her foot. It doesn't appear to be bumblefoot, based on the descriptions I've read online about that affliction. Attached is a closeup of the top of the bad foot.

She produced some thick brown "drool" when I picked her up to put her in the coop tonight. So now I think something internal is the cause.

Can you get some photos of her poop?
Place her in cage or kennel within the coop or run.
Not sure what's happened to the foot - could be broken(?), but I would clean the wounds that are on top of the foot, apply triple antibiotic ointment and wrap it with vet wrap. Try to wrap it flat and see if she is able to stand on it.

The brown drool sounds like crop contents. In the video she's doing some motions that I would associate with a crop issues. I would check her crop first thing in the morning before she eats/drinks - it should be empty, but I suspect it won't be. Feel of it and determine if it's fluid or air filled, doughy, hard, etc. Read the article below and begin treatment. Keep us posted on what you find.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[cycle4fun]

Issue 1: Much difficulty putting weight on the left leg. When she stands to move, she curls her toes under and falls within a short distance. Have examined the foot and see no swelling, nor is the foot warm to the touch. Am able to extend her toes manually when holding her. Suspect maybe the damage to the toes is due to walking on them.

Issue 2: Crop issue - Yes, her crop was not empty this morning. On examining the crop today, the description of the feel of the contents much more closely resembles the description for sour crop, that is I can't perceive any hard lump or fibrous material. Definitely feels more squishy. But we cannot perceive any of the characteristic sour smell coming from her, even though we have observed more of the brownish slime.

She was not interested in eating or drinking today. We gave her a little bit of water with a syringe. I only observed her pooing only once and the poo was small, but looked fairly normal (photo attached.)

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Issue 1: Much difficulty putting weight on the left leg. When she stands to move, she curls her toes under and falls within a short distance. Have examined the foot and see no swelling, nor is the foot warm to the touch. Am able to extend her toes manually when holding her. Suspect maybe the damage to the toes is due to walking on them.

Issue 2: Crop issue - Yes, her crop was not empty this morning. On examining the crop today, the description of the feel of the contents much more closely resembles the description for sour crop, that is I can't perceive any hard lump or fibrous material. Definitely feels more squishy. But we cannot perceive any of the characteristic sour smell coming from her, even though we have observed more of the brownish slime.

She was not interested in eating or drinking today. We gave her a little bit of water with a syringe. I only observed her pooing only once and the poo was small, but looked fairly normal (photo attached.)


View attachment 2286755

If the contents of the crop is like brown slime, then I would start treating as sour crop.

I agree, the abrasions on the foot are from her walking on the top of the foot. I would treat the wounds and tape/wrap the foot flat. Restricting her activity to a cage and letting her rest the foot would be good. Also makes it easy to monitor the crop as well.

 

[cycle4fun]

Thank you for taking the time to provide your input on Dominique's plight. We started treatment as suggested, but within a day or so, her leg was completely paralyzed, and the crop became hard again, after we started feeding her just a few teaspoons of egg. We realized it was time to put her down. I found that UC Davis Veterinary Medicine will accept sick (or deceased) chickens from a backyard flock and perform a necropsy for only $25, so we drove her up to Davis and handed her over to them. We got the final report back today. In short:
"The main microscopic findings are the lymphocytic multisystemic inflammation with neurotropism (encephalitis and polyneuritis). Those lesions suggest a lymphoproliferative disease, presumptive Marek’s disease."

We contacted the breeder who confirmed their stock is vaccinated against Marek's in ovo. Of course, vaccination is not 100% effective. I have subsequently read and highly recommend this post:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

We'll miss her, as she was a sweet chicken. Happily, the other 4 pullets we received at the same time are all thriving. We'll continue to watch them closely to be sure they don't start showing any symptoms. They are about 20 weeks old now, so we are hoping we'll start to get eggs soon.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for taking the time to provide your input on Dominique's plight. We started treatment as suggested, but within a day or so, her leg was completely paralyzed, and the crop became hard again, after we started feeding her just a few teaspoons of egg. We realized it was time to put her down. I found that UC Davis Veterinary Medicine will accept sick (or deceased) chickens from a backyard flock and perform a necropsy for only $25, so we drove her up to Davis and handed her over to them. We got the final report back today. In short:
"The main microscopic findings are the lymphocytic multisystemic inflammation with neurotropism (encephalitis and polyneuritis). Those lesions suggest a lymphoproliferative disease, presumptive Marek’s disease."

We contacted the breeder who confirmed their stock is vaccinated against Marek's in ovo. Of course, vaccination is not 100% effective. I have subsequently read and highly recommend this post:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

We'll miss her, as she was a sweet chicken. Happily, the other 4 pullets we received at the same time are all thriving. We'll continue to watch them closely to be sure they don't start showing any symptoms. They are about 20 weeks old now, so we are hoping we'll start to get eggs soon.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm glad you were able to get some testing and find out what was going on.
I agree, the article is one of the best I have read about Marek's.
Thank you for updating your thread.