Chicken unable to stand or walk

[Colin M F Smalley]

I have two hens that are unable to walk. The first signs of this was in a 12 month old mixed bred bird that was hatched on the farm. I went to let them out in the morning but she was just lay partially on her side and not getting up. As I went to see what was wrong she flapped her wings and got up onto her one good leg and tried to move. Then a fews days later an older hen had the same problem not getting up but had paralysis in both legs, I lifted her and checked for injury but as with the first hen no signs of anything untoward. I did manipulate her legs and she managed a few steps before collapsing to the ground. The two hens are eating and drinking and seem quite bright in themselves.
The only thing that has changed recently is the introduction of a Peahen which I rescued and I'm not sure if she is beating my hens up and causing the paralysis. Please let me know what I can do for them even if it means euthanasia as I don't want them to suffer. Could the Peahen be carrying a disease?

 

[PeepersMama]

The first thing to do is isolate and quarantine the sick birds. This keeps whatever disease they may have from spreading to other birds, and keep them from hurting themselves. Make sure that they can move enough to get to food and water inside the cage - I typically use a dog kennel for isolation purposes.


The first thing that comes to my mind is Marek's disease. It is a very contagious disease that causes complete or partial paralysis, and is most often deadly. I've dealt with it before, its horrible. It spreads on feather dander and in water that's been contaminated by sick birds. Sometimes it shows itself as a respiratory infection - which was the case with my flock. There are other people on here that could tell you more about Marek's but I think that covers the bases.

Another thing that I dealt with just last month was intestinal worms. My year old Cochin bantam had them. She went downhill really slowly, poor girl. It started with her not wanting to extend her neck at all to eat or drink. I had to hand feed and water her all the time. After that her legs started getting weak, worsening to the point where if she jumped up onto something (like a cinder block), she would just fall straight forward and faceplant on the other side. She could extend her legs, and they were never really paralysed, but she just wasn't strong enough to hold herself up. I had to make her a sling so she wouldn't fall over. She fought it off for three weeks, and right upon til the last day her eyes were bright and happy, and she wanted to jump and f!ap and peck at the other chickens.

I don't have any experience with peafowl (yet ).... @casportpony?