Curled toe disorder, or something else???

[h3nnyp3nny!]

I recently had a 6 month old partridge cochin cockeral who had a severe case of curled toe disorder. Or at least that's what we think it was. It started when he was two months old in his left foot. I had noticed he was sitting down more for about a week but I had never heard of curled toe disorder so I didn't think to check his feet. We booted both of his feet as his right foot had been affected as well. It was a couple weeks after that when he started getting big blisters on his hocks that would appear if his hocks weren't covered, once they were, the blisters would die down. He almost recovered a couple times, but would keep going back to just sitting. Eventually his feet turned sideways so that he was stumbling around on the sides of his feet. We continued to boot him when one of his feet swole up immensely from the heat and what seemed like a blister formed on the side of his middle toe on his left foot that gave off a lot of drainage. He went down hill a week after. His body started giving out. First he had his eyes closed and was weak for a day. After that he seemed better, but a couple days later was unable to walk. His legs wouldn't move and he would flap around to try to move. He lost weight and we had to take him in . I'm trying to figure out what happened to him. His sister, a buff cochin, got curled toe disorder a week after he did. We were able to get a boot on her and stop what happened to her brother from happening to her. She still walks with a limp to this day and walks a bit on the side of the affected foot, her left foot. I'm trying to figure out what happened to her brother to keep it from happening to her. They were both bought from a store. We have a sapphire gem pullet who lived with them before we had to separate them. She never got curled toe disorder. We also have a blue cochin who's a couple weeks older who never got it either. Any ideas on what happened???

 

[Eggcessive]

I would suspect possible Mareks disease if you have been feeding them a good balanced chicken feed. Have you tried giving riboflavin or some human B complex vitamins? If you lose her, I would get a necropsy and testing by your state poultry vet.

 

[h3nnyp3nny!]

We gave her a bunch of different vitamins during the time she had the boot on. She got poultry cell, b-12, b-2, yogurt, scrambled eggs, and poly vi sole. She is very healthy otherwise. She is very talkative, still walks and runs around, her eyes are normal color, and she just started laying. We haven't given her vitamins in a while since we were focused on her brother however

 

[Eggcessive]

Riboflavin or B2 deficiency, if treated early can help within days of treatment. It usually occurs in both feet. Just a little extra riboflavin is needed in the diet. Unfortunately Mareks can cause curled under toes and walking or sitting on the hocks as well.

There are several leg bone deformities, such as varus or valgus deformity, and twisted tibia. Slipped tendon can sometimes make the foot turn in or out. Sometimes seeing pictures of how the chicken stands normally from the front or back helps with figuring out those problems.

 

[h3nnyp3nny!]

We're not sure if it was their food or the breeder. We think it was the breeder as these two were the only ones affected, the other 6 chicks we got were eating the same food and never developed curly toe disorder. Our other sapphire gem chick developed abnormally fast and will sometimes lay eggs twice the size of the eggs our older hens lay. When I feel Peach's left hock, it feels a little more pronounced than her right hock. Her left hock also seems a bit more sensitive. Even though she walks with a limp she still flys up onto the rim of her pen for the night and perches on it the best she can