HI guys, I need some help here. I have lost 5 chickens over the last 5 months to some disease and I can't tell what it is or how to stop it. It started when they were two months old. A cockerel came down with it first and slowly lost the use of his legs. Over the next few weeks he got to the point where he couldn't walk at all and looked "spraddled". One leg pointed forward and one back. He wasn't eating much and I eventually euthenized him because he had gotten to the point where he was just skin and bones. This happened a month later to the other cockerel in the group. Then a few hens came down with it, but they could still move their legs, just not very fast. They would try to eat but would just slowly go down to peck at the scratch or feed but never made contact with it. Now I have one hen that is looking like shes starting to move slow and she looks up in the air with her beak slightly open like shes gasping for air. I have wormed them about a month ago. The weird part is is that it is only affecting my bantams. It hasn't touched the full sized hens at all. They are mixed in the same pen. The bantams are birchen cochins and the full sized are Americauna, cochin, and wellsummers. The bantams are all from the same parents(the mom also died of this a month ago), is it possible that it is a disease that only affects bantams? Or maybe a genetic thing specific to this family of birds? Help please!!! Thanx in advance,
-Tony
-Tony
