Emergency - Hen not able to walk, leg dislocated?

[microchick]

Nobody has mentioned it but any chance she could have Marek's disease? At three she's a little old for the onset of the disease but the weird leg, inability to walk and wasting sure are suspicious. Even if vaccinated they can still get the disease. The vaccine just keeps them from exhibiting the symptoms.

How is her other leg doing? I saw where you were trying to get her to stand without success and she is holding that useless leg in front of her when she is lying down.

I sure hope it isn't MD but I think in light of the symptoms it should be on the list of possibilities.

She sure is a beautiful hen.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Nobody has mentioned it but any chance she could have Marek's disease? At three she's a little old for the onset of the disease but the weird leg, inability to walk and wasting sure are suspicious. Even if vaccinated they can still get the disease. The vaccine just keeps them from exhibiting the symptoms.

How is her other leg doing? I saw where you were trying to get her to stand without success and she is holding that useless leg in front of her when she is lying down.

I sure hope it isn't MD but I think in light of the symptoms it should be on the list of possibilities.

She sure is a beautiful hen.

Thank you, I've been wondering about that as well:

Thank you! I gave her some electrolyte water this morning so hopefully that should help. Could it potentially be Mareks?

I also thought that it might not be it because most of my flock is vaccinates (all but four who I hatched myself), but I don't see it being anything else because it goes off and on a lot. Her other leg is at least a little bit better, but still is pretty weak comparatively to the other hens. I don't know much about Mareks though, I've only read this article here on BYC: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Lemon-Drop]

She still isn't doing well
I've been making sure she's comfortable with fresh food and water, but no improvement. Maybe a tiny bit more perky but her other leg seems to be losing strength as well. What should I do?
I don't want her to suffer but I can't bear the thought of euthanizing her.

 

[microchick]

She still isn't doing well
I've been making sure she's comfortable with fresh food and water, but no improvement. Maybe a tiny bit more perky but her other leg seems to be losing strength as well. What should I do?
I don't want her to suffer but I can't bear the thought of euthanizing her.

I'm so sorry to hear that she is losing ground with her legs. I'm really suspecting that you are dealing with Marek's disease.
I invite you to read my article about my experiences with the disease in my flock:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

Making that decision to euthanize is the hardest one any flock keeper has to make. But it's something you need to decide. If she has Marek's she will grow weaker, stop eating/drinking then you will be forced to make the hard decision.

I would recommend that if you euthanize or if she dies, you have a necropsy done so you can know for sure what has happened to her.

If she does have MD, your whole flock, vaccinated and non vaccinated are now carriers. It's not the end of the world though but if you read my article you will see that life goes on in spite of Marek's.

Please keep us informed.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I'm so sorry to hear that she is losing ground with her legs. I'm really suspecting that you are dealing with Marek's disease.
I invite you to read my article about my experiences with the disease in my flock:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

Making that decision to euthanize is the hardest one any flock keeper has to make. But it's something you need to decide. If she has Marek's she will grow weaker, stop eating/drinking then you will be forced to make the hard decision.

I would recommend that if you euthanize or if she dies, you have a necropsy done so you can know for sure what has happened to her.

If she does have MD, your whole flock, vaccinated and non vaccinated are now carriers. It's not the end of the world though but if you read my article you will see that life goes on in spite of Marek's.

Please keep us informed.

I'll read that when I have the chance later today. Where do I have a necropsy done? How expensive is it?

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I noticed she has a ton of mites today. Yesterday I noted a few so I gave her a heavy spray down of Permectrin. But today she had more, even worse. Also her feathers are falling out on one of her toes and it's not pretty. I know birds with Marek's can be immunocompromised, but would that affect mites too?

I checked the rest of the flock and they don't have any signs of mites and look healthy (except for a few are molting, so they don't look as pretty)

 

[Lemon-Drop]

 

[Lemon-Drop]

She's still not doing well... I'm at the point where I'm wondering if it's most kind to euthanize her, but at the same time she's still trying to eat and drink water. But she's lost her ability to walk at all...

I would really appreciate advice. @Eggcessive @nuthatched @Sally PB (sorry, I don't mean to bother you guys)

 

[CRGoldenGirls]

Hey y'all, unfortunately one of my girls, Cupcake, isn't doing so well. Admittedly I have not had much time for the hens with everything that's going on in my personal life, but today I was out with them and I noticed that Cupcake, my Buff Brahma, was lying in the roots of a tree and not moving, but still breathing.

She's a Buff Brahma, probably about 3 years old, and much thinner than most of the flock. However, some of our chickens have gotten skinnier recently and we're not sure why.

Her right foot is not spreading/curling on its own, and the right leg join seems to be sticking out more than the left. It only responds to deep pressure, but not to tapping (her other foot responds to that though by curling)

She's very skinny and her keel is jutting out.

Her butt is also red and bare, probably from some bullies.

She's been sick on and off a lot, but today was the first time I noticed this behavior. I have no idea what caused it. She also just looks really disheveled in general. View attachment 3952544View attachment 3952545View attachment 3952547

Her crop is empty so I don't think she's been eating or drinking well, if at all. The flock is on Purina Flock Raiser (20% protein), and the coop has pine shavings as the bedding.

I dewormed the entire flock a few weeks ago with Valbazen and also did a mite treatment.

I have no idea what to do, and I'm really worried I'm gonna lose her.

I was struggling to figure out how to download the pictures from icloud to here so I just took screenshots.


View attachment 3952537View attachment 3952540View attachment 3952542

I had one get attacked by a fox, her leg did the same thing. I moved her into a big box in my basement and gradually worked with her giving her some shredded carrots, dried worms, changed up her food b/c she wasn't eating, gave he some oregano oil in water (anti-biotic) I also put oregano flakes in her food.and watched her for a couple weeks. Her leg is twisted but she can get around now. It sounds like she needs some nourishment if you have greens, carrots, broccoli slaw just to stimulate her to eat for strength. Otherwise she may need to be dispatched to keep her from suffering. I'm sorry, I know it's hard. I just lost Gimpy, a RI Red.

 

[Chikn-Wisperer]

Hey y'all, unfortunately one of my girls, Cupcake, isn't doing so well. Admittedly I have not had much time for the hens with everything that's going on in my personal life, but today I was out with them and I noticed that Cupcake, my Buff Brahma, was lying in the roots of a tree and not moving, but still breathing.

She's a Buff Brahma, probably about 3 years old, and much thinner than most of the flock. However, some of our chickens have gotten skinnier recently and we're not sure why.

Her right foot is not spreading/curling on its own, and the right leg join seems to be sticking out more than the left. It only responds to deep pressure, but not to tapping (her other foot responds to that though by curling)

She's very skinny and her keel is jutting out.

Her butt is also red and bare, probably from some bullies.

She's been sick on and off a lot, but today was the first time I noticed this behavior. I have no idea what caused it. She also just looks really disheveled in general. View attachment 3952544View attachment 3952545View attachment 3952547

Her crop is empty so I don't think she's been eating or drinking well, if at all. The flock is on Purina Flock Raiser (20% protein), and the coop has pine shavings as the bedding.

I dewormed the entire flock a few weeks ago with Valbazen and also did a mite treatment.

I have no idea what to do, and I'm really worried I'm gonna lose her.

I was struggling to figure out how to download the pictures from icloud to here so I just took screenshots.


View attachment 3952537View attachment 3952540View attachment 3952542