Found down, lump on leg, dead in 24 hours. What happened?

[ChickyMudder]

Hope you can help me trouble shoot this.

I have a 9 week old crème legbar. I was visiting in the coop and noticed a 9 week turkey walking over her. I picked her up and she didn’t move her left leg. I felt a lump on the thigh bone. She tried to stand but would fall over. I brought her in the chicken ICU. Placed her in a brooder coop with Chicky Norris a sweet little two toe 4 week old stunted chick that has survived hell and is healing from her eye being pecked.

The legbar drank water but didn’t eat. I put rescue remedy in the water (did I over dose her?)

She never moved her left leg. Even the toes don’t move.

I heard flapping last night and ran to her. She was dead, just 24 hours after I found her down. It was so fast. What happened?
- internal crush injury? Why no signs?
- over dose of rescue remedy?
- some other awful disease that terrifies me and starts with an M?

I’m considering doing a necropsy but concerned if this is a big bad disease I don’t want to contaminate the flock more …

 

[BigBlueHen53]

To start with your last comment first: I don't think you can contaminate your flock "more" than it has already been contaminated. If this dead bird had something contagious, your flock has already been exposed.

But. Do the necropsy. Skin that leg. Look for puncture wounds, bruising. Snake bite, possibly? That would put your mind to rest. Nothing contagious there, right?

Also. Look for crushing injuries. Did this bird get stepped on, trampled? Again, nothing contagious. Put your mind at rest there, too.

Report back. Help and encouragement are available. Whatever you find.

 

[ChickyMudder]

The boys buried her already and now I’m a neurotic mess.
She was in the act of getting trampled. She was fine moments before. I saw her walking around the coop.
I’ve never seen Mareks. Is it that fast? Walking one moment, down the next, dead 24 hours later?

Seems like it’s a wasting disease that would take a while?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

These are questions for our Educators. I'm sure they can help you.
@Eggcessive
@azygous
@Wyorp Rock

 

[Eggcessive]

Mareks can kill fast, and some will linger. Hard to know the answers without a necropsy. The state vet lab people do tissue testing and look at the organs for clues. The cost varies from state to state, but definitely worth the cost getting answers.

 

[azygous]

All we can do is provide our best guesses using the scant clues provided in your narrative. Here's my guess. The chick was trampled by a much heavier bird, probably fractured the leg, and the chick died from clinical shock.

While Marek's does present symptoms at around eight weeks, it is a progressive disease, and it usually does not kill a mere 24 hours after onset of the symptoms, though death can occur in a few weeks.

If you have Marek's in your flock, as @BigBlueHen53 mentioned, all the chickens are now carrying the virus and you would expect to see more show symptoms over the next few weeks. But my hunch/guess is that the chick did not die of Marek's.

 

[ChickyMudder]

I appreciate your analysis. My husband said the same thing. I just don’t know enough about maraks to say it’s definitely not the big bad ugly M word. Especially when every search I found said one leg paralyzed.

Now that you mention shock - it fits. This was a fragile bird. It was not a hardy thing. It was walking around and then trampled by a turkey. I pushed the turkey off of it and brought it in the house.

 

[azygous]

Clinical shock is very poorly understood by most chicken keepers since it can occur without any noticeable injuries. It's an invisible killer and should be considered a medical emergency. It's even less understood by most people that shock in poultry can last well beyond the initial traumatic event, weeks and even months.

Shock is not merely an emotional reaction. Shock upsets the body chemistry of the chicken, and this results in decreased blood flow to the vital organs. This is why I stress to people with an injured or traumatized chicken they must treat for shock as the number one priority. By giving a solution with sugar in it, it treats the drop in blood glucose, and adding salt and baking soda to this solution, it provides the necessary minerals to reset the chemistry needed for proper nerve connection functioning, preventing heart failure among other things.

Everyone should memorize the recipe: one teaspoon sugar in one cup water with a pinch of salt and baking soda given over 24 to 48 hours immediately following a traumatic event.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Clinical shock is very poorly understood by most chicken keepers since it can occur without any noticeable injuries. It's an invisible killer and should be considered a medical emergency. It's even less understood by most people that shock in poultry can last well beyond the initial traumatic event, weeks and even months.

Shock is not merely an emotional reaction. Shock upsets the body chemistry of the chicken, and this results in decreased blood flow to the vital organs. This is why I stress to people with an injured or traumatized chicken they must treat for shock as the number one priority. By giving a solution with sugar in it, it treats the drop in blood glucose, and adding salt and baking soda to this solution, it provides the necessary minerals to reset the chemistry needed for proper nerve connection functioning, preventing heart failure among other things.

Everyone should memorize the recipe: one teaspoon sugar in one cup water with a pinch of salt and baking soda given over 24 to 48 hours immediately following a traumatic event.

This would make a good article, @azygous.

 

[azygous]

I love to write articles, but this site requires them to be illustrated with original photos. How do you illustrate something that is invisible?

My flock hasn't experienced a predator attack in years since I have all the local bears terrorized by my hot fence, and I have an arrangement with the ravens and crows to keep the hawks away. I'm also near the top of my learning curve and accidents aren't nearly as likely as they used to be. So finding a model for shock in my flock might not happen for quite a while.