This'll be long, but I'm trying to be thorough and anticipate the questions.
I bought 3 RIR from TSC beginning of March. They have been kept in a Rubbermaid tote brooder in my bathroom, constant access to water and food (standard medicated age-appropriate food). No history of any abnormal behavior or ill health. Not even pasty bottoms.
Yesterday, I thought one of them appeared to be favoring her right leg. This morning I confirmed it. She will not bear weight on the leg. The leg is rotated out 45 degrees from front, and the joint where the scales and feathers converge is swollen (about twice normal size). It does not appear to cause her pain to palpate the joint or her leg, only to bear weight on it. But they are a flighty crew, and protest tremendously at being handled. I don't have another set of hands yet to hold her while I get a better look at the leg.
Aside from the gimpiness, and an understandable unwillingness to walk on what probably causes pain, she is not behaving abnormally. She seems to eat well, and drink well. Her feathers, comb, eyes, everything looks good. No drainage in the nostrils. No labored or raspy breathing.
Prior to noticing her favoring it, I did move them to my shower stall while I cleaned out the tote. One landed rather hard on the shower floor because she wouldn't hold still so I could set her down gently. It's possible it was Gimpy and she's simply bruised her joint.
But I know Marek's manifests as limb issues as well. I didn't not think to inquire when I bought them if they were vaxed for Marek's (I do have 3 two year old barred rocks that have been vaxed; there has been no contact between the birds directly; only what I would carry between them on my person/clothes). So I don't know if this is the first sign of Marek's.
Assuming this isn't Marek's, what might it be, if not a simple bang to the leg? If it is just a bump to the leg, what's the best way to treat it? Isolation from the others is almost impossible unless I move them outside. Ironically enough, I was going to move them all outside this weekend because I'm tired of them dumping their water in the shavings and food and making it stink. But I'm hesitant to do that now if it might be a communicable something or other. (They would not have been housed with the Rocks, but in their own pen/coop immediately adjacent to the Rocks. Contact through the wire would occur.)
Thanks.
I bought 3 RIR from TSC beginning of March. They have been kept in a Rubbermaid tote brooder in my bathroom, constant access to water and food (standard medicated age-appropriate food). No history of any abnormal behavior or ill health. Not even pasty bottoms.
Yesterday, I thought one of them appeared to be favoring her right leg. This morning I confirmed it. She will not bear weight on the leg. The leg is rotated out 45 degrees from front, and the joint where the scales and feathers converge is swollen (about twice normal size). It does not appear to cause her pain to palpate the joint or her leg, only to bear weight on it. But they are a flighty crew, and protest tremendously at being handled. I don't have another set of hands yet to hold her while I get a better look at the leg.
Aside from the gimpiness, and an understandable unwillingness to walk on what probably causes pain, she is not behaving abnormally. She seems to eat well, and drink well. Her feathers, comb, eyes, everything looks good. No drainage in the nostrils. No labored or raspy breathing.
Prior to noticing her favoring it, I did move them to my shower stall while I cleaned out the tote. One landed rather hard on the shower floor because she wouldn't hold still so I could set her down gently. It's possible it was Gimpy and she's simply bruised her joint.
But I know Marek's manifests as limb issues as well. I didn't not think to inquire when I bought them if they were vaxed for Marek's (I do have 3 two year old barred rocks that have been vaxed; there has been no contact between the birds directly; only what I would carry between them on my person/clothes). So I don't know if this is the first sign of Marek's.
Assuming this isn't Marek's, what might it be, if not a simple bang to the leg? If it is just a bump to the leg, what's the best way to treat it? Isolation from the others is almost impossible unless I move them outside. Ironically enough, I was going to move them all outside this weekend because I'm tired of them dumping their water in the shavings and food and making it stink. But I'm hesitant to do that now if it might be a communicable something or other. (They would not have been housed with the Rocks, but in their own pen/coop immediately adjacent to the Rocks. Contact through the wire would occur.)
Thanks.
