Heat stroke?

[Wyorp Rock]

Would she look and act completely healthy except for the leg strength/balance issue, if it were Marek's?

Yes, she could.

Do you have a photo of the egg?

 

[dreamofwinter]

The plot thickens! When I got up this morning she had laid two shell-less eggs in her crate. This is much more what I was expecting to see - not good, obviously, but feels more predictable. She's brighter, more alert, really eager to not be in the crate.
She's also still walking on her hocks.

I grabbed some photos in case they are a help.

The first egg, with a standard sized ceramic egg for comparison.

Another view of the first egg, showing what's left of the meaty bit that was stuck to it (the rest fell off and was lost)

One of this morning's soft eggs. My photo of the other is impossibly blurred but it was definitely another entire egg.

The young pullet in question, wondering why I'm keeping her in jail.

A close-up of her feet and how she sits/walks.
Her feet do have some grip; the left is stronger and more usable than the right and we've seen her push up onto that foot.

I finally have a chance to get to TSC in a couple of hours. Anything you recommend I pick up for her? I'm guessing any way I can get calcium into her is good.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd pick up some Calcium Citrate, you can find it at Walmart. Give her 1 tablet a day.

While you are at it, pick up a bottle of B-Complex. Give her 1/4 tablet a day.

I may have missed it. What do you feed including treats? I'd do my best to get her eating her normal feed. For a treat give her a little extra protein like egg, fish (mackerel, sardine, tuna) or meat (beef).

Still hard to know exactly what's going on with her and her legs. Could still be Marek's, but let's see if she improves with vitamins and nutrition.

 

[dreamofwinter]

Thank you!

When she was out with the flock she was eating mostly Kalmbach layer pellets, probably also some Kalmbach grower crumbles (20%) since my broody and her chicks are out with the main flock now. I do try to limit treats, especially anything rich like scratch or dried worms, to a handful distributed among the dozen chickens and six ducks. Shadow is low on the pecking order, so is probably getting less scratch than the older, higher ranked, meaner hens. I did have a lot of various greens needing to be used up the week before last and they probably all had a good helping of radish, turnip, kale etc greens. They're out on grass and have free choice of anything they can catch and eat bug-wise too.

I did share my sardines with her the other day at lunch! She wasn't too sure. I've been making grow crumble into a wet mash in order to mix vitamins/calcium in, and she really enjoys that.

I did see an article on here about a hen who was egg bound that suffered paralysis like this for several weeks. I'm holding out hope it's that an not Marek's. In fact, even internal laying would be preferable - I hate to think of culling her but would rather have to cull one hen due to reproductive issues than think about my entire flock being potentially infected with a virus.

This is my first time having a production-type hen (Sapphire Gem) and first time with chicks from TSC. It's safe to say I'll be sticking with heritage breeds and sources I've previously had success with, in the future. This impulse buy has cost me a lot of time, worry, and money! (Isn't that ALWAYS the case...)

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Right now, I'd continue as you are and see how it goes.
If she gets worse and you lose her, then having a necropsy through your state lab will generally give you the best answers. If that's not doable and you are up to it, performing your own exam can sometimes reveal what was wrong.

I do have Sapphire Gems, they came from TSC and are lovely Gals. They are almost 1 1/2yrs old, so far, no issues with them. Time will tell how well they do in comparison to other hatchery and heritage breeds I have/had.
I've had "heritage" breeds from breeders that only lived a couple of years and hatchery birds that lived 7. Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason. I do think that production breeds overall can have a shorter lifespan, but it's not always the case.

 

[dreamofwinter]

Update time. Sadly, not a lot of good news- improvement has been very incremental.
Shadow is able to push herself upright on her legs now, which is good, but her feet are curcled (so she's walking on her fists, for lack of a better description). When I pick her up she does have movement in her feet and can grip a finger, so I'm holding out hope that it's just a slow nerve healing process happening.

Egg-wise things are not good though. She is laying roughly every other day, and in the past week has laid one shelled egg and three shell-less eggs. She's getting daily calcium citrate, layer feed, and free choice oyster shell, but not much seems to work for firming up those eggs.

My plan is to continue with treatment for another 2 weeks - 3 at most - and if she's still not laying normal eggs and not able to walk, I'll cull her. She doesn't seem to be in any pain but her quality of life is not great, and I may move up that timeline depending on how she looks and acts.

I've been researching culling methods and I think the broomstick method is most likely the best for my situation, but if anyone has suggestions I'm interested to hear them.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that your hen is not doing well. When you started the vitamins, did they contain riboflavin (B2?) The B complex that Wyorp Rock recommended has riboflavin and all other B’s. Riboflavin deficiency can cause walking on hocks and curled under toes, eventually curled toe paralysis. But Mareks can cause that as well. Let us know how she gets along. If you decide to put her down, it would still be good to have your state vet do a necropsy, where they would look for signs of Mareks and possibly do testing.

 

[dreamofwinter]

Thanks! I've been using DurVet powdered vitamin, the kind you mix in water, which does have Riboflavin in it. Closest store is 30min away so haven't picked up any B Complex, but I certainly still can.

If I cull her I will definitely get a necropsy and testing done just to have some answers. All others in my flock seem fine at this time but it's good to know for sure.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

I have given vitamins in the water before, and I feel like the water needs to be changed out before they drink enough. My suggestion would be the B complex half a tab down the hatch. I have read several threads where the chicken made a full recovery because of vitamins. I wish I had known this last November.

 

[dreamofwinter]

My (tiny) local store doesn't even sell B complex. Sigh. I've been giving her the DurVet vitamins sprinkled in a tablespoon of mash made from grower crumble, along with calcium citrate powder. Her appetite is good but she hasn't improved at all in the past several days, toes still tightly curled. No eggs since the last soft shelled one on the 7th.

If it's indeed Riboflavin deficiency, am I past the point where supplemental vitamins should/could make a difference? I can order B complex online (or go to a store farther away) but I'm feeling like it's throwing good money/effort after bad at this point.

Right now the plan is to cull her Thursday night or Friday morning and have hubby drop her off at the state lab in Bangor when he goes up there Friday to have the car looked at.

The rest of my flock are all fine, though we're getting a LOT of very thin shelled eggs. I'm offering free choice oyster shell as well as layer feed but everyone wants to eat the grow crumble!! Sigh. This too shall pass - babies are growing like weeds.