Help! Adult hen paralyzed - can’t identify leg wounds

[LBradyAtX]

Hello! I need help identifying the issue with my pet chicken’s paralyzed leg; hoping someone recognizes the problem from the attached photos and can advise.

BACKGROUND
Last week I found our sweet Willow lame in her coop. She has lost the use of her left leg entirely. For the last 7 days, I have isolated her in our garage “hospital” attempting various treatments. While her mood and overall health appear stable, her leg is not recovering. I also noticed what appears to be a type of wound, or lesion around her knee hock joint that I’m not familiar with - and her entire leg has more dark spots than I recall being there. The lesions are pitted, slightly swollen, dark in color and there’s some scale bleeding - but that could be from her pecking at it, which I’ve caught her doing. I can’t tell if they’re the cause of the lameness, or a symptom from it.

Bottoms of feet are clean & have no sores or wounds. Scales appear raised, dry and dark, but I’m not familiar with scaly leg mites enough to know if this is the issue. Doesn’t look like my past experience with Bumblefoot. No visible lice - but I know mites can be tricky to always spot! When I talk to her she stands for me, but doesn’t put any weight on her foot. Toes are mostly curled, and she seems genuinely confused and frustrated that she cant

Breed: Whiting True Green hen
Age: 3 yrs
Weight: normal
Appetite: normal
Comb: healthy, normal
Environment: Lives in huge coop & enclosed run with her 6 adopted sisters. High quality feed. No fighting. All other hens healthy. Hand raised, vaccinated against Mareks

TREATMENT
- Isolation, comfortable bedding, heat lamp to maintain 80-90 degrees.
- tylan 50 first 2 days, as she felt warm to touch. I’ve not given tylan past 4 days
- electrolytes, Rooster Booster vitamins daily (to ensure it’s not a vitamin deficiency)
- she’s eating lots of wet cat food and scrambled eggs. Appetite is great.
- legs kept clean and dry, and areas of concern sprayed with antibacterial treatment.

today I set up her peck n play tent and have her enjoying some fresh sun, as I got concerned too long in the garage could lead to vitamin d issue. She seems ok other than not able to stand or walk. Issue seems to be from the possible wounds around her hock joint. If anyone recognizes the issue from the photo, I’m desperate for more information.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The length of her nails seems to indicate that she has been somewhat lame for quite some time, long before you found her incapacitated. What I mean is, she has been unable to scratch normally to keep them trimmed because she cannot support herself on one foot and scratch with the other. Feel her thigh and leg muscle on the side with the curled toe and compare it to the other leg to see if the muscles on the curled side seem atrophied. I think you're going to need to do some gentle therapy to keep the afflicted leg in good condition by gently flexing and straightening it from hip through toes. Take it slow and easy and don't attempt to straighten everything out right away so you don't tear delicate tissues, it will take time and patience. Good luck with her.

 

[Weeg]

First thing I noticed is those toenails. Those are long! I can't imagine she could walk comfortably on those! I would suggest clipping them with dog nail clippers, or person nail clippers will work as well. Clip them until they are a little longer then this-

Then, use a nail file to file them the rest of the way, so you don't accidentally make them bleed.
After that, tell us how she is walking. I would also treat for scaly leg mites. To do this, smother her legs in a thick layer of Vaseline. Try to get the Vaseline under the scales, and repeat this every few days. I would treat the rest of the flock for scaly leg mites as well.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Not sure what's going on with the leg but I would take a guess why she's not walking is due to injury. In the photos it looks like the joint was scraped on the front and either cut or punctured on the back. Whether this damaged a tendon or something...I don't know.

I may have missed it in all the posts - can the leg bend much at all or is it stiff?
I would keep the wounds clean and apply triple antibiotic ointment. An antibiotic may be needed to help with infection. Tylan is most commonly used for treating respiratory illness but if you have nothing else or can't get an antibiotic like Amoxicillin, then use what you have. A full course would need to be given.

You can try placing her in a sling to get her up off the ground for periods of time, some tolerate them while others don't. Give her some time and see if she heals.

 

[dennisma1]

Your chicken lost use of a leg and still lived five more years or her leg healed and she continued to live?

She didn't seem able to move it a will . It was very Jerky. she would sort of hop skip etc for the rest of her life.. One leg was fine the other like 25 percent. Yes I thought she was a goner and yes she lived at least another 5 years. Sadly got killed by a hawk. Couldn't run fast.

 

[LBradyAtX]

First thing I noticed is those toenails. Those are long! I can't imagine she could walk comfortably on those! I would suggest clipping them with dog nail clippers, or person nail clippers will work as well. Clip them until they are a little longer then this-
View attachment 2609271
Then, use a nail file to file them the rest of the way, so you don't accidentally make them bleed.
After that, tell us how she is walking. I would also treat for scaly leg mites. To do this, smother her legs in a thick layer of Vaseline. Try to get the Vaseline under the scales, and repeat this every few days. I would treat the rest of the flock for scaly leg mites as well.

Thank you!!! I’ve been keeping chickens as pets for about 6 years and I had no idea you could/should trim their nails!
I’ll definitely do that ASAP, carefully at first.
I’ll treat for scaly leg mites using Vaseline. I had ordered some spray specifically for birds but wasnt sure what I was dealing with.

Have you ever seen the sores like that before? She’s definitely unable to move/use the left leg at all. I’ve been massaging the feet to keep them from atrophy and flexing them a little. That seems to be helping but she won’t put weight on it.

 

[LBradyAtX]

Have you brought any new to you birds home in the last few months?

You cannot use antibiotics willy-nilly... If you're going to use it you need to give a full course. 2 days is willy-nilly.

No new birds. The 7 we have now are all between the ages of 1+ to 5yrs. All from same hatchery, no health issues in others.

 

[Weeg]

Have you ever seen the sores like that before? She’s definitely unable to move/use the left leg at all. I’ve been massaging the feet to keep them from atrophy and flexing them a little. That seems to be helping but she won’t put weight on it.

If she isn't putting weight on it, it could be a sprain or something she did to it. Are you sure it was the Tylan or the isolation that brought the heat down? Like said above, giving antibiotics for a short period of time isn't going to do anything. You need to do a full cycle, so I think that getting weight off her foot, and chilling out for a few days was what helped the leg.

So, when you say she can't move the leg, do you mean that she wont even hold it off the ground when she walks, she just drags it, or does she lift it, and hop around with it. Will she flinch the leg at all, or is it completely immobile? Can you get a video of exactly what you mean by, paralyzed? Maybe get her trying to walk or move around. That will help us a bunch if we can figure out exactly what is going on. That will separate a sprain, from a are serious disease that is causing paralysis.
To upload a video, post it to Youtube or another video platform, then post the link here.

 

[LBradyAtX]

Most of the time you don't. My hens nails don't need to be trimmed, but some hens nails just get long. Usually a chickens scratching behavior in the dirt allows them to file the nail and keep them short, but some times older hens, (3 really isn't that old, but every hen is different) have a harder time filing them naturally.

Yeah I just went snd checked the others and everyone else’s nails look short like the photo you shared. Of course, they’re all different breeds, but that’s interesting hers are so long! The enclosed run has lots of levels and ladders. The enclosed run is 12x12 and she’s one of the more active birds. Always jumping up the various roosts and platforms. Maybe she injured it.

She laid an egg the day I found her, but hasn’t laid since. I assumed she was too stressed

 

[LBradyAtX]

If she isn't putting weight on it, it could be a sprain or something she did to it. Are you sure it was the Tylan or the isolation that brought the heat down? Like said above, giving antibiotics for a short period of time isn't going to do anything. You need to do a full cycle, so I think that getting weight off her foot, and chilling out for a few days was what helped the leg.

Agreed. That’s why I stopped. I had a sick chicken a couple years back that made a full recovery with tylan (non injection). I panicked when I found her, and called the old vet, no longer there. New vet said they don’t treat chickens anymore but it “couldn’t hurt” to start her on what I still had in case she had fallen ill. That advice just didn’t feel right, so I stopped the tylan the next day once I realized it seemed related to her foot, and that she otherwise seemed healthy (no breathing issues, no lethargic mood). I have since found a new local vet willing to see her if it reaches the point where her health takes a turn for the worse. But this vet was honest with me that they don’t really treat chickens either, so best they can do is X-rays, fluids, major wound care, and antibiotics if needed :/