Help chicken wont use left leg

[Sami1234321]

I have a 14 week old silkie chick that about a couple days ago wouldn’t come out of the coop. After going into the coop I saw that she was limping and not walking well. I then looked at her foot and I couldn’t find anything wrong but I still cleaned it and wrapped it up. It has now been about 4 days and everyday I have to clean her since she poops on herself and now can’t even walk and falls over to one side. Here’s a picture of her foot (she is a little dirty and I am cleaning her again at the moment) also I attached a couple pictures of when she falls over. What could be wrong with her any ideas? I am a new chicken owner and these are my first chickens so I am unsure. Also all chicken vets won’t be able to see her for 3 more weeks I don’t live in an area with a lot of vets that are willing to see chickens.

 

[azygous]

This is one of the first classic symptoms you will see when a young chicken carries an avian virus - Marek's and lymphoid leucosis where the sciatic nerve is becoming inflamed. If that is what is causing your Silkie's lameness, there is no cure.

Other causes, less serious but treatable, are vitamin E or B deficiencies. You can try treating for this with vitamin E and a B-complex tablet each day for a few weeks and see if that produces improvement. Add a sliver of a selenium tablet when giving the E capsule for better absorption.

If you had provided your location, I wouldn't need to ask if it's been very warm where you live. If it has, she could be suffering effects of heat sickness which can cause lameness and balance issues.

If her condition worsens instead of improving, then you should suspect an avian virus.

 

[Eggcessive]

At her age, unless she was injured, I also would suspect Mareks disease. Was she vaccinated? It would be good to help offer her food and water, and to keep her separated for protection. Mushy watery chicken feed with bits of egg would be good. A 1/4-1/2 tablet daily of human B complex vitamins can be crushed into a little food or a tsp of water, and fed to her. Here are 2 good articles with info about Mareks:
http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents/vdl-mareks-disease-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have a 14 week old silkie chick that about a couple days ago wouldn’t come out of the coop. After going into the coop I saw that she was limping and not walking well.

Welcome to BYC!

Sorry you both are facing this.

The first poster gave excellent information. Do you know if she was vaccinated against Marek's? Where did they come from? Also please consider adding your general location (country) in your profile as it helps to know which resources might be available to you at a glance and helps some of us make our best suggestions possible.

Please describe your feed routine including treats and supplements so we can help discern if there SHOULD be any cause for vitamin deficiency.

Hope she recovers and everyone else continues to thrive!

 

[Sami1234321]

This is one of the first classic symptoms you will see when a young chicken carries an avian virus - Marek's and lymphoid leucosis where the sciatic nerve is becoming inflamed. If that is what is causing your Silkie's lameness, there is no cure.

Other causes, less serious but treatable, are vitamin E or B deficiencies. You can try treating for this with vitamin E and a B-complex tablet each day for a few weeks and see if that produces improvement. Add a sliver of a selenium tablet when giving the E capsule for better absorption.

If you had provided your location, I wouldn't need to ask if it's been very warm where you live. If it has, she could be suffering effects of heat sickness which can cause lameness and balance issues.

If her condition worsens instead of improving, then you should suspect an avian virus.

Thank you I live in Michigan and the weather has been cool. I am going to try giving her vitamins and hope that is the issue.

 

[Sami1234321]

Welcome to BYC!

Sorry you both are facing this.

The first poster gave excellent information. Do you know if she was vaccinated against Marek's? Where did they come from? Also please consider adding your general location (country) in your profile as it helps to know which resources might be available to you at a glance and helps some of us make our best suggestions possible.

Please describe your feed routine including treats and supplements so we can help discern if there SHOULD be any cause for vitamin deficiency.

Hope she recovers and everyone else continues to thrive!

I am unsure if my silkies were given the mareks vaccine because I got them from a lady who couldn’t take care of her chicks anymore so I took them and totally forgot to ask that question but I still have her number and have messaged her about that but have not received a response yet. I have 4 silkies and 4 barred rocks (the barred rocks have been vaccinated). I feed them little pecks grubbly farms feed (ages 0-18 weeks) , I give them grubblies from grubbly farm as treats, provide grit and put healthy gut probiotics on their feed. All of my other chickens are doing fine at the moment but I have separated them although I do know that if it is mareks disease it has already been spread around. I live in Michigan. If there is any suggestions for other items to add to their feed I am open to all suggestions.

 

[azygous]

Unfortunately, vaccination doesn't prevent Marek's, only the tumors. And there is always leucosis which is like Marek's but no vaccination exists.

I keep a clean environment and feed fermented feed. These two things maximize health and sickness has been a rare occurrence.