Help!! Lame Chicken, Otherwise Healthy

[Jane01]

Hi,
I have a 4 month old chicken who is most likely a rooster. I am not sure of the exact breed, but he is probably an Araucana and he hatched from a green/olive egg.
For the past two or three weeks he has developed a bad limp in one leg and in the last couple of days this leg has become completely lame from the hip, he's also not drinking or eating much but this could be because he can barely hop as he still appears healthy and alert. I cannot see any other signs of illness such as bumblefoot or injury. Based on what I've read, I am pretty sure it isn't Marek's and nothing I could find seemed to match his symptoms.
A couple of weeks ago two of his siblings (pretty sure they were hens) died suddenly within a couple of days of each other, but with no symptoms leading up to their deaths, other than in the day and hours before.
I have done quite a lot of reading and googling and cannot find anything that matches his symptoms. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this and if there is anything I can do to help him?

 

[orrpeople]

I am so sorry you are having these problems with your flock. How old were the hens you lost? Do you have a picture of your rooster's poop? How about some pics of him as well?
Sadly, Marek's takes on many forms, sudden death being one of them. Lameness and disinterest in food or wasting away are also symptoms (It's a viral lymphoma, so think about how many different ways even people manifest cancer symptoms.)

In the meantime, give him a fast acting vitamin like Nutri Drench (straight from the dropper followed by some water) and some scrambled egg. Eating is always a positive sign.

 

[Jane01]

Thanks for your quick response. The other two that died hatched at the same time as him, so were approximately 3 or 4 months old and were the same breed. Their conditions seemed to match that of a genetic heart problem in which the heart grows too large, I'm not sure exactly what it's called. One of them we didn't see become ill and found her below the tree they sleep in almost decapitated (which at the time we suspected was because an animal had attacked her and killed her) but a few days later, her sister became lethargic in the morning and by afternoon was drooling (there was no smell) and motionless before dying.
I have read that Marek's is contagious, which is one of the reasons that I doubt it is what they have as we have 11 other chickens of different breeds, none of whom have shown any signs of being ill.
The rooster with a lame leg appears to be eating much more today, and I suspect he stopped eating because we had him isolated for a few days and he seemed to become depressed. I don't have any pictures of his poop but haven't seen anything change in any of our chickens poop recently, such as blood (which I watch for anyway as we have had chickens with cocci before). I have attached a few pictures of him, in the pictures on the grass, his back leg is the lame one and in the third picture the visible leg is lame.
I am aware that he has a small comb for a rooster, and am not sure why that is, but he has always been a lot bigger than his siblings, which is why I'm assuming he's a rooster.

I am so sorry you are having these problems with your flock. How old were the hens you lost? Do you have a picture of your rooster's poop? How about some pics of him as well?
Sadly, Marek's takes on many forms, sudden death being one of them. Lameness and disinterest in food or wasting away are also symptoms (It's a viral lymphoma, so think about how many different ways even people manifest cancer symptoms.)

In the meantime, give him a fast acting vitamin like Nutri Drench (straight from the dropper followed by some water) and some scrambled egg. Eating is always a positive sign.

 

[orrpeople]

He looks like a sweet boy (an Easter Egger - their combs are small - called "pea combs").
Typically, what you want to be looking for in the poop is diarrhea, and often any color change.
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

Yes, Marek's is contagious, but it usually only results in 5-10% deaths in a healthy flock. Some folks have reported losing only one or two birds a year to it. Severe outbreaks can be much worse, but typically the virus lies dormant in most flocks until stress or health issues trigger an outbreak. (Similar to how the chicken pox virus is dormant in most people, until an older person has a compromised immune system and then they get shingles.) It's definitely not the end of the world for poultry owners.

Sadly, your little roo (and at least one of your pullets - not sure with the decapitated one) are at exactly the age when Marek's breaks it's silence in a bird's system. This is because the stress triggered by onset of lay and hormone changes in boys, often causes the virus to become active. They will also, often have the initial issues and then "rally" or seem to miraculously get better. Sometimes, with vigilant vitamin boosts and higher protein in the diet, they can even kick the virus into a remission of sorts and live normally for another year or more. Again, treating your birds with a good fast acting vitamin is usually best.

If your sweet boy does pass (although the Neuro form is often not as deadly, just debilitating), please see if you can send him in for a necropsy. Knowing exactly what is going on in your flock will help you work to prevent any kinds of devastating consequences with your remaining birds.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about your cockerel.
What type of food are you feeding?

Sadly, I agree with @orrpeople there is a good possibility that he is suffering from Marek's. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

With Marek's there is nothing much that you can do but offer supportive care. B Vitamins - crush 1/2tablet of human B-complex vitamins and add it to his food daily. Extra protein is beneficial to sick birds - egg, tuna, meat or you can use chick starter or flock raiser if you wish.

Just to cover all your bases, look around your property where your chickens range for anything moldy, dead animal, think if there was any poison or something toxic that he could have been ingested. Also consider having a fecal float to see where your worm and coccidiosis load is right now.

If you do lose him, having a necropsy performed by your state diagnostic lab would be a good idea. This will give you more information.

Getting him upright can also be helpful. Some people use a sling, he would need to monitored while in the sling, but this can help them (sometimes) strengthen their legs over time. Google "chicken sling" then look at images, you will find plenty of creative ideas.

 

[rebrascora]

I'm afraid I am also going to lend weight to the possible Marek's diagnosis. Many of your flock may have been infected but the virus can lie dormant for months or even years until an event triggers it, usually stress, which can be from hormonal swings due to adolescence or moult or change of environment or new flock members being introduced, or predator attack. I have to say the decapitated bird may have been prey to an owl or hawk if they roost outside and if that has happened, the predator will come back for more.
The symptoms of the pullet may well have been due to a visceral tumour as the heart is one of the common sites for aggressive Marek's tumours to develop.

My Marek's birds that suffer paralysis/lack of coordination of a limb usually have good appetites and be bright eyed and look healthy in the early stages apart from their inability to move normally. It is important to keep them happy and well fed to give them the best chance of fighting the disease. That depression you noticed when isolating him can be the finish of them, so finding a set up where he can be within sight of the others but be safe and supported with his own food and water is key to successful supportive care. Be aware that the others may turn on him so putting him in a dog cage or similar is a good idea at least during the day. Vitamins to support his immune system will help and probiotics to support his digestive system. If you can spend a little time each day trying to get him to walk, hop or crawl towards a treat, that will help him to focus and learn to coordinate himself with the limited movement he has.
Of course, if he is surplus to requirements within your flock, ie you already have a rooster, then it may be better to cull him now as he will be shedding the virus whilst he is in this condition. Your flock will have already been exposed to it and it can linger in the environment for months but adding to that contamination unnecessarily if this cockerel would be a cull anyway, is worth consideration. It would be extremely irresponsible to rehome him even if he recovers as he will always be a carrier and the attentions of a randy young cockerel can often trigger an outbreak of the disease in pullets that are subjected to it, so think about your goals before you invest a lot of time and effort and possibly suffering on his part, as to whether it is worth while.

I have nursed some birds with Marek's for several months and they have recovered enough to free range with the flock. I've nursed some for a similar length of time and they have eventually lost the fight. Some only survive a few weeks and some miraculously recover almost overnight. Those that recover, will be prone to future and usually more severe outbreaks, weeks, months or even years hence.
Some people cull as soon as a bird shows symptoms and others like myself provide supportive care. If he loses interest in food, that is usually the time to make the decision to end his suffering if you do no do so at an earlier stage. The stress of trying to force feed them is counter productive and the disinterest in food usually indicates that there is an infection or tumour in the digestive system that is not treatable.

As @orrpeople says, the disease is not as bad as much of what you read about it but each individual loss is heart breaking and you have my sympathies that you are dealing with this.

 

[Jane01]

Thanks for all your replies! We feed our chickens grain and often scraps such as rice, egg or other leftovers we can't finish, however, we are vegetarian so none of our scraps contain meat. It is also difficult to know what he could have eaten as our chickens free range. We currently have two other roosters who have only just reached maturity, but if they become aggresive or crows too early in the morning, we usually rehome them, so often we have no rooster at all. So far our other chickens have shown no interest in him but I will keep a close eye on him and will look into making or getting a sling like suggested. I also may not be able to get a necropsy if it is expensive and I don't think we have state diagnostic labs, as I do not live in the United States.
As for the predator attack, we have had many predators attack our flock over the years (such as chicken hawks, dogs, foxes and snakes) and nothing made sense other than a phascogale (which is an extremely rare, endangered Australian marsupial). We moved our flock to a small shed the next night and such a humane trap in the tree (planning to rehome the predator far enough away from our property) but the next day the next hen died and we began to suspect that the first hen may after been attacked by another animal after dying. We left the flock in their tree the next night and the possible predator hasn't come back since.
We will continue to monitor our rooster and feed him chick starter along with vitamins and other fruits and veges, and I'll keep an eye out for any colour change in his or any of our other chickens poo.
How likely is it that the last Easter Egger from this group will also develop Marek's? She is the same age and so far shows no symptoms.

 

[rebrascora]

Impossible to tell whether she will be resistant or succumb to it at some point in the future. The important thing is to keep her happy and stress free. If you have too many cockerels running about, that is likely to stress her and may therefore trigger an outbreak.
I appreciate that you are vegetarian and therefore may not be comfortable about culling birds but it is important to be a responsible manager of your flock and having too many males (particularly adolescent ones) in the flock is not a happy or natural situation, particularly for young pullets that are easy prey for their amorous advances. Perhaps a bachelor pad for the boys might be an option if your male to female ratio is too high.
You will need to be careful about rehoming any birds in the future as there is every likelihood that they will carry the Marek's virus and infect other flocks.