Help me Identify my chicken's foot issue?

Jynuine

Songster
6 Years
Apr 15, 2014
122
23
121
Gaston, OR
Hey guys! I really want to thank you for all your help. I've been in here much too often lately. This last batch of chickens seem to be full of issues everything from chicks just up and dying to my other Pullet's gaping (and the meds seemed to work if it wasnt something else, she is gaining weight and not gaping any more!)

So, Im tackling one of my Special Ed birds. We got her as a young pullet, she's a white Jersey Giant, and she was a total spaz. I also noticed she had a bit of a bowed leg when she walked. The store we got her (which is a local farm store who sells poultry too) said that she was like that out of the egg. The more we held her the more of a cuddler she became and we named her angel. We gave her more vitamins, etc.
Now she should be bigger and integrating with the flock but she is small, fragile and very clingy to us. She will not integrate well with the flock and ends up hiding all the time. She is more or less a big baby- but she is super soft and cuddly so it's easy to want to take her in.
We kept her in a separate brooder with some of the other smaller pullets (our frizzles, etc) because they were just too small to integrate and we noticed that her leg was getting worse and worse. My daughter said it would pop when she picked her up- but I've never experienced that.
Her foot seems to not work very well nor do her toes.

I took a couple of videos to show you what Im talking about. We have her in the house in a bin now because we're using the brooder for our broody batam sitting on eggs.

So here she is in the barn chirping away for us to pick her up. She really has a hard time getting around.

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And here is today (Happy Thanksgiving Y'all) with her inside as we let her roam around a bit. There isn't any sound because it was just a lot of noise since I have 8 kids and we were cleaning up for Thanksgiving and I muted it- hahaha!

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If anyone could give me any kind of idea what it might be or how we can help, that would be awesome.
Im assuming it's something neurological. I was considering making one of those chicken leg splint sandal shoes with pipe cleaners etc but... it seems as though she cant really control a lot of her leg... it just wont do what she wants it to.
 
Since she has had a problem since hatch, it probably in a leg bone deformity such as a varus/valgus deformity, tibial dischondroplasia, or twisted tibia. The tendon in the hock or elbow can become blown out as the leg grows. An old term is slipped tendon for this. There isn't much that can be done when the tendon is ruptured. Some people do try splinting. I would make sure that she gets a vitamin with minerals in it (Rooster Booster Poultry Booster is easy to find.) Mareks disease comes to mind also because her foot seems almost paralyzed in the video. But Mareks symptoms frequent don't show up for a few months of age. Here is some reading about leg bone disorders (click on each page to enlarge the pictures):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1790586/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/220/slipped-tendon-perosis
 
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Right, I believe they were immunized.
She came with another 'special ed' birdy- a Spitzhaumer with what I figured was Crook neck. I did look at Mareks but they didnt seem to have the eye issues.

SO I know this is far fetched- but what is the humane thing to do here? I hate culling... my husband brought her in the house so I feel like he has a little more compassion than he normally does (he grew up on a farm and has the callouse of a farmer haha!) but I worry if she cant go out and have a normal life, I dont really want her living in a box :(
 
Also, how beneficial do you think it would be to have a bar for her to grasp and perch on instead of a flat ground or litter?
 
When I cage a bird in a dog crate, I will usually put a little roost bar in it for them to sleep on. I prefer flat ones such as a 2x2, or a round tree branch that size. Culling is a hard issue. A lot of it depends on how much time you have to put into helping them. Not knowing for sure what it is, I would probably wait and see how she does with her problem. If she gets to a point where she can't get around or to food and water, then I would put her down. If she can be around the other chickens for company, she will probably be happiest.
 
WEll I have a buff pullet who is not doing well this morning- so she may not have a choice. :( SIck chickens make me really sad.
 

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