help my little Meryl is not walking properly

[sonandsal]

Hi fellow bird lovers
I have two little girls, white leghorns, supposed to be about the same age but one is developing faster so must be about 3 weeks older. So I'm guessing that Meryl is about 17 weeks and Beryl (bossy Beryl) is about 15 weeks. About 6 days ago Meryl (my favourite) started to lift one leg and overextend as she was walking. She was also a bit shaky and unbalanced. It seemed to get a bit worse over the next 3 days but by day 5 she was doing it with both legs occasionally and flaps her wings as she does it. Im not aware of her being injured or falling but I was out for a few hours on the first day and noticed it when I returned. So something could have spooked her and she fell or injured herself.
The girls still sleep side by side squashed together in the nesting box but Bossy Beryl does climb all over her when she is getting ready for bed as she wants to be closest to the wall and have Meryl on the other side of her. I wouldn't have thought that she would have been too heavy though as to injure her back.
I though it may have been Mericks disease although she had been vaccinated and took her to the vet on day 4 (crying floods of tears thinking that if it was I would have to put both of them down) but he could not be certain that it was Mericks as she had no other symptoms. Ive tried to find pictures on you tube of birds walking like this and research it but cant find anything really like it. Meryl is eating and drinking which is a good sign. Does anyone one have any experience with something like this.
Thanks everyone

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi fellow bird lovers
I have two little girls, white leghorns, supposed to be about the same age but one is developing faster so must be about 3 weeks older. So I'm guessing that Meryl is about 17 weeks and Beryl (bossy Beryl) is about 15 weeks. About 6 days ago Meryl (my favourite) started to lift one leg and overextend as she was walking. She was also a bit shaky and unbalanced. It seemed to get a bit worse over the next 3 days but by day 5 she was doing it with both legs occasionally and flaps her wings as she does it. Im not aware of her being injured or falling but I was out for a few hours on the first day and noticed it when I returned. So something could have spooked her and she fell or injured herself.
The girls still sleep side by side squashed together in the nesting box but Bossy Beryl does climb all over her when she is getting ready for bed as she wants to be closest to the wall and have Meryl on the other side of her. I wouldn't have thought that she would have been too heavy though as to injure her back.
I though it may have been Mericks disease although she had been vaccinated and took her to the vet on day 4 (crying floods of tears thinking that if it was I would have to put both of them down) but he could not be certain that it was Mericks as she had no other symptoms. Ive tried to find pictures on you tube of birds walking like this and research it but cant find anything really like it. Meryl is eating and drinking which is a good sign. Does anyone one have any experience with something like this.
Thanks everyone

HI

Welcome To BYC

Can you post a video of her actions? If not we would love to see some photos of your girls.
What type of food/treats do you give?

Unfortunately it is hard to know what's going on without testing.
It could be anything from vitamin/nutritional deficiency, neurological/developmental disorders to certain diseases like Marek's or Lymphoid Leukosis.

She is about the age where either Marek's or Lymphoid Leukosis would start showing up. FWIW Marek's vaccine prevents the formation of tumors, but does not prevent infection by the virus, so even if she is vaccinated, she can still have symptoms.

Offer her some poultry vitamins that contain B2 (Riboflavin). Watch to see that she is drinking well and eating, you can give extra protein in addition to her normal feed (egg, tuna, etc).

Keep us posted.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

 

[sonandsal]

Thanks for the reply Wyorp. Ill take a short video and some pics tomorrow. Her legs actually seem a bit weaker today. They have splayed out just slightly a couple of times and I didn't notice that before. I haven't seen her drink much today. She has eaten some meal worms and some crumble, plus some canary seed and fresh blueberries. Ive had her on my knee a few times today stroking her and she just sits there and closes her eyes. I guess im sort of expecting the worst now. How do I know if she is in pain? Her eyes do light up when I offer her a couple of meal worms though. This is crazy, how can I feel so much love and care for a flippin chicken. I'd make a useless vet as I'd probably cry over every sad story, every injured animal.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for the reply Wyorp. Ill take a short video and some pics tomorrow. Her legs actually seem a bit weaker today. They have splayed out just slightly a couple of times and I didn't notice that before. I haven't seen her drink much today. She has eaten some meal worms and some crumble, plus some canary seed and fresh blueberries. Ive had her on my knee a few times today stroking her and she just sits there and closes her eyes. I guess im sort of expecting the worst now. How do I know if she is in pain? Her eyes do light up when I offer her a couple of meal worms though. This is crazy, how can I feel so much love and care for a flippin chicken. I'd make a useless vet as I'd probably cry over every sad story, every injured animal.

Do the best you can. If you haven't seen her drink, encourage her to take some water.

Hopefully after some vitamins and TLC she will bounce back.

Keep us posted.

 

[sonandsal]

Ive taken a couple of short videos on this tablet but cant work out how to attach tmem. I ask at work tomorrow

 

[sonandsal]

Just to let you know wyorp, i put meryl down a couple of hours ago and buried her in my garden near her favourite spot. She got worse slowly each day but today i felt she was suffering so that was my decider. She couldn't walk properly, was tripping over her wings which were drooping to the floor and falling over all the time. Because she was still bright eyed and eating i just kept hoping she would recover. Today she was open mouth breathing all day and was in a cage inside the lounge room so she was cool even though it was 39 degrees outside, so it wasn't the weather. My littlr girl is gone, my tissue box is empty and i now have to watch the other chicken to see if she gets sick, if its mareks the she will get it too.
Thanks for the all the help. Ill continue reading the posts from this forum

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Just to let you know wyorp, i put meryl down a couple of hours ago and buried her in my garden near her favourite spot. She got worse slowly each day but today i felt she was suffering so that was my decider. She couldn't walk properly, was tripping over her wings which were drooping to the floor and falling over all the time. Because she was still bright eyed and eating i just kept hoping she would recover. Today she was open mouth breathing all day and was in a cage inside the lounge room so she was cool even though it was 39 degrees outside, so it wasn't the weather. My littlr girl is gone, my tissue box is empty and i now have to watch the other chicken to see if she gets sick, if its mareks the she will get it too.
Thanks for the all the help. Ill continue reading the posts from this forum

I'm so sorry for your loss