Help my pullets leg is Paralyzed

[standardbanty]

My 18 week old pullet has no feeling in her left leg.She is healthy other wise and has been living in great conditions. Her other leg is healthy and responsive.

 

[EweSheep]

My wild guess would be either she broke her leg OR Merck's Disease.

 

[chicknmania]

Just bumping this up, but any idea why? Has she sustained some sort of injury, did she have problems as a chick, ie how long has this been going on? Was it gradual or sudden? Could be a vitamin deficiency; you might try Aviacharge; chickens seem to have a lot of neurological issues stemming from different things. We had a pullet about that age with a similar problem; it was progressive and we were not able to do much for her although we tried a variety of things, including the vet in the end. I guess if she were mine I would give her the Aviacharge just to give her some extra help in dealing with whatever the problem is. Also, check her feet/ legs. Might be a sprain or injury. We had another pullet who was limping, no visible sign of injury, no swelling, nothing. We confined her to a cage, where she could see the others but could not run around much, no flying/landing, no perching. Gave her vitamins and best feed; she was confined for about eight weeks, and made a full recovery. Probably would not be a bad idea to keep her confined and at least semi-isolated from the others for a bit, til you can get a better grasp on the problem. Good luck.

 

[ajablu]

Mareks disease often starts like that. I would quarantine her away from the others until you know. With mareks it will spread and they get weaker.
Michele

 

[chicknmania]

btw, Marek's is a sort of catch-all for a lot of people as far as neurological things, but we learned when our pullet was going through all that that there are a lot of look-alike conditions, Marek's is not the only cause of that type of issue. We ruled out Marek's, in her case, and none of the rest of the flock ever experienced anything similar; that was a year ago.

 

[standardbanty]

So should i cull her or should i quarintine.......I kinda think this is mareks. this is sudden. She has no feeling in her leg even when i aply pressure. She is definetly paralyzied. I think i am going to cull her.

 

[chicknmania]

Well that's up to you. I don't think Marek's is sudden, it is a gradual degenerative type disease.

 

[Pathfinders]

Marek's Disease is pretty much everywhere. If you go to the feed store, you could have brought it home. If you go to a show, you're def going to bring it home. If you go to Wal-Mart, you could bring it home!

If you have chickens, you have Marek's in your flock. Just a matter of what you do about it. You can either breed for resistance, or vaccinate.

If you're not sure if it's Marek's (the dragging leg in a pullet does sound like Marek's to me, fwiw), you can Google the term and select the Images option up top of the page (note some of the images are not for the faint of heart), there are some there that show what the one leg forward one leg backwards stance looks like.

Sorry to hear your bird is ill. It seems as if it's always the sweetest pullets who get this, very sad-making.

 

[standardbanty]

She really isnt dragging its more of hopping. She hops to food and water. She dosnt drag her leg.

 

[spook]

Could it be a pinched nerve? If you question that, giving asprin would help inflammation in the surrounding area. But, if she had a stroke, it could kill her.
Hmm- I have no idea what I'd do in this case. Possibly wait and see, keep her calm and allow her to do as she can.

Pathfinders- Great biological call. Thank you for reminding us all that we are some of the carriers of these diseases and conditions. Kudos to you!