Hen stopped walking - seems in good shape otherwise?

[stepheuniie]

Hi everyone! I have an issue with one of my bantam hens, hopefully you can help!

A couple of days ago, we noticed that she was having a little trouble walking and the next morning, she was really struggling so we took her out of the coop and brought her inside the house. The coop is isolated but it's very cold outside and she's a tiny little thing so we thought that it would help. Also she's not moving so that way we can feed her and give her water when she needs it.

Apart from the walking/standing issue, she seems to be ok. She eats and drinks well, she's alert and she's not complaining or looking like she's suffering. She actually looks like she really enjoying the care and attention. Her poops are normal. She hasn't laid an egg for maybe 2 weeks, but she wasn't really regular before either. We spoon-feed her regular feeding mixed with hard-boiled eggs and yogurt, and water with vitamins. We started the vitamins today after seeing that advice coming often in the forums. We don't know if she's vaccinated as she's a rescue.

It's been 3 days and we don't see any notable amelioration. She just stays in her hay bed and doesn't move. Yesterday we found her out of her bed so maybe she's starting to move a little more, but it wasn't a very successful attempt. There's no visible outside injury, but we're beginners with chickens so we're struggling to see if maybe something's wrong with her leg otherwise. Her legs are moving when we touch her, so she's not paralyzed - I doubt that it's Marek disease.

The only thing we can think of is that some of my bigger hens were able to enter her part of the coop 2-3 days before the issue started. She's at the bottom of the pecking order (which is why she's separated and with a group of "nicer" hens), so maybe she got attacked and/or fell from the perch?

Do you have any idea what she could have? If it's an injury, how many days should it take her to recover? And is there anything we can do to help her recover faster?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

I had a duck who suddenly had a limp leg. I assume it was a nerve injury as she was not painful. She could use it but it was really weak and she couldn't stand or walk. We splinted it and did bathtub water therapy. It took a couple of weeks but she healed completely. So you might try physical therapy like sling walking.

 

[Eggcessive]

How old is she? Do the vitamins contain b2 riboflavin? That is found in some chick vitamins, but is easy to find in human B complex tablets. Dosage is 1/4 tablet daily crushed into food or dissolved in a spoonful of water and fed.

Can you post a picture of her legs and feet? Could she have suffered frostbite? I would consider making her a chicken sling chair to get her food and water right in front of her, to get her up, and keep her cleaner. Here is a link with many pictures, and the design is on post 11:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

 

[stepheuniie]

I had a duck who suddenly had a limp leg. I assume it was a nerve injury as she was not painful. She could use it but it was really weak and she couldn't stand or walk. We splinted it and did bathtub water therapy. It took a couple of weeks but she healed completely. So you might try physical therapy like sling walking.

Thanks, that's reassuring! I'll try the hot bath and the sling therapy.

 

[stepheuniie]

How old is she? Do the vitamins contain b2 riboflavin? That is found in some chick vitamins, but is easy to find in human B complex tablets. Dosage is 1/4 tablet daily crushed into food or dissolved in a spoonful of water and fed.

Can you post a picture of her legs and feet? Could she have suffered frostbite? I would consider making her a chicken sling chair to get her food and water right in front of her, to get her up, and keep her cleaner. Here is a link with many pictures, and the design is on post 11:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

Thanks for your answer and for the examples of slings! I don't know her age. We rescued her 2 months ago and she was already laying regularly, that's the only "age indicator" we have.

For the vitamins, it indicates "riboflavin" but not b2 specifically. Is that the same thing, or should I complement it with human B vitamins?

 

[stepheuniie]

I'll take a picture of her legs to post later

 

[Eggcessive]

B2 is riboflavin. Most products just list it as riboflavin. If you make a sling, pictures can be helpful.