Hen with a limp

[Ryan James]

i have a 3 month old hen with a wobbly leg, walks for a bit then just lays down. This morning she is eating buy just staying in the house. I have felt around on her and don't feel and anything in the bone. Any advice?

 

[BYChickenAl]

i have a 3 month old hen with a wobbly leg, walks for a bit then just lays down. This morning she is eating buy just staying in the house. I have felt around on her and don't feel and anything in the bone. Any advice?

I also have a hen that has been limping around for nearly 6 weeks now. She eats fine, she's laying HUGE eggs, but with every step, she sounds like a squeak toy. Other than being shunned and picked on by her sisters, she's fine. Short of taking her to a vet, I'm tempted to put her down and out of her misery. Good luck with yours.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would let her rest the leg by caging her with food and water. Give her a 1/2 human B complex tablet daily in her food. Injuries are most common in chickens, and can take weeks to heal. Vitamin or mineral deficiencies can also be common and cause lameness. Mareks disease is something that also can cause lameness and paralysis in one or both legs, or drooping wings, and can cause a lack of immunity or other symptoms. Were either of the chickens vaccinated for Mareks?

 

[BYChickenAl]

I would let her rest the leg by caging her with food and water. Give her a 1/2 human B complex tablet daily in her food. Injuries are most common in chickens, and can take weeks to heal. Vitamin or mineral deficiencies can also be common and cause lameness. Mareks disease is something that also can cause lameness and paralysis in one or both legs, or drooping wings, and can cause a lack of immunity or other symptoms. Were either of the chickens vaccinated for Mareks?

Apologies to Ryan for hijacking his thread...Unknown if mine have been vaccinated. Bought 4 pullets from the local farm store in Feb17 and one turned up a little lame. I did cage her for 2 weeks with no noticeable improvement so I put her back with her sisters. Have not heard of human B complex tablets but based on what I've found on this BYC site, I need to try that.

 

[Ryan James]

Well I came home and found my hen with both legs stiff and doing the splits. She was also having a fair amount of diarrhea. I think it is Marke's from what I have read what do I do now. I have now taken her out of the flock should I call her?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

At 3 months with those symptoms, it is almost certainly Marek's.
If they continue to show an interest in food, I give Marek's sufferers supportive care and I have had some make significant, if not miraculous recoveries. Once they lose interest in food, I euthanize them. Diarrhoea is not a good sign in a Marek's infected bird as it often indicates an infection of the digestive tract. Mare's compromises the immune system and leaves infected birds open to secondary problems like coccidiosis, e-coli and respiratory disease. If you are emotionally attached, then making a her a chicken sling/hammock(google to find images of home made DIY slings) will keep her in a more upright and comfortable position and feeding her some good nutritious treats (scrambled egg, tuna, cat food and meal worms) and a vitamin supplement like Nutri Drench may help, but if you are not attached, it may be as well to cull.
Human vitamin B tablets (available in most supermarkets/large stores) can be crushed and used if you don't have anything else. B vitamins are reasonably safe to overdose so don't worry too much about that. Try a 1/4-1/2 a tablet crushed and sprinkled over whatever they will eat or dissolved in water. Giving them moist food is important so that they don't dehydrate and a probiotic may help with the diarrhoea. That can be a commercially produced product for animals from the feed store or some live/active natural yoghurt or by fermenting some chicken feed (which is really simple but takes a day or two, which you might not have.)

Good luck to you both whatever you decide.