Hen with feet sticking out & can't walk. Please help!

[AshleyStoia]

Her toes aren't curled at all. I honestly do not wanna think about losing her right now. It's enough stress just trying to take care of her and keep up. It makes me terribly sad. I think I'll worry about that if the time comes. I've started the hypericum with distilled water, she just had her second dose of it. She is still as happy as can be, and even trying to get up now. I also am still giving her the liquid vitamins, and she got a nice treat of some meal worms. I'm just gonna keep what I'm doing, making her comfortable, and showing her lots of love and attention. I have very high hopes for my sweet girl.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

One thing I do recommend is to start thinking about what to do if she doesn't make it. Would you want to get a necropsy done? If so, start finding out how to go about it now. Find out who does it in your state, how much it costs, and how to ship. In my case, the necropsy cost $50 + $25 in lab fees (some states are free, a recent poster said $250 in her state). Transporting her was only $8 as I was able to use the state courier service through the health department. It was a nightmare figuring it out though. Make sure that if you go that route that you refrigerate, not freeze, the hen.

Hopefully it won't come to that!
E

Excellent advice. A necropsy is really important, otherwise it's just guessing which gets one nowhere near a solution.

And if she does recover, it may not ever be necessary but timely processing is imperative so doing the research now is imperative.

If it's a vitamin deficency, try giving her Vit D3 for about two weeks. I didn't know this, but a Vit D deficiency will cause muscle weakness and lameness in chickens. It is winter and if your hen prefers scratch to chicken feed she could be deficient.

Vitamin E, biotin and manganese as well as D.
There are so many nutritional diseases which is why making chicken feed at least 90% of the diet is so important.

Her toes aren't curled at all. I honestly do not wanna think about losing her right now. It's enough stress just trying to take care of her and keep up. It makes me terribly sad. I think I'll worry about that if the time comes. I've started the hypericum with distilled water, she just had her second dose of it. She is still as happy as can be, and even trying to get up now. I also am still giving her the liquid vitamins, and she got a nice treat of some meal worms. I'm just gonna keep what I'm doing, making her comfortable, and showing her lots of love and attention. I have very high hopes for my sweet girl.

~~Poly-vi-sol without iron works very well.

 

[Nambroth]

I also just found a thread. There is actually a cure for this.

Here is the thread:

St. John's Wort


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/135247/st-johns-wort

I'm gonna give this a try and see if it works. It can't hurt.

With respect, please don't tell people that this is a CURE for Marek's. There is no known cure. It's okay to say "It might help", because.. hey, it MIGHT! But it is not a cure. Saying that it is will give people false hope.

It is okay to try anything that you think might help. But there is no true cure, and all exposed birds will have the virus for life, even if they get better.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

With respect, please don't tell people that this is a CURE for Marek's. There is no known cure. It's okay to say "It might help", because.. hey, it MIGHT! But it is not a cure. Saying that it is will give people false hope.

It is okay to try anything that you think might help. But there is no true cure, and all exposed birds will have the virus for life, even if they get better.

X2

If there was a cure since it was discovered in 1907 it would be known and in wide use.

 

[AshleyStoia]

With respect, I didn't post the "cure" thread, and if you actually read the thread, there is about 40 pages of people saying that it cured their chickens. Since my last post, my girl has had her second does of the hypericum, she's been standing and sitting up, and laying 100% normal now. She's made a ton of progress in just 12 hours.I don't have to hold her and feed and water her by hand, she is doing that on her own too. I am just amazed. Honestly, I don't care if it "cures" her, I don't care if she still has it, but knowing she will be comfortable, and hopefully walk again soon, brings me so much joy, and not to mention, my little daughter will be so much more happy. They are the best of friends.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Congratulations.
It could very well have been something else. There is never a problem boosting nutrition.

Marek's can resemble a lot of things. Among those that could have been cured so quickly are joint infection, joint injury, riboflavin deficiency, tick paralysis and botulism.