Hen wont walk on her feet. Walks on her hocks and feet may be paralyzed?

[Zrcalo]

So I have a young frizzle hen. I hatched her from backyard stock about 8 months ago, and she seemed healthy and to be doing well. Well one of the ducks got her a few months ago and broke one of her toes, so she limped around for a while but got better.
Then approximately 4 weeks ago she started walking on one of her legs with her one foot all balled up. I thought the duck may have injured her again. I got very busy and a few days later went outside to the duck trying to bite her neck and probably try to hump her (its a female duck.. so ***?) she was screeching so I ran up and grabbed her and noticed she couldnt walk on her feet. Her feet were all balled up and she was scuttling around the yard. She looked perfectly healthy and the other chickens were leaving her alone.

Fearing it was mareks, I took her inside and expected the worst. Well. It's been 3 weeks now and she's not shown any other signs of the disease. Could she be injured? She got a bit better in the time she's been inside. She can now sit up on her hocks straight up and scuttle around without falling over, but I dont know if this is a disease or if my bird is permanently crippled. She's an excellent indoor chicken and loves to be around people, so I'm not going to put her down. Her poops are completely normal and she's still as energetic and lively as ever.

What do I do? Could this be a disease? Could she be injured? Could it be some congenital defect?

the first day I had her inside I felt around her toes and legs and she didnt look to be in pain. There were no bruising, lost feathers, or any signs of pain. It just looks like her lower legs are paralyzed. Could she have suffered brain damage or an aneurysm?

Some help would be appreciated. None of my other chickens have shown any signs of anything.

 

[Zrcalo]

ahahaha. yeah it's a gif...
and the band is supposed to actually be silly rap techno.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x89JdKbIqpU

been so busy lately!

Hen is doing excellent! She's running around perfectly! Completely healed!

She was limping for a while, so maybe it /was/ just an injury.

 

[chart]

So I have a young frizzle hen. I hatched her from backyard stock about 8 months ago, and she seemed healthy and to be doing well. Well one of the ducks got her a few months ago and broke one of her toes, so she limped around for a while but got better.
Then approximately 4 weeks ago she started walking on one of her legs with her one foot all balled up. I thought the duck may have injured her again. I got very busy and a few days later went outside to the duck trying to bite her neck and probably try to hump her (its a female duck.. so ***?) she was screeching so I ran up and grabbed her and noticed she couldnt walk on her feet. Her feet were all balled up and she was scuttling around the yard. She looked perfectly healthy and the other chickens were leaving her alone.

Fearing it was mareks, I took her inside and expected the worst. Well. It's been 3 weeks now and she's not shown any other signs of the disease. Could she be injured? She got a bit better in the time she's been inside. She can now sit up on her hocks straight up and scuttle around without falling over, but I dont know if this is a disease or if my bird is permanently crippled. She's an excellent indoor chicken and loves to be around people, so I'm not going to put her down. Her poops are completely normal and she's still as energetic and lively as ever.

What do I do? Could this be a disease? Could she be injured? Could it be some congenital defect?

the first day I had her inside I felt around her toes and legs and she didnt look to be in pain. There were no bruising, lost feathers, or any signs of pain. It just looks like her lower legs are paralyzed. Could she have suffered brain damage or an aneurysm?

Some help would be appreciated. None of my other chickens have shown any signs of anything.

I have a 4 wk. old chick that I call the Flyin' Wop for a good reason. She's been tearing around since day one. 4 days ago she took flight and landed hard enough to hurt herself. I thought she was paralyzed. Her foot would ball up and release. She'd fall back on her haunches. I put 2 of my quiet ones in with her in a separate brooder. She's getting better. She stands and walks but is a little wobbly. She was always the nutcase of them all so I'm glad (and surprised) that she's been taking it easy. She's a little knock-kneed and falls back some, but looking good. Years ago I "inherited" a full grown rooster in a box that had been attacked by a dog with pretty much the same symptoms, but worse. It took him about three weeks to get better but for the rest of his life, he'd step ahead with his left foot, shake his right one before he stepped. I always assumed he had some sort of nerve damage. I hope you see some improvement in your hen. I just happened to see mine crash so I knew what it was. If she's showing improvement, that's great. It may just take a little time. It sounds the same as mine only more severe. Hang in there. It's heartbreaking, isn't it? Jeez, I'll have to be putting all mine out soon and I think we'll all have separation anxiety!

 

[Zrcalo]

It's only been a few days since the frizzle has been eating ONLY chick starter and she's even able to move her toes and stand on her feet!!!

So lets see how long this lasts.

:3 she really enjoyed walking around outside for a bit. she still mostly walks on her hocks but she can now move her toes and they're not constantly balled up. and she's not flipping over either. she's able to walk around a little bit.

 

[arcy liger]

when i brought a new hen her legs were paralized ...
give her vitamin A ( a syrup for babies can be given to her)
she will be fine and will walk in 1 or 2weeks

 

[Zrcalo]

She just laid her first egg!!!

What I'm thinking is... the scratch had mould in it that she was particularly sensitive to... which was giving her diarrhea and she probably didnt absorb as much nutrients so she ended up with a deficiency which made her legs weak so she balled them all up and scuttled everywhere.

that's my theory anyway.

 

[Zrcalo]

what should I do with her feet?

 

[missnu01]

I had a chick so this..my dog ran up in the coop one day and a chick ran into a box and its foot got caught in a seam on the box. Once I got the foot out the chicken limped a little like something was wrong with one of its toes...then it kept all the toes on that foot balled up...then it started walking around on its hocks...mind you it acted fine..eating drinking, pooing all normal...and just when it was getting around well on it hocks and I thought the worst was past us another chick started walking with the toes on one foot balled up...anyway within 6 weeks of the start of the first one limping both birds had to be culled as they lost their ability to move at all. Mareks was the issue as far as I can tell. The second chick to start limping got the scissor legs pretty soon after starting limping. Second one limping for worse way faster than the one that started with the limping. Not to scare you, but it's possible it isn't an injury

 

[Zrcalo]

okay, so it took 6 weeks for the bird to become paralyzed to the point where it had to be culled....
How long after initially contracting the disease did the chicken start to go downhill? Because I've had her inside for 3 weeks now and I've not seen any regression.

I've contacted all the local vets in the area, and none of them has ever heard of mareks, so I cant get any of my other chickens (and three young chicks) vaccinated. There's no vaccine available in the state, and I've yet to find a vets office that even /knows/ what it is. :/

 

[missnu01]

None of my chickens are vaccinated, and none of my older chickens were affected at all. One cockerel the one that started limping first just limped for 6 weeks, somedays he would limp less but no change. He ate, he pooped, he drank, he played. No issues at all othe than the limping, but then one day about 6 weeks after onset of limping he couldn't pick up his head. It's like it got stuck under him...it happened all at once. And that is when we had to cull him. The pullet that started limping started almost 2 weeks after the cockerel and he kept getting worse and worse. She had to be culled first before the cockerel because she lost control of most of her body...her legs scissored out one in front, one in back...and she couldn't get around at all. The cockerel was mobile and seemed fine for the whole 6 weeks but we culled her due to the paralysis and 2 days later we had to do him too. It was so sad. They were both really sweet because of how much we had handled them, but I couldn't leave them unable to move around