Hot to the touch, Can't walk

[wasntme]

I have a barred rock that could barely walk on Monday. She would take a few steps and then plop down. Yesterday, she couldn't walk at all. Since my girls are free-rangers, she managed to get underneath my porch and laid in the shade all day. When I got home I brought her up on the porch and gave her food and water since she can't get to it. Last night I put her in the spare bedroom in a clothes basket where she pretty much moved enough only to plop herself in her own food bowl and spilled her water.

This morning I put her in the top of coop 2 (It has a door built to separate the coop from the run and does not sit on the ground (so she's suspended in the air per se so bugs/ants can't get at her). I picked her up this morning to put her in and she was HOT to the touch and I'm talking her belly felt oven hot! She still isn't walking and I noticed she kind of has a tick - she kind of twitches her neck a bit (hard to explain), but then she acts ok for a minute and does it again. She definitely cannot stand up. I tested her legs last night to see if she would pull away and she was able to pull away her right leg and also could somewhat grasp my finger. I checked for bumble foot and that's ruled out. I don't feel an egg bound inside of her.

I did notice this morning that there was absolutely NO POO in the clothes basket so she never did go last night.

I'm hoping to God it's not Mareks. That would be devastating. What do you think?

I also gave her a small amount of beef cat food and some egg yolk which she gobbled right down last night! I offered her water this morning but she didn't drink it. I was just truly surprised she was still alive. She is 36 weeks old (8 months).


Broken Hearted

 

[wasntme]

Anyone think it may have a broken egg inside of it or egg bound, etc since it's running a fever?

 

[luv2fish62]

I have the same problem with one of my hens this morning. She couldn't walk and she eats and drinks ok. So don't know what the problems is. Could she have sprained her legs or something. I noticed that they fly to get away from the rooster, maybe she came down wrong on her legs.

 

[wasntme]

Mine can't fly at all. I wish I was home with her right now to keep an eye on her. Instead I have to depend on my son to check on her when he gets home from school and call me with her condition. Ugh! Her name is Lover because she had been just that-loveable! Sad to see her not doing well. How is yours doing now, luv2fish?

 

[luv2fish62]

I have her in a separate cage, she is drinking and eating ok. She is also pooping ok so I think maybe she just sprained her leg or something. I don't know what else it could be.
Hope your hen is ok

 

[luv2fish62]

What is Merks disease?

 

[wasntme]

Marek's disease is a highly contagious disease that is spread through chicken dander. It's deadly.

Unfortunately, Lover didn't make it. I came home to find her motionless with her eyes closed.

After inspection of the vent area, I saw yolk.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. It's so hard when they are pets. I wonder if the paralysis was totally due to being egg bound maybe from a nerve being compressed, or she did have something else going on? Egg binding can happen from being low on calcium or dehydrated, as well as laying too large of an egg to pass. A necropsy done by your state vet could test for Mareks, and give you some relief of any worry if it wasn't that. Here is a link for the state vet, but I believe University of Florida may also do them: http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Animal-Industry

 

[wasntme]

Thanks for the info!
It wasn't her first issue. She tended to be a junk food Eater. If she could find it she'd eat it! I'm thinking it may have been my fault. I had 15 chickens wanting their Layer pellets so I threw some cracked corn out on the ground to give myself some room. My barred rock would eat the corn and not the layer so I took it away after the shell-less egg scare a couple months ago. This is the same girl that Laid the shell-less egg. I didn't think throwing out corn on occasion would cause such an issue but should have known better that Lover would gobble every kernel down and end up with an egg issue again. Pretty sure that's what happened.

 

[luv2fish62]

Sorry she didn't make it. I hope that isn't what is wrong with mine. She still can't walk, but she flops around. She is still eating and drinking so I guess that is a good sign. Someone told me that chickens can't walk if they have worms. I don't know if that is true.