It's been 5 years and she's still high stepping.

[SarahLadd]

I was casually feeding some grubs to my ladies on the deck this morning and lamented at my lavender orpington's walking behavior. It seems to be pretty significant today. Normally she will high step once in a while, today it seems she is high stepping for every other step. As mentioned, this hen is 5 years old, and she's been high stepping for as long as I can remember. She also has a hard time getting down stairs and acts like she can't see where the next step is. I am linking a short clip of her. I suspect someone may have the need to mention "oh there's snow, maybe her feet are cold", and nah. It's not that. She walks like this in the summertime, too, and all the other ladies walking around on the snow don't high step, even the littlest bantams who you'd think would have the coldest toes.

Feet are clean with no signs of bumblefoot. Knees and hocks are clean. No sign of mites. She's been periodically treated along with the whole flock for cocci/worms of all types with no improvement. By all other measures she seems healthy, although she only laid any eggs her first year.

Is this neurological? Are these symptoms of Marek's? I know she is vaccinated. Is the vaccine just controlling her symptoms and keeping them relatively mild? She has one other flock sister her age, the rest of my birds are 6 months old, all are in prime health.

Thank you all.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Mine start high stepping when their feet begin to freeze solid from the cold. I'd catch her and make sure her feet are still soft, cushioned and easily bendable

 

[SarahLadd]

Mine start high stepping when their feet begin to freeze solid from the cold. I'd catch her and make sure her feet are still soft, cushioned and easily bendable

I mentioned this in my post, but I assure you, she's not cold. It's not even in the negatives today. When it's really, really cold (-10 or colder) they don't go out of the coop, they stay inside. Her feet are soft and warm.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I've had some birds start getting frostbite long before the temperature is in the negatives. Some are just more susceptible.

But if she doesn't match the sumptoms, that's great. Its a pain in the butt to fix most times.

Are all the birds vaccinated? If not, i don't think its mareks since unvaccinated ones would show symptoms too.

Its possible its some tick neurologicly. I have a cochin hen that gets out if wack if approached from a certain direction or when things move in the shadows by her head

 

[theoldchick]

I've seen this in overweight poultry. They jump down from things and damage the hock/hips causing ligaments to partially slip allowing the leg to slide out to the side. Get your hands on her and give her a good once over. Feel how much fat is on her and examine her hocks and see if they are swollen. Gouty birds will develop a strange gait.

 

[Isadora]

Have you checked her vision?
A couple of my birds walk funny because they can't see great. They don't high step as exaggerated as your girl does in the video, but they misstep and hesitate, ETC.

 

[Tonyroo]

I think it's neurological. Since you mentioned it was present when she was young. I wouldn't worry about it, it's just a slight handicap for her. She looks healthy and alert.

Just don't let her be on a high roost, cause jumping down from it could aggravate her leg.

 

[SarahLadd]

Her symptoms don't really match mareks but I'm not sure what else could cause them. Initially I thought maybe she had a vision issue. But with the high stepping on most regular steps nowadays, it has me wondering. Initially in her first year I thought she had some kind of internal distress and the weird leg lifting was a way of "shifting her guts" in the same way that I will sometimes flinch and curl for say, menstrual cramps. High stepping isn't typically listed as a symptom of mareks, but it is a symptom of some neurological conditions and that mareks can affect the way an affected bird walks. It's also kind of confusing that she laid a total of 12 eggs her entire life and hasn't laid any more in 4 years.

 

[Tonyroo]

You can't assume it's mostly related to diseases causing it.

Bad genetics can cause an assortment of potential handicaps that show themselves as the bird is maturing, especially internal problems.

For her to live 5 years and be the same as she is. I would be more prone to think in that direction.

 

[Coops Dad]

Can a chicken thrive for 5 years suffering from Marek's, especially without the rest of the flock displaying mortality and other symptoms?

As you said, it is probably a neurological issue, given that it's been lifelong and pretty much unchanging. If it's otherwise not an issue, I'd let it be.

It's what my parents did, and I've done better and lived a lot longer than I thought I would.