Lame chicken

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Ashleegilbert

Ashleegilbert

In the Brooder
Apr 9, 2019
18
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Valley WA
My moms hen is refusing to use her legs. We assumed she was egg bound, soaked her and she did lay a soft shell egg. But she hasn’t improved since, she’s eating and she will drag herself around but still won’t walk. She’s separated from the flock in the house, getting 3 warm soaks a day, being fed an emergency omnivore slurrie and calcium supplements twice daily. I have a video of her but am not sure how to attach it. Help?!
 
Ashleegilbert said:
My moms hen is refusing to use her legs. We assumed she was egg bound, soaked her and she did lay a soft shell egg. But she hasn’t improved since, she’s eating and she will drag herself around but still won’t walk. She’s separated from the flock in the house, getting 3 warm soaks a day, being fed an emergency omnivore slurrie and calcium supplements twice daily. I have a video of her but am not sure how to attach it. Help?!
Click to expand...
I'm sorry about the hen.

For video, upload to youtube then provide us a link. The BYC upload does not work.

Have you felt inside her vent for an egg?
Can you get a photo of her poop?

What is an Omnivore Slurrie? How much calcium is in the supplements?

Hard to know if she will benefit from repeated soakings. If she's lethargic, then this may stress her more. Once a day may be sufficient or providing her a little heat by placing a heating pad set on low underneath her may be better. (put a towel over the pad so she's not getting too hot - she does need to be where she can get off the heat if she wants.

With her laying a soft shell egg, she may be having a reproductive issue that's causing her more troubles. Sometimes hens can lay internally, have egg yolk peritonitis, cancer or tumors that cause swelling and pressure on the nerves of the legs that can cause lameness.
 
Her poop was runny until she laid the soft shell, it’s now completely normal poop. It’s just so odd, no other hens having issues and she just suddenly dropped and wouldn’t get back up.
 
This is the slurrie we use. We had it recommended years ago by our vet for a lizard and have since kept it on hand and used it for several sick birds and another lizard. Stuff is awesome.
 

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I’ll try to figure out the YouTube thing. I’ve never used it before to post stuff. No swelling, bloating. Literally no physical ailments. She will start panting when we move her around, but she does that normally (she not a human social hen lol).
 
It looks like she is not using her right leg, and she is using her wing to help balance. That can be a sign of Mareks disease unfortunately. Hopefully, it is just from a laying problem. Do you knowmif she was vaccinated for Mareks?
 
She will not use either leg, she is not vaccinated, she was hatched on the property and hasn’t had any access to other birds or ever left. She has no other fitting symptoms of Mareks.

Eggcessive said:
It looks like she is not using her right leg, and she is using her wing to help balance. That can be a sign of Mareks disease unfortunately. Hopefully, it is just from a laying problem. Do you knowmif she was vaccinated for Mareks?
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