Lame D'uccle just got her feet feathers pecked ... why?

[kimb]

I have a near 6 month old D'uccle that has been kind of "off" for quite a while... She's always a "fluffed" and recently she's been more and more reluctant to walk (although she can, she just won't)... and her right leg has been getting the shivers/shakes ...

So 2 weeks ago I smothered hers (and her bunk mates) legs with vaseline - thinking maybe scaly leg mites. Cleaned everything to the T! and tucked everyone in bed (it took all day to get through everyone and clean of course

)... No one else seemed bothered but 3 days later I smothered just her again (but didn't clean)...

3 days after that I as looking up what other people found successful and so I decided I'd try the "leg-oil dip with a dob of tea tree oil" ... I oiled everyone else again (just in case... still no one seemed bothered - the 2 silkies legs didn't even look like they could be affected/infected by mites - the other d'uccle had a few raised scales...)

I re-dipped just her legs again 3 days ago - and still no scales have gone down... I can't see any reminents of mites, never could...

This morning I went out to find my weaker/blind silkie girl taking her last few breaths - it looks as though she was at the bottom of the huddle pile (under a heat lamp) last night

... I had spent since January nursing this little girl back to health enough to get her outside with the other safely eating/drinking and enjoying their company so this was just heart breaking ...

Then this afternoon I came back from doing the "farm shopping" and went out to check on everyone and the lame d'uccle was upside and her feet were bloody, and quite a few of her vent feathers had been pecked.

I picked her up immediately, and she seemed unfazed by the fact that she was upside down (on her back)... no gasping, no struggling, but she is alert. I washed her in warm water and just a squirt of soap trying to clean the blood away from her legs so I could see where exactly the bleeding was coming from.

Found that on one foot a blood feather and quite a few around it had been pecked pretty severely and on the other foot just 1 blood feather had been pecked (vent area isn't bloody, just bare) ...

I used kwik-stop on the feathers to stop the bleeding, blew dry her a bit to get her dry & warm and now she's tucked in, in the chick hospital with some fresh hay (I used the last of my shavings the other day - but this is clean,dry quality hay that I feed my horses) ... she's not trying to move, but she's alert ... not interest in eating bread, I haven't tried to give her water/food yet since I think she is traumatized by the situation! (and of course I would be too!)

Once her legs dry I was going to coat them with bag-balm and see if she's interested in food or water...

I will take pictures shortly (camera battery is charging) ... but any suggestions? or ideas? ...

... out of this batch I got in November of 8 week old chicks... I have 1/4 Silkies remaining, and 2/3 d'uccles ... I really don't want to make that 1:1

 

[tamelroy]

do you think it could be a vitamin Deficiency? Check
http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?t=2287 and look it up, I don't know what is wrong, but this helps me out a lot.

I hope someone else will post for you

 

[kimb]

Thanks for the link! that could be really helpful! ...

I should've added that they are on grower formula still, and at least 1-2x a week I mix Nutri-drench in their water ... but I believe that might not be enough vitamin B... (and luckily I do have that

! ) ... I'll mix her some vitamin water and see if that helps a bit ...

seems like it could be a Riboflavin problem (B2) ... ?

(I didn't get pictures - but I will tomorrow ... she's still alert, seem comfortable - tucked in her "hospital bed" ... and she's nibbled some stale bread

)...

It's time to try some real food (will probably cook her an egg too!)

 

[kimb]

Just fed and watered her ... she's alert and VERY happy to have some warm water with vitamins & electrolytes ... and I hard boiled some eggs, used the slap chopper to dice them up, mixed with a little corn meal so that the pieces are not all mushy and stuck together ... sprinkled a little on her regular crumble and then put 2 dissolved vitamin b complex pills in the mix ... she's chipper to eat her dinner

Even perching up a little on her feet !

She'll be in the hospital until she is better!

I haven't put any bag balm on her legs yet (she's still damp on her belly, but she's comfortable in the hay and the house is a comfortable 65 degrees ... I'll let her be until the AM (don't want to loosen any clots that have stopped the bleeding in the blood feathers!)

 

[kimb]

Day 2:
Shes still alert, and actually standing up quite a bit ... if I pick her up, her legs still tremble and she still seems a bit weak... but better than she was yesterday.

She's still getting vitamin/electrolyte water ... her regular grower crumble and crumbled hard boiled eggs with vitamin B ...

She hasn't seemed to have been active enough to really scratch herself so I was giving her little scratches around her neck and under her wings and she got very excited and started scratching herself so that was nice to see

... hopefully she keeps getting better! ... !