Lame & Limping 2 Year Old Hen

[RebeccaC83]

Thanks everyone. Truly.

Canyou get a close up of the tops of her feet and legs?

Here are photos of her feet - tops, bottoms and sides and how she is laying on them:

 

[RebeccaC83]

I thought Marek's usually affected younger chickens, less than a year old . Can you try to feel around her hips and legs to see if you feel any inflammation?

Hi There - I am not feeling any inflammation in her legs or abnormalities externally when I palpate around.

 

[RebeccaC83]

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses. I tried to respond individually, but I don't see my responses any longer, so I'll update here. As of this morning, Speckles is maintaining, no worse, no better. She is alert and talking. Food wise, she is gravitating toward lettuce and greens, cucumbers. I gave her some cooked rice last night to try and firm her stool up as it has been runny and clear, with a lot of white. She is refusing the Poultry Cell now and drinking little. I am getting water in her via a 5cc syringe. Although I am trying to give foods that contain a fair amount of water to compensate.

I have attached a photo here of her droppings. I will say that it seems to contain a fair amount of mucous. She had only one normal poop, with most of her droppings being lots of clear liquid and white/ dark green. I don't see evidence of parasites...

I've attached photos of her feet and legs as requested. I know everything is a possibility as far as causes, but one thing that comes to mind this morning is that she's historically struggled with laying soft-shelled eggs. Every so often, I would get a soft shelled egg from her. I provide supplemental calcium, and even now have been giving her a liquid calcium. Could a reproductive issue cause lameness?

Thanks again. I hope everyone's week is off to a great start.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Are you giving her calcium citrate pills?

 

[coach723]

Hock sitting and curled toes are often a riboflavin deficiency, I know poultry cell has ribofavin in it, you can also add some nutritional yeast (many grocery and health food stores carry it) to her food to boost it more. The B's are very safe, no risk of overdosing those. If the poultry cell is putting her off the water, then try a super B complex tablet or capsule once a day. I just put it in the beak they they swallow it. Easy peasy, especially if they aren't eating or drinking well. Sometimes a reproductive problem can cause paralysis or partial paralysis, if something is putting pressure on the nerves. If vet care is an option, imaging might answer that. If riboflavin deficiency goes on too long, the nerves can become too damaged and will not recover with supplementation. Many birds with a deficiency will bounce back quickly, but some do take longer.
Runny droppings could be from a riboflavin deficiency also, chicks with it can have diahrea.
Or could be from not eating normally, the greens and cucumber could contribute.
There is a way to test for Marek's on a live bird, it's a PCR test from a drop of blood, a link below to a lab that does that. You can call them if you are interested in doing that, for particulars.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...ement-poultry/vitamin-deficiencies-in-poultry
https://www.vetdna.com/application/forms/aviansubmittalform.pdf

 

[RebeccaC83]

Good morning Everyone!

I just wanted to provide an update for those interested, after about 4 weeks and confinement to a brooder for about that amount of time, Speckles is doing better! She is back with her flockmates, roosting at night and even laid her first egg this past Sunday.

I wanted to say a genuine and heartfelt Thank YOU to everyone who provided input and kind words. I'm so glad to have my girl back and my original flock restored

Best wishes to each of you !

 

[coach723]

That's awesome! So glad she's doing so well! Thank you for the update!